Oliver Holt

2022 Weston Family Awards in Northern Research recipient

Master’s student
University of Northern British Columbia

Oliver’s family roots are intertwined with those of the cedars from the Incomappleux valley. His passion for adventure has led to exploring careers in forestry, wildlife ecology and species at risk recovery. Helping sustain a positive relationship between people and nature in northern landscapes motivates him to focus his research and career in the North.

A master’s of science candidate at the University of Northern British Columbia, Oliver is working in partnership with Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments to better understand how landscape alterations and climate change could influence the future of northern mountain caribou in northwest British Columbia and southern Yukon.

In ecology, a disturbance is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes a pronounced transformation in an ecosystem. Oliver’s research compares predators’ diets and the distribution of caribou across different levels of habitat disturbance which signals underlying ecological changes that could lead to future declines of northern mountain caribou within the northern boreal mountains.

He aspires to support Indigenous-led northern mountain caribou knowledge development and maintaining caribou in the North.

Learn more about the Weston Family Awards in Northern Research.