Marie-Lou Lefrançois
Researcher
Marie-Lou was a Researcher with the Bulkley Valley Research Centre. Marie-Lou obtained her B.Sc. in Physical Geography at the University of Montreal, where she became passionate about forest ecology after being introduced to biogeography and palynology. She pursued her studies at the Centre for Forest Research (UQAM) where she graduated with an M.Sc. in Biology (Forest Ecology), studying light interception and crown architecture of temperate forest trees (with the model SORTIE), as well as working as a research assistant. Other research projects conducted during her academic years included: forest modeling (UdeM), watershed hydrology (Hydro-Quebec), tree hydraulics (McGill) and native-species reforestation in tropical plantations (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute of Panama).
Currently working with Phil Burton as a Research Associate at UNBC, Marie-Lou is involved in a Sustainable Forest Management Network synthesis project on insect disturbances, where she is studying the selectivity of the mountain pine beetle at different stages of outbreak. Along with her new colleagues at the Bulkley Valley Research Centre, she is involved in another project looking at the effect of the spatial distribution of trees in the initial conditions of the SORTIE model.
Marie-Lou first visited the Bulkley Valley in 2002 while planting trees and happily settled in Smithers in June of 2007 with her husband Nick and daughter Vivian. In her native Montreal, Marie-Lou left behind a perplexed artistic family and her treasured shish-taouks.
Marie-Lou worked for the Centre from October 2007 to March 2009.