Virtual Event
OptiLog 2021
June 15, 2021 at
1:00pm EST
2:05 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
Connected forest: increasing operational efficiencies with GIS
Speakers: Alexander Ryerson, forest information specialist, Lim Geomatics; Mike Morgan, harvest operations supervisor, Tolko; and Nicholas Genier, woodlands operations supervisor, Tolko
As technology in the forest industry advances, collecting and analyzing data on operations is easier than ever. Technology such as Op Tracker, a turnkey GIS solution, bring vital geospatial data and imagery into the cabs of operations equipment and provides tracking and performance analytics to managers in the office. Op Tracker has improved operational efficiency and increased profits for companies across Canada and the U.S., including Tolko Industries. The Tolko operations team in High Level, Alta., provides feedback to the Lim Geomatics Op Tracker development team, and tests and validates new features that solve real-world problems. Nicholas Genier, Mike Morgan, and Alexander Ryerson will walk attendees through the relationship between these two organizations and how it contributes to the evolution of the missing piece of the connected forest, Op Tracker.
Alexander Ryerson
Alexander Ryerson is a forester who is passionate about leveraging data to make informed decisions for a sustainable future. He has a Bachelor’s and Masters of Science in forestry from the University of New Brunswick. Alexander has a decade of forest management and operational experience from Manotick Tree Movers Inc. and other tree farms in the greater Ottawa, Ont., region. He is the forest information specialist with Lim Geomatics, Inc. In this role, he functions as the product owner, subject matter expert, and customer success manager for the Forestry Geospatial Platform solutions. Alexander collaborates with forestry stakeholders to obtain, document, and scope requirements for the Lim Geomatics development team to ensure foresters get the most value out of the solutions. He specializes in the application of GIS in forest management and operations that contribute to sustainable forestry.
Nicholas Genier
Nicholas Genier graduated from Sir Sanford Fleming College’s Forestry Technician Program in 2004. His first couple years in the industry were spent on the production floor of Tembec Sawmill in Cochrane, Ont. He later moved to Hearst, Ont., working on timber cruising for provincial FRI updates, and then took a job with Kenogami Lake Lumber in Hornepayne, Ont., as operations supervisor for a harvesting operation, eventually moving on with Folyet Timber out of Timmins, Ont. After this, he changed his focus and went to work for Chartrand Equipment, subcontracting for Detour Gold mine, north of Cochrane, Ont., on a tailings dam project. In late 2013, he took a position as harvesting supervisor with Tolko Industries in High Level, Alta., and has taken on several roles since including the lead on projects such as Geotab, FPDat, and, of course, Op Tracker. In his current role as woodlands operations supervisor, he still works with technology innovations, as well as supervising harvesting operations, and, in the summer, works with the silviculture side of the business.
Mike Morgan
Mike Morgan attended and graduated from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in 1996 and moved to High Level, Alta., soon after. His first five years were spent laying out cutblocks in the winters and completing silviculture surveys in the summers. In 2005, he took a position with Little Red River Forestry as the field services manager providing development and training in forestry field services for the first two years before transitioning into the planning department. In 2010, he took a position at Tolko Industries Ltd. as a harvesting supervisor, where he has been ever since. In his current role as a harvest operations supervisor, he manages the inflow and outflow of data from the field operations managing the Op Tracker and FPTrak systems on behalf of the company as well as the ArcGIS Collector system for the harvesting supervisors.
