About Us
Beyond our 70 years of service history, our greatest distinction is that we are an employee-owned Canadian natural resource based consulting firm. Every one of our staff is invested in client-centric solutions, competitively priced services, and a commitment to uphold the highest standards of performance.
Stable relationships, bolstered by innovative solutions, have been the foundation of the company's longevity. We build upon trust and commitment, while always striving for new areas of growth. Our objective is to be as diverse as possible to best serve the interests of our clients.
Our main office is situated in Prince George, British Columbia. We also have branch offices in Dawson Creek and Vancouver.
Our clientele consists of industries involved in forestry, mining, oil and gas, bioenergy as well as federal, provincial, and municipal governments, First Nations and private landowners.
Ongoing high standards are something we internalize. We are committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for all our employees.
Currently, we employ over 160 full-time and part-time professional, technical and support service staff.
Our History
Department Heads
Robert Schuetz
Rob is the President of IFS and is a past-president of the Society of Consulting Foresters of British Columbia. He specializes in the analysis of fibre supplies throughout BC and Alberta and has spent over 25 years consulting to the natural resource industries. In this regard he has undertaken due-diligence assessments of biomass fuel plans in support of over 50 proposed bioenergy projects; log supplies in support of sawmill acquisitions, economic assessments of the impact of a mountain pine beetle epidemic on timber supplies across Canada; delivered log cost optimization analysis to multiple delivery points and sawmill operating rate forecasts. Rob graduated with a B.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Toronto in 1987.
Paul Schuetz
Paul is the Vice President and General Manager of Forestry Operations at Industrial Forestry Service Ltd. For 30 years Paul has managed large-scale forestry projects for both industry and government clients throughout Western Canada, and has extensive hands-on experience and proficiency in all aspects of pre-harvest planning and forestry field work. He manages several senior contract supervisors, each of whom have from five to 20 resource technicians available to undertake a wide range of forestry development projects.
Kelly Byfield
Kelly is the operations manager of IFS’s Ness Lake Forest Nursery. As a career nurseryman employed by IFS since 1980, Kelly has grown with the nursery over the past 40 years . With decades of experience in forest seedling production Kelly is passionate about growing trees and has completed a Diploma in Horticulture and Nursery Management through the University of Guelph in 2006.
Hans Mannhardt
Hans is our Computer Systems technician and stumpage expert. With us since 1984 Hans combined his forestry background with programming expertise to develop and maintain IFS’s stumpage appraisal program, a tool now used by most BC interior forest companies to assess their stumpage obligations. Hans graduated from the University of BC with a B.Sc. in Forestry in 1982 and Okanagan College with a Diploma in Computer Information Systems in 1984.
Jim Wilson
Jim is our Vancouver office manager and maintains our Cruise Compilation Program. With us since 2011, Jim has had a long and varied career managing the cruise compilation program as it evolved and ownership transitioned through five separate companies since 1993. Jim graduated from the BC Institute of Technology’s Renewable Resources Forestry option in 1991.
Colin Hines
Colin is the lead Engineer at Industrial Forestry Service Ltd., responsible for the survey and design of forestry service roads and bridges, as well as other technical designs like cable yarding plans and general AutoCAD drafting. Colin graduated from Acadia University with a Certificate of Applied Science (C.A.S.) in Civil Engineering followed by Dalhousie University with a B.Eng. in Environmental Engineering.