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“My dad always said buy the bestequipment you can to get the job doneright, and for him that was Caterpillarmachines. He still comes around andgives me hell now and then.”dumps and transfer stations,” says Price. The company’s versatilityhelps keep the equipment moving and Nahanni’s four regularemployees working.Price has a propensity for bush work – jobs which take himand his Cat equipment out to tackle projects in sensitive areaswhere maintaining strict environmental standards is important.“I couldn’t work all day behind a desk,” he declares.Those preferences are reflected in another way, too. Whenhe’s not helping train heavy equipment operators (see sidebarbelow), he’s volunteering his time and expertise to assist peoplein distress in the bush. Price is a member of Prince George Searchand Rescue, a group called in to help outdoorsmen – and wannabes– who find themselves in trouble.Even experienced hikers and hunters can become disorientedin the backcountry. Skiers and snowmobilers are seduced intoventuring beyond their experience levels into overly steep andchallenging terrain. Kayakers and rafters can underestimate thecapricious nature of streams and rivers in central and northernB.C., not to mention the weather that influences them. PrinceGeorge Search and Rescue and other agencies respond to thedistress calls when these types of things happen. And consider-Those Who Can... TeachThe main dilemma Dean Price had when he was approachedabout teaching a heavy equipment training course was whetherhe could find the time to do it.But Frank Rossi, the man doing the approaching, had ananswer at the ready: he’d work the training sessions around Price’sbusy work schedule.Rossi is a trades co-ordinator in the Continuing Educationdepartment at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George.He heard about Price, the owner of Nahanni Construction Ltd.,through a friend of a friend. “It’s worked out very well,” says Rossi.“We’ve had excellent feedback from the students and Dean is agood communicator.”The 100-hour courses are practical in nature, says Rossi.“Our philosophy is for students to train on one piece of machineryuntil they reach a level of proficiency. The skills are transferableto other equipment.” Rossi has no shortage of men and womenhoping to learn from experienced machine operators like Price.When the environmentalintegrity of a worksite isat stake, Cat iron movesrocks one at a timeing our growing fascination with the more extreme elements ofoutdoor recreation, that’s no longer an isolated occurrence.Price’s attitude toward taking care of and showing respectfor the outdoor environment was apparent in his approach tothe Heritage River Trail project. Some contractors, for instance,may have whacked more of those pesky willows out of the waybecause they were a hindrance to getting the job done. NahanniConstruction, however, did that only as a last resort, says Price,who preferred instead to use his range of Cat excavators and takehis time to reach and work around the trees. It’s common senseas well as good practice to protect the riverbank, he adds. TheHeritage River Trail aficionados will be delighted he did.“Heavy equipment operators are one of the most in-demand occupationsin the growing economies of B.C. and Alberta. There’s a hugedemand for them.”Price also likes to take his students to the Finning (Canada) shopin Prince George. There they meet Max Kostovich, a product supportsalesman with Finning who’s been assisting Price and his fleet of usedCaterpillar equipment for about nine years. Kostovich introduces studentsto the world of good machine maintenance practices. “Operatingthe machine is one thing, but you have to learn to look after it aswell and all the maintenance stuff that goes along with that,” explainsKostovich. “I think that’s a benefit to the students.”Teaching has been a positive and rewarding experience for Price.“Whether the people have previous machine operating experience ornot, I try and train them the way I was taught,” he says. It’s interestingto see how people new to something react to it, he adds.And that’s where the roles are sometimes reversed. “I can learnfrom them,” says Price, “and we can never stop learning.”www.finning.ca Spring 2006 • TRACKS & TREADS 15