Members in Action: Heather Amirault, Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Heather Amirault works at Stantec Consulting Ltd. as a stream restoration engineer. Earlier this year, she was appointed as the Canadian technical lead for ecosystem restoration. In this role, she is responsible for coordinating technical knowledge sharing, providing expert advice, and collaborating with her US counterpart to raise the profile of ecosystem restoration both inside and outside of Stantec. Her stream project work includes natural channel designs, meander belt assessments, reference reach surveys, geomorphic assessments, erosion assessments, sediment transport analyses, fish habitat compensation projects, and channel relocations.

What projects are you working on right now?

Currently, I am working to help restore Montgomery Creek in the City of Kitchener, Ontario. We’re going to re-align a straightened watercourse and improve riparian and aquatic habitat. The project also includes incorporating stormwater treatment, such as energy dissipation and wetland treatment. One of the great parts about working in urban areas is that these restoration projects often include a social/community aspect. In this case, we are integrating the stream restoration with a public park and adjacent trail.

Idlewood Creek Dam Removal and Stream Restoration is another project I have been working on in Kitchener. We are currently on the last year of post-construction monitoring for a fish habitat bank. While fish previously did not have access to the upper watershed of Idlewood Creek from the Grand River, post-construction monitoring indicates that the target fish species (Bass) have made it up stream and past the four barriers that were removed as part of the project.

I am also working in northern Canada, near Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories on an erosion project at a mine site. The shorter growing seasons, extreme climate condition, and remote sites really make you think about how to get creative with restoration techniques.

What do you find most rewarding about working for your organization?

The most rewarding part of working on stream restoration projects is seeing the result–a healthy natural looking stream full of fish. Knowing that our work is making a positive impact on the watercourse while also protecting adjacent lands and community infrastructure is part of what keeps me excited about what I do for a living. I’m proud of our holistic, nature-based approach that benefits both people and the environment.

I also love watching people enjoy the restored space that used to be degraded or inaccessible. Providing the community with a natural, functioning space to enjoy and connect with nature is so important to individual mental and physical health as well as the greater environmental good.

One of the fun things about working for Stantec is the access you have to specialists in a wide variety of technical disciplines–anyone from archeologists, biologists, and bridge engineers, to landscape architects, funding specialists, botanists, and roadway designers. You can do a project from start to finish and work with a dozen different teams to deliver one cohesive project outcome.

How long have you been a member of SER? What’s your best experience thus far?

I’ve been a member of SER for almost one full year. I have really enjoyed the webinars thus far.

What was your childhood dream job?

When I was young, I thought I wanted to be a teacher. Then I wanted to be a physicist. And then I wanted to graduate with a job, so I decide to go into engineering! 

Despite all the different potential directions I might have gone, most days it feels like I am working my dream job.

What’s your favorite moment of your career so far?

Project closeout. Anytime you’re walking a completed site with the client and regulators and seeing fish spawning in a reconstructed watercourse is a favorite moment. Those moments are why I do what I do.

As part of my job, I get to work all over Canada. I like being able to experience all the different types of ecosystems, terrain, and geographies I encounter during my work travels.

Why would you encourage others, particularly young people, to get involved in this field?

I would always encourage involvement in ecosystem restoration because it’s an important and growing field and there are a lot of opportunities out there to make a positive impact on people and the environment. With the United Nations declaring 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, it’s clearly our time to shine!

It’s also a career where you are constantly learning and growing. The science of restoration is always growing and changing, so there are constantly new, innovative studies and techniques being developed that continue to push the ecosystem restoration industry forward. Not to mention it’s endlessly fascinating to see how this science is applied in the real world.

It also feels good to have a career that makes a significant, positive difference in the world. If you ask me, getting paid to play in streams is not a bad gig.

Guilty pleasure: What can you not live without?

In my spare time, I enjoy rock climbing, gardening, reading, hiking, and being in or near rivers!