Josh Wiensczyk Email & Phone Number

Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

Gogama, Ontario, Canada

Assisting with one of the largest fish salvages in Canada at Côté Gold Mine in Gogama, ON I gained experience deploying various fishing gear including minnow traps, hoop nets, seine nets, and boat and backpack electrofisher. In this position alone I've gained over 400 hours of electrofishing experience. This position required me to live at a mining camp while working long rotations consisting of 10 hour days for 21 days.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Working in Northern Ontario, Timmins and Gogama, I assisted with the completion of the Metal Earth Geophysical Program (MERC). This position has allowed me to experience navigating through thick bush via GPS and compass while carrying rucksacks with approximately 50lbs of equipment to and from sites. I helped with the setup of electromagnetic sensing equipment, completion of detailed and accurate fieldnotes, and mapping site with GPS and/or RTK GPS (MicroSurvey FIELDGenius).

Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park

Returning to this position I continued to complete tasks such as campsite and portage maintenance, cleaning privies, and stocking kiosks while also continuing to work on my trailering skills and even further developing my communication skills with the public. This year there were some larger tasks to be completed, specifically the creation of a hiking trail and a new campsite. This year I assisted the biologist much more, with the management of invasive species, reporting of coastal Atlantic flora species, benthic macro-invertebrate sampling, and alvar assessment. We removed patches of dog strangling vine along the road, removed phragmites stands along the shore of Bottle Lake, and identified other stands of phragmites and loosestrife along the alvar road. We confirmed the presence of rare coastal Atlantic flora species and determined the area in which they occupy. I helped with the restoration of the benthic invertebrate sampling program within the park having assisted with the collection and identification of species following OBBN protocols. I also helped assess pre and post-burn alvar vegetation diversity by assessing plots and inputting vegetation data to GIS Collector, and prepping the burn site by cutting and chipping large juniper bushes.

Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park

As an Interior Ranger, I continued to complete tasks common of Provincial Parks such as campsite cleaning and maintenance, trail and portage maintenance, cleaning of washrooms, and restocking kiosks. I was required to travel through the interior of the park by motorboat, canoe, and/or side by side, frequently portaging equipment and canoes into other lakes, and often in inclement weather. Depending on the size of projects I would occasionally camp within the park, usually only for a night or two, giving me some experience bringing in large amounts of gear into remote sites and contributing to camp life. I continued to gain experience operating pickup trucks and was introduced to trailering equipment, usually boats, allowing me to develop skills reversing with trailers, and launching and loading boats. Occasionally I was scheduled to work with the Park Biologist to complete tasks such as checking snake boards, management of invasive species (phragmites), assisting with public outreach/seminars, and water sampling; using a Van Dorn sampler to collect samples at various depths, and using a Sonde unit to create temperature and dissolved oxygen profiles.

Silent Lake Provincial Park

Returning to work in this position I completed many of the same tasks that I did the year prior, allowing me to become very competent operating the vehicles and equipment, and further improving my communication skills with the public. However, this year as an older student I gained leadership experience as I was often teamed up with younger staff and designated to lead them on small projects/tasks.

Silent Lake Provincial Park

Working in this position I was responsible for the completion of routine maintenance throughout the park which included cleaning of comfort stations and privies, cleaning of campsites, and repairing, assembling and/or replacing picnic tables, fire pits, signs, etc. During the spring months and frequently throughout the summer I helped in the completion in larger projects such as clearing brush/fallen trees from winter storms, perform maintenance on hiking trails, and assist senior staff with felling of trees and more construction based projects (ie. large bridge on ski/mountain bike trail). This position allowed me to gain plenty of experience operating vehicles such as pickup trucks, side by sides, John Deere gators, and equipment including but not limited to weed eaters, lawn mowers, brush hogs, wood splitter, and wood chipper. My communication skills, specifically with the public, greatly improved as I was frequently addressing their questions and concerns, and conversing with them.

Advanced Diploma, Fish And Wildlife Technology

Diploma, Fish And Wildlife Technician