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Robert G. Proudfoot wrote his first book “Enduring Art, Active Faith – 3 Generations Create!”, a collection of essays, short stories, poetry, and artwork contributed by several members of his family, which was published in February 2019. Following were a biographical sketch about Robert’s grandparents’ lives and times in Edmonton (“The Playful Policeman Meets the Citizen-Making Teacher”), and a 1970 travel memoir originally written by his mother Norma Proudfoot about their family’s car camping adventure across East Africa (“Amateurs On Safari”) both self-published in 2020 and 2021, respectively; plus a coming of age novel that celebrates friendships developed across racial and socioeconomic barriers during the apartheid and post-colonial era in 1970s southern Africa (“Come By Here, My Lord – Seen in a Mirror Dimly”). In 2023/24, Robert and nine other authors collaboratively wrote The Dragon Problem, a fantasy novel which was edited and published by Lintusen Press in 2024.
Best in Edmonton has added Soil & Forestry Consulting to its 2020 list of The Best Environmental Consulting in Edmonton. Best in Edmonton is Edmonton's guide to finding the best of everything. Every month, tens of thousands of people go to its website to learn about the best providers in any industry. Click on the Best in Edmonton badge (link) to learn more about Soil & Forestry Consulting and other environmental consulting firms that are recognized as providing excellent services to the residents of Edmonton and the area in 2020.
Decision Methods in Natural Resources and the Environment
In 2022, Robert Proudfoot completed a fourth-month, on-line course with the University of Connecticut called “Decision Making in Natural Resources and the Environment.” This course provided an introduction to Structured Decision Making, a practical guide to Environmental Management Choices. Structured decision making (SDM) is an organized, inclusive and transparent approach to understanding complex problems and generating and evaluating creative alternatives to address these problems.
SDM can provide a sensible decision-making process for addressing such complex environmental problems as competing water uses; air quality; climate change; species at risk; pest outbreaks; cumulative effects; wildfire risks; parks and recreation management; timber, fish and wildlife harvesting; oil and gas development; mining; water supply options; or infrastructure investments--even when there are multidimensional choices to be made when there is uncertain science, diverse stakeholders or difficult trade-offs to be considered.
The process combines participants' values and scientific knowledge; it levels the playing field and allows traditional knowledge to be utilized in collaboration with science and community needs. The SDM process requires the various stakeholders and decision-makers to plan and learn together before the decision is made, following an iterative process where the working group defines context for the decision, objectives and performance measures to identify and evaluate potential alternatives, expected consequences of implementing each alternative and how these affect management choices, and key trade-offs to be considered among the consequences. Management actions can also be revised through monitoring and review after the decision is made; what is learned before and after the decision is utilized to make or even improve the program implemented through the decision made.
SDM is a valuable tool for persons or groups involved in making important decisions, particularly concerning how we will share and thrive in our environment.