{"id":6881,"date":"2026-03-17T12:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/?p=6881"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:17:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:17:36","slug":"interview-with-a-board-member-tomas-sokolon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/2026\/03\/17\/interview-with-a-board-member-tomas-sokolon\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with a Board Member- Tomas Sokolon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Highlight with Tomas Sokolon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What kind of work do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By profession, I am a biologist, and in my current role I serve as the Program Director for the Agroforestry &amp; Woodlot Extension Society (AWES). I manage the design, planning, and implementation of our large-scale restoration projects, while also overseeing day-to-day operations. As a participant in Natural Resources Canada\u2019s Billion Trees Program, AWES executes a wide range of initiatives, including shelterbelts and eco-buffers, post-fire reforestation, riparian restoration, and forest grazing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you volunteer for any environmental organizations?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I serve on the Woodlot Management Plan Committee for the Woodlot Association of Alberta, where I am also a board member. In addition, I act as a technical advisor for Sturgeon County\u2019s ALUS program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has been your greatest accomplishment or what are you most proud of?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, I feel honored to be trusted with the design and management of restoration projects, but I started out in this space as a tree planter. I still feel as though my greatest accomplishment is the half-million trees I\u2019ve planted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice do you have for students and emerging professionals?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Embrace discomfort; It can be a sign that you are growing.<\/p>\n<p>Tomas Sokolon \/ MSc, P. Biol, RPBio \/ Edmonton, Alberta \/ Vice-Chair<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6882\" src=\"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/files\/2026\/03\/Tomas-S.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"494\" height=\"717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/files\/2026\/03\/Tomas-S.png 494w, https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/files\/2026\/03\/Tomas-S-103x150.png 103w, https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/files\/2026\/03\/Tomas-S-450x653.png 450w, https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/files\/2026\/03\/Tomas-S-400x581.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Highlight with Tomas Sokolon What kind of work do you do? By profession, I am a biologist, and in my current role I serve as the Program Director for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/westerncanada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}