ESAK Consulting has partnered with ECO Canada and the Faculty of ALES for the Pilot Mentorship Program at the University of Alberta, providing senior-level students and protégés the opportunity to learn from seasoned professionals firsthand before entering their careers. The objective of this mentorship initiative is to foster excellence in both leadership and interpersonal skills within a highly-technical industry, equipping the next generation of soil and environmental scientists with a better grasp of the importance of their work on a human level. Lynette, founder of ESAK Consulting, is especially skilled in teaching complex concepts and scenarios in a concise, approachable manner. Her long-standing passion for mentorship carries over into her numerous teaching and training roles, including her positions with Yellowhead Tribal College, EcoCanada BEAHR, the University of Alberta, and Lakeland College.

Japan Canada Oilsands (JACOS) was preparing a bitumen mining essential processing facility. Over a five-year period, ESAK Consulting was both onsite and offsite assisting with efficiency responses for environmental impact reports (EIAs) for the multi-site project.

Working jointly with another contracted company, founder Lynette Esak managed the setup and senior reviews of all related field work (i.e.: soils and vegetation writeups) as well as the recommendations for the multi-site reclamation plan, indicating what could be rebuilt on the site decades into the future. Lynette supervised the early works construction to guarantee the approved plan, site-specific assessments, facilities, and smaller components were implemented properly.

Our team was involved with the full lifecycle of this project, ensuring it was well executed and well monitored with no major issues. There were so few non-compliance issues that the Alberta regulator referred to the JACOS project as the “poster child” of successful projects.

ESAK Consulting was commissioned to work with the City of Edmonton (along with their head scientist and designer, project managers, architects and various departments, and developers) to revamp the municipality’s topsoil guidelines, in order to increase public safety and reduce redevelopment costs.

The City had not updated their landscaping standards for almost 20 years, with only three specifications to determine soil quality in place. Foliage and trees were dying at project sites within 3 years; heavy rains were uprooting trees that had been planted in 2 inches of topsoil over clay, and children were getting injured.

Lynette created specific guidelines to improve topsoil requirements, outlining 7 soil combinations for 15 different end uses. This research document outlined the justification for these guidelines as well as showcased data from other successful projects to help the city plan better spaces, decreasing non-compliance rates, and saving the city hundreds of thousands in redevelopment costs.

Similar in scope to the project executed for JACOS, Brion Energy was required to assess multiple sites for an in situ oilsands processing facility. Early in the project, Brion was confronted with a non-compliance incident that jeopardized the project’s success. Regulators instructed Brion Energy to hire ESAK Consulting to advise on the remainder of their early works construction project. However, they faced even greater setbacks and non-compliance issues due to construction and contract delays.

Regardless of these setbacks, our team joined Brion part way through to complete the project within deadline and under budget. We built strong working relationships with their team, assisting them in coordinating a number of onsite activities to mitigate damage to the site environment and to reduce incidents of duplicate tasks, highlighting our team’s expertise through collaboration and communication to ensure a successful outcome for our clients.