“It is th
ought that tree growing is synonymous to Switzerland, like chocolate or skying” and for Christian Walli, BSF’77, a love for forestry led him to a new country and to discover a more specific passion – urban forestry.
Growing up in eastern Switzerland, a series of events nudged Christian towards forestry and Canada. His family had ties to the industry as his uncle was a forester and his father was in forest harvesting. The nudge to move came while he was at work one day and found a piece of paper discussing forestry in Canada. He couldn’t believe how big the country was and the possibilities it held.
At the age of 19 Christian moved his family to Canada and started working as a forest technician in Nakusp, B.C. His responsibilities included developing and maintaining a small bare-root nursery, which he claimed was because it’s believed the Swiss know how to grow trees. When he decided to go to university, there was no other choice than UBC and to go into forestry. His fondest memories were of Dr. Oscar Sziklai, a professor who believed very much in looking outside of UBC to see what others were doing, and emphasized that by taking students to Sweden and Austria to do providence testing of lodge pole pine. For him, the trips were a highlight as they were very informative and a bonding experience for the students.
After graduating, Christian worked in the head office of Canfor as the assistant to the Chief Forester. He found it to be a really good introductory role where he was able to get an idea of what happened at the top level. From there he moved in 1979 working as a Silviculture forester at Balco Industries in Kamloops. One of the toughest decisions Christian has had to make over his lifetime is to move, mostly because it affected his family. Luckily, each time it has turned out well for them and his companies and family have been incredible supportive.
While working for Balco, Christian started as a Silviculture Forester and eventually became General Manager. In 1988 he moved over to become the Chief Forester at Brinkman & Associates. There
And if he could lead a different path then forestry, it was Christian dream to have been a Chef.
From Branchlines Fall 2014