Jim is appointed by the District of Mackenzie as Director of the McLeod Lake Mackenzie Community Forest Corporation. He is the Chair of the Board.
Jim is a well rounded veteran of the forest industry. Starting as a young logger in the early 1970’s, he returned to school, graduating in 1976 as a Forest Technologist from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. He then worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for 8 years.
In 1985 Jim started his move west by filling the position of Nursery Superintendent at the Pineland Provincial Tree Nursery with Manitoba Natural Resources. In 1989, Jim pursued an opportunity to get back into the forest as a Forester with the Regional Operations Dept. of Manitoba Natural Resources where he prepared and implemented annual and 10 year forest management plans for 2 Crown-managed forest management units.
In 1997, Jim continued his westward migration and for 11 years worked in several Forestry Superintendent positions with the Woodlands Division of Finlay Forest Industries and, later, AbitibiBowater in Mackenzie. This experience provided him with extensive, first hand experience with Woodlands activities ranging from planning to development to stump to dump harvest and log transportation systems.
Since the closure of the AbitibiBowater mills in early 2008, Jim has been the owner of JB Atkinson and Associates Ltd., providing services to companies seeking certification as a SAFE Company.
Jim initially joined the MLMCF Board of Directors in June of 2010, became the Chairperson late in 2013 and then resigned in January 2014 in order to take on a contract as the General Manager in February 2014 which he continued until retiring in July of 2017.
Jim once again joined the Board of Directors in April, 2018 and took on his current role as Chair of the Board in August 2019.