In 1995 Paul Atkinson entered the industry as a landscaper in Calgary prior to also discovering arboriculture and working across the prairie provinces. Over the years he has worked in urban forestry, arboriculture, landscape construction & maintenance, snow & ice management, business, information systems & technology and research prior to transitioning to consulting full time. Current credentials:
Paul has been a sitting member of the Provincial Apprenticeship Committee for the Landscape Horticulture trade in Alberta. He contributed to the development of urban forestry programming that teaches sustainable urban forestry management. Paul has also been a member of the Industry Advisory Committee and guest lecturer at Olds College as well as advising on revisions to the Canadian National Landscape Standards.
His passion for empowering education and innovation led to his involvement in youth employment initiatives to strategize how to create pathways for opportunity youth that are not employed or in school. He has also worked with local indigenous groups to develop and administer a landscape industry training curriculum at the Tsuut’ina nation.
Paul conducted a three-year scientific research project that analyzed the growth performance and carbon capture of municipal trees in Calgary. The process of analyzing trees that were being removed for development, produced an informative window into the unique challenges of growing trees in the prairies.
Paul is also a successful business leader who helped build a national outdoor property service company. He has the business acumen to understand the economic viability of capital investments and their impact on long-term maintenance burdens. Modernizing industry thinking by leveraging scientific data informs his practice.
Paul has been balancing the benefits of social, environmental, and economic value while building and maintaining urban spaces for decades. Applying the principles of biomimicry and passive utility to infrastructure design reduces the maintenance inputs and expense to achieve sustainable urban spaces. His combined experience and education bridges the traditional silos across urban maintenance, snow & ice management, urban forestry, arboriculture, landscape construction, horticulture, business, and financial investment.
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