If you want to get Mark Joron talking, ask about trees or birds.
His passion for trees has earned him national recognition.
Joron, who is Eacom Timmins' woodlands supervisor, is one of the recipients of the Forest Products Association of Canada's (FPAC) Forest Community Champion Award.
The award is for a community leader who demonstrates support for the forest sector and its contributions to Canada's environmental, economic and social priorities. The other recipient of the honour this year is Senator Diane Griffin.
“Mark Joron is a tireless champion of conservation and Canada’s forest sector,” said Derek Nighbor, FPAC President and CEO, in a news release.
“Whether it be directly in his role with EACOM or throughout his many volunteer activities, Mark exemplifies community leadership and demonstrates each day how one individual can make an impactful positive difference.”
Joron found out about receiving the national award about a week ago.
“I was actually very surprised. I didn’t know that there was such an award out there,” he said.
Joron has been talking about trees in Timmins for three decades.
His day job is in forestry and the passion spills over into his volunteer work.
The Wintergreen Fund for Conservation, Kettle Lakes Provincial Park, Timmins Honour Roll of Trees, and BeeCity are some of the ways he gives back.
“I believe it’s important that everyone should find their niche and do a little bit of volunteering,” he said.
Twenty minutes south of town is Joron's favourite tree in the area.
It's a beautiful tamarack with big branches to climb. Its age is unknown and Joron expects it's at least 100 years old, although he guesses it could be older. He's interested to have it aged to give a better idea of how long it's been around.
"It’s such a cool tree, it has branches right down to the bottom and I’ve gone there for probably at least 10 years with the kids at Christmas time and got pictures of the kids in the tree," he said.
The tamarack is one of the species on Timmins Honour Roll of Trees, which Joron started about 10 years ago. It features spectacular native species within 30 minutes of town. Some of the sites feature a geocache as well.
Through the Wintergreen Fund, he also enjoys the opportunities to share his knowledge.
"We do community hikes all the time, we’ve been to Bald Rock, we’ve been to High Falls and my rule always is as I lead is to talk about trees,” he said.
