A North Bay forest professional has made the shortlist for the United Nations International Year of Forests – Forest Heroes Award, one of only three individuals being considered for the prestigious North American category.
Fred Pinto is a former president of the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) and has been a voluntary member of the CIF, a national non-profit association of forest professionals, for more than 30 years. He is also the current chair of the board of trustees of Forests without Borders and is currently employed by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, southern science and information section.
Pinto is recognized as the visionary who led the initiative that created the charity Forests without Borders, dedicated to helping communities throughout the world to restore forest ecosystems and achieve sustainability. Since its inception, Forests without Borders has steadily gained momentum, with fundraising achieved through CIF membership activities and events.
He also devotes a great deal of his time to teaching young forest professionals, helping them to develop a broad and balanced understanding of forestry. He has personally overseen University of Toronto annual forestry field camps based at the Canadian Ecology Centre near Mattawa for 15 years.
He initiated an electronic lecture series in 2007 that runs almost once every week. These lectures connect hundreds of forest practitioners from across Canada to leading experts.
Pinto has devoted many years of work with the Nipissing Naturalists and Bird Studies Canada and .
has taken great interest in species at risk, helping these groups to produce a publication that promotes understanding in the Nipissing Forest watershed.
The award recipient will be announced in January 2012 at a special UN ceremony in New York.
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