Nature is everything for Camille Andrews and her family.
It was her childhood and it is her motherhood, her community and her bread and butter.
“I spent a ton of time outside growing up,” Andrews said. “From (the time I was) a little kid, I was looking for frogs (and) playing outside, kind of one of those people that knew right from the get-go what I wanted to do when I grew up.”
She grew up in Metchosin, near Victoria.
“It’s a sort of hobby farm community,” she said.
Her family always spent more time outdoors hiking and things like that and no matter where she’s gone in life, she’s always got involved in the nature surrounding her.
“I’ve always been looking around at nature around me and unrolling leaves to see what kind of caterpillars are inside and bringing home random wildlife aspects,” she said.
“Now we look down on that but it was hard to convince me as a child that it wasn’t a good idea.
“We were comfortable outside, exploring and getting a feel for the environment.”
She knew she was going to pursue a career related to the natural environment but first there were jobs in between: working at farms and summer camps. At one point she eyed being a herpetologist studying frogs.
After completing a diploma in Environmental Technology, Andrews realized she wanted to get deeper into the environment field and went on to a degree from the University of Northern British Columbia in the Natural Resource Management Program. Some related work followed, including working as the City of Surrey’s environmental stewardship coordinator, as did a husband and kids. Now with a family, the decision was made to move back to Vancouver Island.
And it was a job posting in Campbell River that came along at the perfect time.
“But it was just like the perfect job,” she said. “So, I was super excited and went for it and got it.”
She now works for Campbell River’s Greenways Land Trust as habitat management coordinator and her lifestyle completes the full circle: a career working in the natural environment, a family to raise in the ways of nature and a community to live in that is immersed in a natural setting making the outdoors accessible.
“I feel like it’s right there, it’s in our face,” Andrews said.
She feels that “naturally, organically” people in Campbell River are really connected to nature.
“There’s not really many places in the world where you can see whales on your commute to work and things like that,” she said. “There’s bear sightings and things like that are very out there for Campbell River, compared to other places in the world where nature can feel harder to grasp and more abstract. I think we’re really lucky in that sense.”
Andrews believes that, more and more, we’ll start to realize how important it is to have natural areas kept for conservation and recreation. And Campbell River is in a position to incorporate that realization.
Andrews’ job fits her like the proverbial glove, or should that be rubber boots?
“I get to work with people who have the same fashion sense as me, you know, in gumboots and muddy clothes,” Andrews said. “I spend a lot of time in the (Campbell River) estuary, so, in hip waders and gumboots, smelly mud all over me. And I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
The job also gives her the pleasure of working with a “huge diversity of people.”
“I work with tons of volunteers,” she said. “A lot of them have been taking care of nature in Campbell River for way longer than I’ve been around and just dedicated huge portions of their lives to stewardship.”
She said it is a great learning experience and an interesting aspect of her day. And the diversity supports the learning.
She particularly honours the opportunity to work with First Nations Guardians and seeing the land through their eyes.
“And I feel really lucky to hear all the old stories about how the land was used; how important the estuary’s been to them. And also just seeing those groups grow and take on more and more leadership, (and) stewardship of the estuary in particular.”
“I also feel really lucky that they Greenways has such a strong stance on reconciliation,” she said.
Through her work, the Campbell River estuary has become a big part of her life.
“It has kind of a magical feeling to it,” Andrews said. “There’s so much to it and (it’s) so rich.”
