Growing up in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Chanel Yee (BUF’23) learned about how climate change was impacting the natural environment around her — from ocean acidification to sea level rise and biodiversity loss. While still in elementary school, she saw some of these impacts first-hand.
“I remember flipping through a brochure with beautiful pictures of the colourful coral and fish that lived in the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve near my home,” recalls Chanel. “But, when my family and I went snorkeling there, all I saw was bleached, pale coral. It was nothing like the pictures.”
Concerned about the future of her homeland, Chanel envisioned studying the environmental sciences and pursuing a career that would enable her to be part of the solution. She later picked UBC Forestry’s Bachelor of Urban Forestry (BUF) program because of its interdisciplinarity approach to practical nature-based solutions, graduating in 2023 on the Dean’s Honour Roll.
On top of receiving numerous awards during her studies, Chanel was a 2022 recipient of the Sheppard Award in Urban Forestry. The award was made possible
through the generosity of Prof. Emeritus Stephen Sheppard (MSc(Forestry)’78) — who instituted BUF and was its inaugural Program Director — and his wife, Cecilia Achiam (Dip(Urb Lnd Econ)’94, BLArch’99, MA(Planning)’22).
Cecilia and Stephen met while at UBC, and established the award to give back to their alma mater, which had given them and their children so much. “We wanted to create a scholarship, and then established an endowment as a way to contribute to and develop the next generations of urban forestry students well into the future,” says Cecilia.
The Sheppard Award recognizes outstanding fourth-year BUF students who have demonstrated community involvement and leadership skills, with a particular emphasis on climate change solutions. So far, four BUF students have received the award, including Chanel.
Throughout her undergraduate studies at UBC Forestry, Chanel conducted research on street tree policies and urban wildfire mitigation strategies. She held positions as a Research Assistant with then UBC Forestry Prof. Susan Day’s Street Tree Futures research project, as a Wildfire Science Field Research Assistant in Prof. Lori Daniels’ Tree Ring Lab and as a Research Fellow with the Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program in Honolulu, among others.
“When I found out about Chanel’s research background, I approached her to work as an intern with the Oak Bay Coolkit project, engaging citizens in building community resilience to climate impacts in Oak Bay, BC, before she returned home to take a job with the USDA Forest Service,” says Stephen.
Now back in Honolulu, Chanel’s work as an Urban and Community Forestry Resource Assistant with the USDA Forest Service is helping to rethink fire risk mitigation across agencies and disciplines in the Hawaiian Islands.
“It’s a dream job and a responsibility in that I get to work on strategies to address some of the challenges facing Hawaiʻi, such as urban wildfire,” says Chanel. “Being back home, I can see how some environmental conditions have gotten worse, but some things are better. It gives me hope to be on a team that supports more sustainable and livable development rooted in community values.”
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This article was originally published in Branchlines Magazine. Read the magazine here.
