Stephanie Leonard

Alix's Bio

Alix is focused on supporting the development of the new SFI Urban and Community Forestry Sustainability Standard. As part of SFI’s urban and community forestry team, Alix works to increase the resiliency and sustainability of communities, both large and small. She is passionate about urban forestry and creating sustainable standards for the forest sector.

Before joining SFI, she worked as a tree specialist at a nursery, a landscape technician for the City of Edmonton, and was part of the environmental team at the District of North Vancouver. Alix holds a Bachelor of Urban Forestry from the University of British Columbia and is pursuing an Environmental Management Certificate from the University of Calgary.

Keyara's Bio

Keyara Carifelle is a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation located in Northern Alberta. Keyara is a recent alumnae from the University of Alberta with a bachelor of arts in Native Studies and a minor in Political Science. Currently, Keyara is an Assistant Implementation Officer for the Federal Government in Northern Forestry.

Keyara’s roles are to assist with grants and contributions for The Indigenous Forestry Initiative Program, as well as deliver Indigenous Knowledge to federal employees through our Knowledge Exchange Program and our Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Program. Keyara is grateful to work alongside the Elder-in-Residence, and many other Elders throughout Turtle Island in helping to braid Indigenous Knowledge with Western Sciences, while providing Cultural competency training.

Northern Forestry Centre

Michael's Bio

Michael leads a team that enables Cenovus’ upstream and downstream hydrocarbon business in Western Canada with up-front project approvals as well as after approval environmental monitoring and special issue support. Michael has an MSc. in Agroforestry (1999) as well as a BSc. in Forestry (1992) and is a Registered Professional Forester in Alberta.

Michael has 30 years of experience spanning the forest industry, applied science and consulting, as well as the energy industry in BC and Alberta. Michael pioneered the first forest habitat restoration trials in oilsands and led the establishment of the Cenovus Caribou Habitat Restoration Project, which is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive project of its kind in the world. Michael is a co-author on ~ 8 restoration-related publications, which support evidence-based continual improvement of restoration outcomes for carbon and caribou in the boreal.

Cenovus Energy

Patti's Bio

Patti is the Executive Director of the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory that has been monitoring migratory and breeding bird populations in northern Alberta since 1994. She is also the Director of the Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation; an exciting education and research centre located in Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park.

Patti is passionate about the importance of community engagement and connecting people to the scientific research that takes place at her station. Using her unique ability to combine her experiences as a biologist and a teacher, Patti has created innovative hands-on education programs that connect visitors of all ages to the world of boreal birds and why we need to care about them.

Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory