Patricia and her dog Finn, on some recently harvested spruce logs during a partial harvest on a member's woodlot in Lunenburg County
Patricia Amero, General Manager
Patricia has been General Manager of the Western Woodlot Services Cooperative since July 2017 and was part of the working group that formed the Cooperative. Previously she was self-employed as a private forester consultant (Picea Forestry Consulting) for 16 years helping private woodlot owners manage their forest for a variety of values in Nova Scotia, as well as in parts of New Brunswick and PEI. Over her career she has done multiple forest inventory assessments, management and operational planning including forest restoration plans, silviculture planning, has organized and delivered various educational workshops, has held FSC forest management and chain-of-custody certificates, completed woodland valuations, and continues to work with various contractors and mills. Prior to being self-employed she held positions at the Dept. of Natural Resources as well as at Mactara Ltd as silviculture supervisor. Originally from Digby County, Patricia has resided in West Northfield, Lunenburg County since 2002. She is a member of the Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Institute of Forestry, and a licensed scaler for stacked wood. She particularly enjoys fly fishing for the elusive Atlantic Salmon during the fishing season, and other times you can often find her and her husband doing thinning work and establishing trails on their woodlot.
patricia@westernwoodlotcoop.com
Phone: 902-523-2141
Michele Young
Michele Young, Forest Technician
Michele started as a forest technician with the cooperative in late May 2023. She is based out of WWSC’s New Germany office where she will be serving members in the south shore and the valley alongside Dawson Lake and Colin Moore.
Michele graduated from the Forestry Technician program at Fleming College in April 2023. Prior to joining the co-op, she was a tree planter for several seasons, spending many of her summers in the boreal forest of northern Ontario. In addition, she has experience in data collection for urban tree inventories. Michele was born and raised in Ottawa but considers herself lucky to be able to work in Nova Scotia. She spends her off time at the farmer’s market on weekends, cozied up with a good book, or outside exploring new places. Currently, she resides in Bridgewater.
Phone: 613-325-1030
Andrew standing in hemlock forest in Queens County during the field portion of the Forest Ecosystem Classification Course.
Andrew Oliver, Staff Forester
Andrew’s first forestry work experience was working as a tree planter in Cumberland and Colchester Counties in the summers of 2002 to 2004. In 2003, he enrolled in the Forestry and Environmental Management Program at the University of New Brunswick and graduated in 2008. Over the years, Andrew has worked in a variety of forestry jobs throughout Canada, including on an initial attack wildfire crew in northern Manitoba, as a summer silviculture student in Vancouver Island and Northern Ontario, as a Forest Officer and Area Forester with the Government of Alberta (2009-2015), and more recently as a Forest Operations Planner in the forest industry in Nova Scotia (2015-2019). In July 2019, Andrew started his employment as a Forester with the WWSC.
Andrew became a Registered Professional Forester with the College of Alberta Professional Foresters in 2012 and with the Registered Professional Foresters Association of Nova Scotia in 2016. Andrew is involved in various roles and committees with the RPFANS.
Outside of work, Andrew enjoys spending time with his family, outdoor activities such as hiking and snowshoeing and working on his small woodlot, near Bear River, Digby County. He lives in South Alton, Kings County.
Phone: 902-670-4464
Dwight standing in hemlock forest in Queens County during the field portion of the Forest Ecosystem Classification Course.
Dwight Ford, Staff Forester
Dwight has over 25 years of experience in various aspects of the forest industry starting out with the Group Ventures in Nova Scotia working with private woodlot owners. In 1998, he moved to New Brunswick where he continued to work with private landowners for a couple of years before working as a shift supervisor in a sawmill, pulp chipping plant, and a planer mill. After spending a season as a moose hunting guide in Northern Alberta, he moved back to Nova Scotia where he worked for various silviculture and harvesting contractors before joining the Western Woodlot Services Coop in June 2019, where he continues working with woodlot owners in Western Nova Scotia.
His main interests are hunting, fishing, and spending time with his sons sharing their interests and activities.
Phone: 902-841-0248
Tom standing in hemlock forest in Queens County during the field portion of the Forest Ecosystem Classification Course.
Tom Mac Millan, Forester
(part-time)
Tom lives in Yarmouth and works for the Western Woodlot Services Cooperative on a part-time basis. As a forester, most of his time is spent providing advice to landowners, locating and laying out silviculture work and preparing management plans. Tom has 35 years experience working in the natural resource sector. Most of that time with the NS government in the 7 western counties as a forester dealing with private land forest management or involvement in the preparation of ecologically based land-use frameworks. Tom also did a 5 year stint as a Land Use Manager for the Alberta Energy Regulator in north-eastern Alberta.
He enjoys cycling, kayaking, coaching basketball and spending time with his new grand child.
Phone: 902-740-6080
Dawson in a red pine plantation on a member’s woodlot in Lunenburg County
Dawson Lake, Staff Forester
Dawson started as a staff forester with the WWSC in April 2022 and is based out of WWSC’s New Germany office where he will be primarily serving members in the South Shore region. In 2019 he graduated from the Maritime College of Forest Technology as a forest technologist and recently graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a B.Sc. in Forestry.
Before starting work with the WWSC, Dawson has also worked in various other roles during his summer terms and has gained valuable experience in the forestry sector. Previously he has worked in vegetation management, harvesting and road operations supervision and planning in Nova Scotia, and also in wildfire suppression and forest pest management in New Brunswick.
Dawson is originally from the Hantsport area and currently resides in Bridgewater. He enjoys fishing, hunting, and spending time on his family’s small woodlot where he is working on wildlife habitat and forest restoration projects.
Phone: 902-790-9694
Bronson Joudrey
Bronson Joudrey - Forest Technician
Bronson joined the Western Woodlot Services Coop in September 2022 after spending 12 years working with Parks Canada at Kejimkujik National Park as a backcountry maintenance worker.
He graduated from the Maritime College of Forest Technology in 2011 with an advanced diploma in forest technology and fish and wildlife technology.
Bronson has been a great asset to the WWSC since he has joined us this fall and has been staying busy completing field inventories and assessments, writing management plans, meeting with landowners to walk their woodlands and discuss their objectives and leading two successful wreath making workshops.
When Bronson isn’t working for the WWSC he and his wife, Jillian, and daughter Brooklyn run a small mixed farm in Morristown, Kings County. They produce vegetables, strawberries, eggs, pork, Christmas trees, and wreaths which they sell at their roadside stand. Bronson is passionate about rural economic development and is excited to bring his entrepreneurial ideas to the WWSC and its members.
Phone: 902-847-1206
Colin Moore
Colin Moore, Forest Technician
Colin began as a forest technician intern with WWSC in May 2024. He graduated from the Natural Resource Environmental Technology program at NSCC Lunenburg Campus in 2021. Since then, he has gained experience working as a survey technician assistant and arborist in Halifax and Lunenburg counties. These roles have developed his skills in identifying woodlot boundary evidence and assessing tree health.
Colin lives in Chester and operates out of the New Germany office, providing support to our staff across all counties. Outside of work, he enjoys photography, camping, and hiking with his two dogs.
Phone: 902-980-0124