My Family Environmetnal History
October 12, 2023 By: Sky Freeman
Dr. Butorac
HIST 3991: Environmental History
Sky Freeman
Sept 20, 2023
My recent family has lived in BC for their entire lives, with my mother’s grandparents growing up in Chilliwack, one on a farm and one on walnut orchard. My father’s parents grew up on farm in Falkland and the lower mainland. My mother’s family then lived in Chilliwack before moving around the north of BC as my grandfather worked for the Forest Service, before landing a permanent location in Williams Lake. My dad’s parents moved to the Williams Lake area and Likely as part of work fighting forest fires as a Bird Dog scouting pilot and later a Fire boss at the airport. While in Likely my grandfather also was involved with the Quesnel River Salmony Fish Hatchery. My father has remained in Williams Lake for most of his life and as a heavy-duty mechanic he works in the industries of logging and mining heavily. My mother worked as a house cleaner before working and managing a salon that my sister had received a haircutting apprenticeship at. Myself I have lived in Williams Lake, Kamloops, and Victoria all while very slowly working toward my Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences, of which I am near completion. As summer and side jobs I have found myself working as an Engineering Technician dealing with construction and concrete heavily, I have run heavy machinery at a mine and I have worked as an Environmental Technician at a mine in my hometown for four years, during which and after the tailing dam broke and caused an environmental disaster. The experience at the mine has made me think about the ecological impacts in almost every aspect of life, intended or not.
Both my grandfathers were big fishing and hunting enthusiasts which made it easy for their children and grand children to be big fans of nature, be it hiking, hunting, fishing, or foraging. With our family being in the rural middle class that meant that buying a home often could include a decent amount of land and space at the trade off being located farther out of town. This meant that growing up both my grandparents had houses on lowly populated lakes and my parents bought a property next to a crown woodlot with 5 acres of mostly forest which they have largely left untouched. This proximity to nature certainly further shaped our family’s appreciation for nature. That being said, the concepts of forestry in the “New World” were not and is not yet and exact science and so some things like susceptible monoculture plantations have arisen where natural stands once lived. This same concept can be applied at our previous and current approach to fighting forest fires, is it helping the overall forest health in the end to stop all these fires. While the actions we have taken haven’t been perfect it had been part of the learning process, and my family has generally progressed along with scientific norms. While I disagree with some of my family’s thoughts about the environment in the past, it would seem that they largely feel the same way I do about the now and future, likely as we discuss it a lot and have informed each others’ views.
As a male my gender may have influenced my thoughts ecologically as I was often told to go play outside in our four-acre forest and the crownland nearby, spending long hours out there. These are some of my fondest memories and it allowed me to explore things like bugs, animals, trees and all the sort at my own pace and interest. From that point I feel my interest has only developed further to guide my choice of career.
Another ecological impact my family has played is simply the amount of us, with each one of us having some sort of large impact be it carbon footprints or values/beliefs. Within these three generations, the population progresses from four grandparents to my mother and father as well as four aunts and an uncle, to my sister and my self along with many cousins, and so how the environmental toll of living and our Canadian lifestyle/standards is not to be overlooked.
This constant relationship with nature through profession, hobbies and largely rural living has influenced everyone in my family, with the most common family activities being outside on a largely forest property or near a lake, almost always involving a hot dog roast or fishing. The true test is to understand the changes being made to sustainability and addressing climate change while still knowing that humanity has its own interests. Things such as preservation of forested land with potential economic value and addressing the value of how we fight fires to protect these potential values despite some of the natural necessities to forest equilibriums. Easier said than understood to many in the forestry industry.