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A job calling for multi-day hikes through the backcountry, data collection and exploring new places? Count Matthew in!

After walking across the stage this past June with a degree in resource and environmental management, Matthew Syvenky spent the summer working for Parks Canada as an Ecological Integrity Monitoring Technician in Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks.

Syvenky notes that the role was incredibly diverse, exposing him to work throughout the resource conservation team's vegetation and ecological integrity monitoring portfolios.

Across these teams, Syvenky surveyed amphibians, forest and alpine birds, pikas and invasive species, contributed to trail camera work, removed invasive species and more.

Among the highlights of spending the summer months working in one of B.C.���s hottest destinations was a five-day backpacking trip through the Purcell Mountain Range. On the multi-day trek, the team was tasked with monitoring the health of endangered whitebark pine trees, recording birdsong to learn about bird populations, servicing trail cameras and collecting data on wildlife disturbances.

���One of the terrific things about this job is that there was no typical day. One day, you might be waking up at 2:30 a.m. to go hike and record birdsongs in the alpine. The next day, you could be doing targeted removal of a new invasive plant that your team found in the park,��� he says. ���What stayed consistent throughout the summer was the sense of excitement and adventure in the group and the terrific support of my team.���

While the opportunity to spend the summer outside meeting new people and exploring B.C. was appealing on its own, Syvenky notes that being a recent REM grad made the position even more exciting.

���The hallmark of a REM graduate is understanding what it means to take scientific data and put it into a social context to make effective management decisions. My job was all about collecting data that will be used to guide future park management and research. Understanding the value of the work I was doing made the job all the more enjoyable and rewarding,��� he says.