Board of Directors and Staff

VCF and VIP Board of Directors 2021

Ainslie Jackman, RPF – President

• Who am I:I am a Professional Forester who has worked in the Robson Valley since 1978. My husband and I manage a local woodlot as a family business with the help of our children. I worked 30 years for Hauer Bros. Lumber doing all their forestry work as well as being the company log scaler. Since resigning from that company, I have worked consulting to the three local community forests and to other woodlot licensees.What motivates me:

  Like most forestry workers, I simply like working in the woods. I also like things to be organized and complete and find that I enjoy helping my clients achieve this.

  My passions:

  I love gardening and travel and nurturing my grandchildren.

  Volunteer history:

  Like many forest professionals, I volunteer to help advance new forest professionals. I currently sponsor Alana Duncan who now works for the VCF as a Forester in Training (FIT) She is gradually taking over much of my previous work for them and once she takes her final exam, she will replace me as the signing forester for the company.

  I also spent 25 years as both the president and later secretary of the Tete Jaune Community Club. Over the years, the hard-working executive helped our financially struggling club transition to a tax-payer supported organization that is run with the help of the Regional District. By applying for grants and fundraising and devoting loads of volunteer hours of work, we upgraded the old hall into what it is today. I am currently the chair of the Tete Jaune Cemetery Committee that has developed a new cemetery space out of what was the community club’s old picnic grounds.

  What do I contribute to the Board?

  I was asked to join the VCF board in 2008 by the Village administrator, for my practical forestry experience and executive volunteer history.  I believe that my contribution to the board has grown over time as I have learned to appreciate how serious a “job” it is to be a director and president. I believe I am considered to be a fair person who gets along well with people and who can listen and help find solutions to problems. My reward for all the hours devoted is watching the company steadily grow as the board matures and improves in helping direct and support the manager.

Gordon Carson- Vice President

• My name is Gordon Carson. I came to Valemount in February of 1968 to work for Canyon Creek Sawmills. Within a few years I switched to bush work as a skidder operator, faller, bucker-man, loader-man and worked for various contractors in the area. In 1974 I built and operated a yarder for high lead logging, contracting for Weyerhaeuser in the North Thompson area.In the early 1980’s I managed a small sawmill near the lower CMH lodge, cutting specialty white pine cants for sliced veneer.In the 1990’s I built and operated a long-distance skyline logging system for steep and inaccessible slopes (up to 6000’ from landing to top) and contracted for Hauer Bros Lumber Ltd. until 2007.

  During these years I have operated Mountain Voice Soundwoods selling wood for musical instruments such as violins and cellos. I have operated a very small mill and produced specialty products sometimes out of what were historically discarded logs such as Hemlock, Cottonwood, Aspen and Birch to produce flooring, cabinet panels, decking etc. and other unique wood products.

  Recently, this small value-added mill business has been taken over by my son David.

  Other jobs/projects

  • Youth crew foreman, Mt Robson Park
  • Building small hydroelectric plant
  • Building bridges for logging roads and hiking trails
  • Log building
  • Operation of a back country rental cabin (with my wife Ann)
  • Setting up a skyline system for laying pipe for a hydroelectric project

  I have served as a volunteer Board of Director on the VCF since 2007 and for the VIP since 2019. I currently serve as the Vice President for both these companies.

  My other volunteer activities include local trail maintenance, Mount Robson Marathon, ecological reserve warden, music performance for community fund raising and entertainment.

  My hobbies and pastimes include canoeing, hiking, woodworking and music.

  My unique and varied background and interest in specialty wood products, specialty designed equipment, and alternate power production has been of value as a volunteer Director.

  Helping move the VCF and VIP forward with mill design, construction and developing specialty market opportunities has been rewarding. The long-term vision set in the early years of the VCF of a diverse local forest-based industry, adding value and jobs to our raw materials is coming one step closer.

  I appreciate the opportunity to contribute my knowledge and experience to both the VCF and VIP.

• Vern Mickelson-bio to come
• John McGuire, RFT- bio to come
• Gerry Piper- bio to come
• Peter Reimer- bio to come

Ray Mikolash

• May I introduce myself. I am Ray Mikolash, I have been a volunteer serving on the Board of Directors since 2019 for the VCF and VIP.I have been employed as a Wild Fire Officer with the BC Wildfire Service for thirty-two years and I manage the Robson Valley Fire Zone. I have worked in fire suppression since 1986 and in 1987 attended Lakehead University and graduated as a Forest Technician. 

  My work as a forest technician and fire officer as taken me to many places such as Northern Manitoba, Bella Coola, Haida Gwaii, Chilcotin, Dease Lake, Golden and Vanderhoof. Then in 2019 I traveled to Australia to assist with the emergency and catastrophic urban and rural wild fires and mitigation plans for damage to life and homes.

   

  Valemount has been my home for twelve years. I enjoy doing many things with my family such as camping, fishing, hockey and gardening, in that order.

   

  As a Board of Director for the VCF and VIP my contribution has been to initiate the long overdue fire preparedness plan. I have had experience with policy development and contribute to the review and updating of the Director and Operational policies.

Staff 2020