Historical-Ecological Research Lab

Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, Lab Director
Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University 

Review Editor, Human Ecology 
Board of Directors, Society of Ethnobiology

Levi Cormier (Fulbright Masters Scholar) 

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Levi is a seasoned archaeologist, hailing from the University of Texas. Working in collaboration with Sts'ailes First Nation, Levi is determined to recreate ancient forest garden environments using paleoecological methods, including phytolith analyses. 

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Gary McQuaid (Masters) 

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Gary McQuaid has over two decades of experience working and recreating in alpine environments. It is no surprise that his current thesis project is based on mountain goat population dynamics and management. Gary is focusing on stakeholder relationships to mountain goats within the Skeena Region of British Columbia, which is also his home, and where he has worked as a hunting guide and participated in numerous harvests within a variety of cultural contexts. His research seeks to promote the cultural importance and improve the management of this iconic species by incorporating stakeholders (hunters, outfitters, managers), and their local knowledge, into current management regimes.  

Adrian Smith (Masters)

Adrian is pursuing an MSc at the University of Northern British Columbia. Specializing in human geography. He is particularly interested in the relationship between people, environments, industry, and the history of land-use and how such relationships can be better understood for Gitxsan Rights and Title, For his MSc research we are is using historical-ecological methods to document how incremental clearcut logging has effected hauums (Oplopanax horridus) in Luutkudziiwus territory, Lax Yip Madii Lii.

Sage Vanier (Masters) 

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Sage is a master’s student in the department of Archaeology at SFU with Dana Lepofsky. As a member of the Faculty of Environment, her research focuses on past human-plant interactions, the persisting ecological legacies that these interactions leave on the landscape today, and how this data can challenge and inform current archaeological theory and practice. She seeks to utilize community-derived and community-oriented approaches that reconnect and strengthen ties to land and heritage.