Forestry Industry GIS Users Gain New ESRI Resource

18 September 2007, 12:19pm

September 18, 2007- Redlands, California—ESRI is expanding its forestry team with the addition of Peter Eredics as forestry industry manager. Eredics brings 16 years of forestry and geographic information system (GIS) experience to the world-renowned GIS software company. He will work toward engendering a greater understanding of how foresters throughout the world can apply GIS for improved analysis and forest management.

With a wide range of experience gained from working for Canada’s largest lumber manufacturers, Eredics brings with him knowledge about best practices on everything from stand management to business operations. In addition, having served as a professor of environmental studies at Douglas College, New Westminster, British Columbia, for nine years, he brings environmental management experience to the table. While working on a multitude of international projects, Eredics has gained a breadth of knowledge about diverse forestry practices as well as the contexts in which these are set.

Some of ESRI’s earliest software users were foresters who used GIS to improve stand management. Since then, forestry science GIS applications have continued to grow including forest planning, transportation and access management, forest protection, fire management and suppression, ecology management, and urban forestry.

Says Eredics, “I’m looking forward to helping foresters and land managers find solutions to their complex and ever-evolving operational and strategic challenges. For many years, ESRI’s integrated product range has made a significant and positive impact on the global forest products industry. I’m excited to continue ESRI’s legacy of forest industry commitment by serving our customers, business partners, and international distributors with critical industry knowledge and support.”

Eredics has worked for lumber companies including Canfor, Slocan, and Tolko and has been a senior consultant for municipal, regional, and federal government agencies responsible for managing the natural resources on public land. He holds a natural resources management diploma from British Columbia Institute of Technology and is completing an M.B.A.

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Geo: International