Syncrude Canada Ltd. – Fort McMurray, Alberta
Working for Syncrude as an Aquatic Technologist was a great experience. I spent every day outside, usually waist deep in lakes, rivers and wetlands. My main responsibility was to assist a Senior Research Scientist with aquatic fieldwork including ecological monitoring of several water bodies on Syncrude sites to examine the effects of mining development. Part of this included planning and executing fishery and water surveys of 8 local lakes, wetlands and reservoirs to analyze water body health. There was no shortage of opportunities to explore other environmental projects as well, as I found myself taking sediment cores, banding birds and conducting vegetation and hydrogeology surveys. Having an environmental co-op in the oil and gas industry has been an amazing, eye-opening learning experience to say the least and I’m happy to have survived northern Alberta in the winter!
