The highest honour a professional in the Forestry industry can be awarded was received by Steve Kozuki of Williams Lake.
Kozuki, a retired Forestry Professional, was honoured for his service by being nominated by his peers to receive the Distinguished Forest Professional Award.
“I was deeply honoured and surprised by the nomination,” says Kozuki. “But the real heroes are the hardworking women and men and others throughout the province of B.C. They all deserve to be recognized as well. It’s been a real honour and privilege for me to work with professionals who know how to get the job done. That’s been really amazing.
Kozuki started in the Forestry sector in 1984 when he was 17 years old, becoming a Forest Professional in 1996. He was the Executive Director for the Forest Enhancment Society of BC for seven years before he left in 2024.
He has been “a facilitator” for many innovative projects in the industry. Such as working with the West Chilcotin Forest Products to move thin trees from Bella Coola and float them down to the Lower Mainland using tidewaters.
Kozuki also worked with many First Nations forestry busineses like the Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd to use drones to precisily drop seeds into forests using GPS to create more natural and sustainable growth.
“This is an example of a First Nation led business innovating the forestry sector in a way that had never been done before. It was such an honour, and I was so proud to just be able to help them enable that.”
On why he was nominated by his peers, Kozuki believes it was from his “industry first and cost effective” mindset to the sector, always wanting to facilitate success.
“When I was with the government and government agencies. Our goals were to help people. Help British Columbians, and the forests, and the wildlife. The primary goal is what I always told my staff, our job is to help other be successful. I think people just appreciated that.”
Kozuki is still working to support and better the Forestry Sector today. Now the Executive Director of Forestry Works for BC, an organization that is helping show the benefits of the Forestry industry, and researching green technology and energy inititatives.
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