Advisors, collaborators & Core Team

Natasha Kuperman’s work seed collecting in temperate and boreal forests and collaborating on their restoration is intrinsically tied to living on unceded Gitxsan territory made biodiverse and climate resilient through the millennia old inhabitants of Temlaham / Dimlahamid on the Skeena River.

While doing a degree in architecture at Cornell (’07), she studied plant science under Nina L. Bassuk. This foundational study on disturbed soils and transplanting technology influences Kuperman’s daily work. Her career as a developer and licensed architect on projects in Canada's north was driven by broad-scale landscape ecology and small-scale soil science, working on everything from stormwater management, drinking water infrastructure, and energy independence, to housing and employment opportunities in remote communities. Taking these practices forward, her Masters from Schulich at York University (’17) led her to work as a public infrastructure developer on large linear and social infrastructure.

Designing and developing Seed Enhancement Technology for scalable ecological restoration on wildfire and erosion is Kuperman’s core focus, in collaboration with partners including the Sean Thomas Lab (at University of Toronto), Climate Ventures (at Centre for Social Innovation), and multiple Indigenous communities. She is a Certified Seed Collector through the Forest Gene Conservation Association and a member of the Society for Ecological Restoration. Kuperman uses her unique combination of large-scale systems thinking, passion for genetic diversity, and expertise in rural and remote community development to structure and lead Seed the North.

Ben Alexandrowicz is Seed the North’s Executive Director. He brings his passion and expertise in seed processing and seed enhancement to bear on all aspects of the business. Ben sees Seed the North as a company on the cutting edge of seed-based restoration while integrating centuries of knowledge and experience in practical ecological restoration and traditional ecological knowledge. He is inspired on a daily basis by the communities Seed the North works with, and makes a point to listen well before making decisions.

Ben’s professional experience started in small-scale organic agriculture and progressed through several sectors in practical natural sciences until he found his calling working with the seeds of native plants. This breadth led him to embrace a systems based approach to ecological restoration, taking equal care to ensure the utmost quality whether he is working with an individual seedling or five thousand hectoliters of cones.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Science from The Evergreen State College and a Graduate Certificate in Seed Science from Iowa State University.

You will likely find Ben tinkering with seed processing equipment to refine its’ capabilities to our needs, out in the field looking at the tops of trees, completing his Masters of Science, fly fishing, and backcountry nordic skiing.

Grace holds Bachelor of Environmental Studies and Master of Climate Change degrees from University of Waterloo, where they focused on subjects including geography, environmental management, and ecological restoration and rehabilitation, and worked as a Faculty of Environment research assistant.

They enjoy being outdoors and doing vegetation surveys, water quality monitoring and working in wetlands, as well as rock climbing and biking.

Grace is originally from Indonesia, and believes that multidisciplinarity and building relationships are central to Seed the North’s work on the unceded territory of the Luutkudziiwus Wilp, Gitxsan people.

Sean Thomas’s research focuses are applied forest ecology and silviculture, comparative ecology and ecophysiology of forest trees, forest canopy biology, ecological aspects of global environmental change, and old-world tropical forests. He has been at the University of Toronto since 1999, and is currently appointed as an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Biochar and Ecosystem Restoration.

Dr. Thomas has been preoccupied with the comparative biology of trees and forest responses to the intentional and accidental impacts of humans for some 25 years. He studies how trees and forests respond to human impacts: intentional impacts through forest management, and unintentional impacts via local, regional, and global changes in the environment. In this effort, he tries to link an understanding of functional ecology and ecophysiology of trees (“how trees work”) to patterns of growth, mortality, recruitment, reproduction, at the population scale, to patterns community composition, and to ecosystem processes, in particular carbon flux (“how forests work”). Sean Thomas’s lab is currently involved in projects in temperate and boreal forests in Canada, and tropical forests at a variety of sites. 

Since fall 2019, Thomas has collaborated with Seed the North to develop Seed Enhancement Technology for wildfire in the temperate and boreal forest.

Dr. Jim Pojar is a botanist, ecologist and forester who has lived and worked in British Columbia for 50 years. He received a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of British Columbia in 1974.  Since then he has worked with the BC Ecological Reserves Programme and BC Forest Service. He was also Executive Director, Yukon Chapter of Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society.  His major contributions have been in ecological land classification, knowledge-based resource planning and management, sustainable forestry, conservation and protected areas, and education (teaching, writing books, taking science to the people. He is a professional biologist and certified senior ecologist (ESA), and was until recently a registered professional forester. He was a founding director of the Bulkley Valley Centre for Research and Management and of the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Studies, and a founding trustee of Skeena Wild Conservation Trust.

Brad Harris was born and raised in Kispiox, BC. He is a member of the Gitksan First Nation, Lax Gibuu (wolf clan). He holds a degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Northern British Columbia, where he studied environmental pollution, environmental law, soil sciences, and environmental restoration. 

Brad is thankful for the opportunity to apply these skills with his employer, Gitksan Watershed Authorities (GWA), and with GWA project collaborator Seed the North. As the primary objective in projects Brad is involved with is caring for and rebuilding vulnerable salmon habitats, he gets to reprise an important aspect of his Gitksan heritage: steward of the land.

What Brad values most about his role is that he gets to collaborate with future generations of land stewards in studying, planning, and executing restoration priorities for salmon habitats. He believes that working with younger generations of land stewards on salmon habitat restoration projects is crucial and powerful, and reconnects us to the spirit of the land.

Colin Chudyk is an architectural designer and project manager with broad experience in the northern context including BC, Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut. Colin collaborates with local builders and craftspeople to lead the design-build of wooden structures that define Seed the North’s campus, touching lightly upon the land and built with locally harvested timber. 

Originally from Smithers, BC, he first started working on site in Hazelton in 2020. He now resides in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke where he enjoys exploring riparian ecosystems by sail and paddle. 

Colin has a multidisciplinary art practice in ceramics and textiles. He was recently an Artist in Residence at the European Ceramics Workcentre in the Netherlands, and is currently collaborating with the Textile Museum in Tilburg to develop large scale knitted forms. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Dalhousie University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

Robin Clark is a registered professional forester and has worked in the BC forest industry for 50 years. He has been president of his own natural resources company for the past 30 years. He provides expertise in natural resource management, forest and environmental assessments, wildfire resiliency and reforestation of wildfire impacted landscapes.

Robin has a broad range of clients, but his primary focus is collaboration with Indigenous communities to develop plans and strategies for sustainable economic development. Focus has been on understanding how to combine the Indigenous lens with mainstream economic development. A good example is the lead role Robin takes with Daylu Dena Council 2 Billion Trees Program, approved for planting 540,000 trees by 2031.

Another project Robin has led is the GPS and documentation of 450 km of Kaska ancestral trails. Those efforts will continue in 2025 to complete the 75 km section along the Dease River from Blue River to McDame.

Philip Marsh is Chief Technology Officer and CEO of BC Biocarbon based in McBride, BC, where he has been developing the pyrolysis technology and feedstock management system for 10 years. His focus is replacing fossil chemicals with bio-based products, and supporting strategies that mitigate climate change at scale across many sectors including agriculture, forestry and construction. He regularly supports projects at University of Northern British Columbia, University of British Columbia, College of New Caledonia and other institutions, especially those affiliated with NRC and NSERC. Marsh was previously a pilot and survival instructor with the Canadian Armed Forces, working in the arctic.

Jacques Marmen is a Seed the North Senior Project Manager, overseeing the construction of infrastructure and facilities that support the growing on-site team. He sees Seed the North as a vital force in tackling climate change and ecological destruction; his skills support the scalable solutions that reforestation, reclamation and restoration need. He passionate about sustainable technologies and inspired action, because now, more than ever, we must dedicate ourselves to shaping the healthy world we want.

Jacques’s background spans a few sustainability-centric fields, including commercial solar photovoltaics, natural building systems (straw bale, light clay, clay plasters, roundwood, and traditional timber framing), and permacultural food systems. He sees construction as an opportunity for localized language of creativity, and he is always driven to connect or hybridize tradition with innovation. He is excited to build with Seed the North, focusing centrally on the use of local and long-life material sourcing.

Beyond work, Jacques cherishes caring for his land and its ecosystems, growing unique crops, developing his own infrastructure, and exploring the land, particularly in the Yalakom Valley, where he is grateful to live in a water-rich oasis within a dry landscape. He also enjoys playing loop-based viola and guitar music, and spending time with his dog Lupin and partner Ren, while eating as much as possible from their garden.

Shannon McPhail is the founder and executive director of Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. She is involved in many community organizations, such as the Majagaleehl Gali Aks Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee, Canadian Parents for French in Hazelton and Gananooxxum (Mothers & Grandmothers), a Gitxsan/settler women's leadership group. She teaches workshops across the BC on community organizing and is a former recipient of the northern BC Community Enrichment Award and the North American Conservation Leadership Award. She is an alumnus of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and recently completed a certificate in community economic development from Simon Fraser University.