OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities
The Forest Ecology Research Group is always looking for strong candidates for graduate and post-graduate research. Please send CV and cover letter detailing research interests and experience to Dr. Jennifer Baltzer.
We also often hire undergraduate students – either as Co-op students or as part-time research assistants.
Please contact Emily Bowyer (FERG Lab Coordinator) at ebowyer@wlu.ca, with a cover letter, resume and transcripts, if you would be interested in working in our lab.
Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative
This research is a collaboration between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Wilfred Laurier University and funded through Natural Resources Canada’s Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative.
Short-interval reburning was widespread in the NWT during the unprecedented 2023 wildfire season, raising the need to address boreal forest resilience and future fire risk.
In order to address this, our goals are to:
– quantify post-fire vegetation and ecosystem responses to short-interval reburning
– assess impacts on carbon stocks and forest structure
– compare reburned sites to longer fire-return intervals to identify ecological thresholds
– inform fire management and community adaptation planning
For more details, background information, qualifications and contact information please read the position posting.
This MSc position will support a field-based sampling effort and dendroecological reconstruction methods that will allow us to reconstruct fire history in the southern NWT. Early results suggest that low severity, short interval fires of 30-40 years have been very common. Understanding past fire history and linking this to ecosystem services of interest will be the focus of this MSc.
For more details, background information, qualifications and contact information please read the position posting.
Future Harvest Partnership
The Future Harvest Partnership is a multi-year collaboration between Wilfrid Laurier University, the Territorial Agrifood Association, and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Guided by Indigenous Governments, traditional knowledge, and an interdisciplinary team of North American researchers, the Partnership works with local food producers and communities to co-create research that supports innovation, informs policy, and advances a climate-resilient northern food system.
Current Openings:
Fire suppression was required around many NWT communities in summer 2023 and concerns have been raised about the safety of food harvested on these lands. To address this concern, we will evaluate the impact of flame retardant application in northern plants and soils where food is harvested and/or grown.
Our goals will be to:
- map the application of flame retardant in NWT in 2023 based on fire management records and calibrate this with Landsat data to more precisely map the spatial distribution of flame retardant and develop methods to apply this in previous years;
- apply tools developed in 1 to evaluate the persistence of flame retardant on the landscape;
- quantify the spectral response of lakes whose catchments received flame retardant to evaluate changes in productivity and detect algal bloom activity.
Climate change is creating new opportunities for agriculture in the southern Northwest Territories (NWT). This project will evaluate how cover cropping can support sustainable farming, improve soil health and soil carbon, and reduce reliance on imported agricultural inputs while strengthening northern food security.
NWT-specific research will be conducted on cover cropping, including its effects on soil health, soil biology, and crop productivity, as well as the feasibility of different cover crop mixtures and timing under northern growing conditions. The work will contribute to practical recommendations for farmers and support the development of sustainable agriculture in the NWT.
Connect
For more information regarding the Forest Ecology Research Group at Wilfrid Laurier University, please contact Dr. Jennifer Baltzer.
Mailing Address
Forest Ecology Research Group
c/o Dr. Jennifer Baltzer
Wilfrid Laurier University
75 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5