When Domenico Iannidinardo entered the coastal forest industry fresh out of university in 1996, it was just three years after the War in the Woods had ended. That campaign to save the old-growth forests of Clayoquot Sound from clear cutting fundamentally changed the way the coastal forest industry would operate.
Iannidinardo admits the temptation was strong to take a job in the booming oil and gas industry after university, but he decided to stick with his plans to follow his father into forestry.
“I got excited about forestry partly because of the changes I was witnessing in high school,” he said. “The temptation was big money and lots of opportunity in oil. But it wasn’t a renewable resource, and that was something that was already important to me and still is.”
Born and raised in Duncan, Iannidinardo grew up in the forest industry. His father was a logger. After high school, Iannidinardo got a science degree from the University of British Columbia in forest operations, followed by a master’s degree in business administration from Royal Roads University in Victoria.
After university, he worked for a number of forestry companies as an engineer before joining Pacific Forest Products, which was later acquired by TimberWest Forest Corp. At the age of 35, he became the youngest chief forester in the company’s 100-year history.
As TimberWest’s chief forester and vice-president of sustainability, Iannidinardo’s job includes working on long-range harvesting plans and replanting. One of his biggest challenges is balancing a working forest with other public interests like tourism and recreation, and First Nations rights.
“I’ve been a part of significant change to how forestry within drinking watersheds has been managed across Vancouver Island. I continue to believe that not only drinking water, but tourism and a variety of other industries and values, can continue to coexist on the landscape.”
Iannidinardo has had a significant role in engaging First Nations in forestry. TimberWest has a log-marketing program that works with First Nations that have their own timber licences to market their timber.
Join us to celebrate the 2016 Forty under under 40 Awards January 25, 2017 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For tickets and event info visit www.biv.com/events/40under40.
