Meet Bob Forbes - Enviromental monitor

"An environmental monitor ensures that projects conducted by a resource company adhere to all of the regulations and guidelines stipulated by the government with respect to field operations.

Environmental monitors are involved in pretty much all of the components of a project, right from the planning stage. We’re involved early in a project, developing an Environmental Protection Plan designed to minimize or improve wildlife or fish population and habitat impacts. The plan has to be approved by government regulators, of course.

Once in the field, the main task is the constant checking of potential impacts to populations and habitats as project operations proceed. We are also adjusting for unforeseen problems and issues as they come up.

At the end of the project, we submit the final environmental impact report to the government. The completion report documents what actually happened during the execution of the project. It discusses what went right, what went wrong, and reports on what was done to address any issues that came up, for example, the replanting of vegetation on soil disturbance sites."

"Like all things in life, having a good plan in place before things start sure makes things go easier. So that’s probably the most important thing a monitor does – put together a good Environmental Protection Plan to drive operations.

We find out early where the problems are likely to arise and plan to avoid them. For example, if you know a fish-bearing stream is crossing a project area, you can design your seismic line alignments to avoid disturbing the stream while still getting the subsurface data required to complete the program. You watch out for all sorts of things – soil disturbance, bird nest avoidance, rattlesnake hibernacula (an underground chamber that snakes use through winter to protect them from the cold), sensitive plant and wildlife species occurrence and avoidance, poor equipment maintenance, careless environmental behaviour, for example, sloppy waste disposal. The list goes on."

"Any environmental plan or environmental direction for work has to be independent of the employer’s influence. To do anything else casts doubt on the company’s integrity.

I am licenced with the BC College of Biologists and am required to operate within prescribed ethical guidelines, or I’ll lose my licence and right to practice.

All of the activities conducted in a given seismic program are transparent and open to public scrutiny. Many of the problems associated with credibility or hidden agendas are quickly dispensed with if it can be shown that the environmental activities of the program were undertaken without any influence on the part of the company."