Shannon West joined the Forest Practices Board in March 2023.
Shannon has a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria.
Shannon began her career in graphic design and marketing before moving to British Columbia in 2005. She worked in communications and program development for over a decade with the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation before transitioning to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s conservation lands program. She is passionate about combining her communications skills and habitat knowledge to enhance resource stewardship in BC. Shannon lives in Victoria.
Norma Hofsink joined the Forest Practices Board in February 2023
Norma has worked for more than 30 years for the Province in the ministries of Forests; Environment; Land and Water; Integrated Land Management Bureau; and Forests, and most recently as the regional executive administrator with the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. She provides executive support to the Board members and the Executive Director.
Francis Njenga, PAg, joined the Forest Practices Board in August 2022.
Francis has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Range Management from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and is a Professional Agrologist (PAg).
Francis began his career at the University of Nairobi, before moving to British Columbia. He joined the BC Government as a District Range Agrologist in 2000 and has since worked in the ministries of Forests and Agriculture. Before joining the Board, he was the Rangeland Stewardship Officer in the Range Branch of the Ministry of Forests. Francis has extensive background and experience in range and resource management. Francis lives in Kamloops.
Marie-Lou Lefrancois, RFP, joined the Forest Practices Board in May 2022.
Marie-Lou has a Bachelor of Science in Physical Geography from University of Montreal, and a Master of Science in Forest Ecology from the Centre of Forest Research from the University of Quebec in Montreal. She is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF).
Before joining the board, Marie-Lou worked in forest research, planning, operations and policy for over 16 years. As a consultant she worked on growth and yield, climate change, policy and statistics projects for academia, government and consulting firms. She joined the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources in 2011 working in authorizations, BCTS in 2014 as a planning forester, and the Competitiveness and Innovation branch in 2017 as a forest carbon advisor. She finally joined BCTS headquarters in 2019 as a Wildlife Resource Specialist and a stewardship policy forester, where she lead and collaborated on various partial harvesting initiatives all over the province. Marie-Lou lives in Smithers in the Skeena region.
Geoff Recknell, RPBio, joined the Forest Practices Board in August 2021
Geoff has a Bachelor of Science in forestry and resource conservation from the University of British Columbia and is a Registered Professional Biologist.
Before joining the Board, Geoff worked for the BC Government where most recently he was the Regional Executive Director for Operations in the Skeena Region of Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development since January 2019. For eight years prior to that, Geoff was the Regional Executive Director for the North Area of the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. Geoff brings an extensive background in forestry, land use planning, natural resource management, and Indigenous relations to the Board. Geoff lives in Smithers.
Nick Reynolds, RPF, joined the Forest Practices Board in November 2020
Nick has a Masters in Sustainable Forest Management from the University of British Columbia. He is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) who has worked as a consultant with government, industry, academia, and First Nations over the last 20 years. His early career consisted of work in wildlife biology, growth and yield establishment and re-measurement, silviculture, and forest ecology research.
Before joining the Board, Nick helped lead technical work in land use planning and Land Use Order development, Timber Supply Reviews (Haida Gwaii), and was a member of the 2018 Forest Inventory Review Blue Ribbon Panel. Nick’s experience also included many years as an FSC auditor throughout Canada, as well conducting forest carbon assessments, wildlife habitat inventory and cultural feature identification standard development and training.
Matthias Splittgerber, RPF, has worked for the Forest Practices Board since June 2021.
Matthias is an alumnus of the Transatlantic Forestry Master’s program, with forestry graduate degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Freiburg. He is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF).
Before joining the Board, Matthias worked for Monticola Forest, then worked at PwC’s sustainability and climate change practice.
Nathan Murray, LLB, has worked for the Forest Practices Board since May 2021
Nathan has a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree from the University of Victoria. He provides legal advice to the Forest Practices Board and manages appeals to the Forest Appeals Commission that the Board participates in.
Before joining the Board, Nathan worked at the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development since 2017 as a legal support for ministry representatives. He has also worked in the Vancouver office of the federal Department of Justice where he focused on civil litigation and administrative law.
Astrid van Woudenberg, RPBio, has worked for the Forest Practices Board since November 2018
Astrid has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Forest-Wildlife from the University of British Columbia. She is a Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio).
Astrid has 25 years of experience as a consulting wildlife biologist, working for industry, First Nations, government and other clients to integrate wildlife needs into forest and range management. She has been working with species at risk most of her career, as well as mule deer winter range in southern interior BC. Much of her work has taken an ecosystem based approach, integrating what would have been the effects of natural disturbances, such as frequent fires, into her management guidance. Astrid lives in Kamloops, in the traditional territory of the Secwepemc people.
Tom Bruderer, RPF, PGeo, has worked for the Forest Practices Board since November 2018
Tom has a Tech Diploma from BCIT, Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick and a Master of Forestry from the University of British Columbia. He is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) and a Professional Geoscientist (PGeo) with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC).
Tom has over 14 years of experience on the Coast as a forest engineer for major licensees. Prior to joining the Board, he worked as a terrain specialist consultant for two years and since 2016, worked on Board audits as a contractor. Tom lives in Comox on Vancouver Island.
