Logan in front of freshly cut logs.
Hudson Bay forestry intern Logan Englot may seem like an unlikely advocate for our industry. Growing up on the prairies of Saskatchewan, surrounded by farms, she never thought about a career in forestry or forest products. In fact, before her internship began earlier this summer, she knew very little about what foresters do. She also says she doesn’t consider herself to be much of a writer and isn’t an avid user of social media.
But Logan is one of just five students from across Canada awarded a 2025 Green Dream Internship from the Forest Products Association of Canada. In addition to a $1,000 scholarship, Logan and the other Green Dream interns write articles and create short videos for FPAC’s website and social channels that show and explain what it’s like to work in the forests and mills.
“Green Dream has given me a good opportunity to tell my fellow students how awesome forestry is,” Logan says. “Until this summer, I really didn't know much about it myself, so it’s fun to share my discoveries with others.”
Logan on the golf course at Hudson Bay. “I love to get involved with the community and have found Ladies Night at the Hudson Bay Golf Club a great way to do so,” she says.
DRAWN TO SUSTAINABILITY
Though Logan imagined going into an agricultural field for most of her life, she says she’s long been passionate about sustainability, too.
“I decided to pursue sustainability and resource management in college,” she says. “I’m also fascinated by the people aspect of natural resources. An Indigenous elder came to speak to my high school psychology class, and I was inspired by how she talked about the land and her way of viewing the interconnectedness of ecosystems. I wanted to learn more.”
Logan is now going into her third year at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources, majoring in renewable resource management with a minor in toxicology and a certificate in sustainability. She’s found that others in her program share her passion, and they’ve become a tight-knit group.
She saw an online posting for the Weyerhaeuser summer internship but originally hesitated to apply because she wasn’t sure she wanted to move more than 90 miles from her home in Melfort to tiny Hudson Bay.
“But I realized it was a perfect opportunity to take everything I've been learning at school and apply it directly into a career opportunity,” she says. ”It’s also been a great way to develop professional relationships with people in the industry.”
Logan came across old bear bait left by a stakeholder on this piece of land, recognizable by remnants of oats on the ground along with oil on the trees to attract the bears.
SUMMER EXPERIENCES SPARK PASSION
This summer has been an eye-opener for Logan.
“I immersed myself in the culture and the setting, which is so different from what I'm used to,” she says. “Here, we’re surrounded by forests and wildlife instead of farms and livestock. Seeing bears every day is not something I would ever experience where I’m from! So, I needed to learn to connect with the land and spend time in nature.”
She spent her first weeks in the bush, setting up cut blocks, marking protected areas close to streams, planning roads and getting stands ready for harvest. Then she moved to harvest operations, where she’s been watching contractors cut, load and transport logs to the mill.
“I've had the chance to see so much of the forestry process,” Logan says. “Before this summer, I'd never seen forestry equipment like bunchers; I'd seen semi-trucks but not log trucks. And visiting the Hudson Bay OSB mill was fascinating. I'd never seen anything like that.”
The more she’s seen, the more passionate she’s become about the industry.
“Seeing how much work goes into this and how interconnected everything is has really drawn me in,” Logan says. “There's so much planning, but once you get into the bush, it can all change. You must think about everything from wildlife to soil type, tree species and how that might change when things are cut. There’s also the people side — if you have cabin owners or other stakeholders in the bush, we need to consider them as well. It's like a big puzzle.”
Logan visits an old seed production area on our Forest Management Area that had a red pine plantation from over 80 years ago.
THROUGH A NEW LENS
Logan has already posted one article to FPAC’s LinkedIn page for her Green Dream Internship, titled “What the Forestry Industry Has to Offer.” In it, she shares what she’s learned this summer, and how it’s given her a new perspective on Weyerhaeuser’s commitments to sustainability, innovation and environmental stewardship.
She’s currently working on another article, exploring what cabin owners and other stakeholders in the forest can teach us, and the value of being mindful that it’s all shared land. And, because she’s taken a lot of videos, she’s working to compile them into something that reflects her summer experience, which has changed her view of renewable resource management.
“Some people think of forestry as clearcutting, leaving nothing and demolishing ecosystems,” she says. “But this summer I've learned about stream buffering, reducing soil compaction and other sustainable practices. I’ve learned about reducing deadfall to limit wildfire fuel. I’ve learned that this industry, especially a company like Weyerhaeuser, is really committed to sustainability. And it’s helped me realize this is the type of place where I would be proud to work.”
