Innovation-March_April 2013

p rof i l e

From Roots to Rivers, BC Hydrologist

Makes a Profound Impact

Jean Sorensen

Dr. David Wilford, P.Geo., RPF is the 2012 recipient of the C.J. Westerman Memorial Award which recognizes a geoscientist’s technical excellence, and significant professional and community contributions.

At the University of British Columbia’s forestry school in the 1970s, most students were focusing on traditional timber harvesting, but an emerging nucleus of students and professors were fascinated by another question. “We were interested in how logging was influencing the landscape and watersheds,” recalls Dr. Dave Wilford, P.Geo., RPF, recipient of APEGBC’s 2012 C.J. Westerman Memorial Award, which recognizes a geoscientist for outstanding contributions to the profession. One of Wilford’s early mentors was professor Bob Willington, P.Geo., who encouraged a view of forest land- use hydrology that drew from multiple disciplines. Early adapters like Willington, whose research remains relevant today, were rare at that time, but Willington’s broader perspective attracted Wilford, as it reflected a view of the forest imparted to him by another influential figure in his life—his grandfather. An avid outdoorsman, Wilford’s grandfather often spoke of author Henry David Thoreau who maintained that “the highest value of a prime tree is not in lumber” but in its complex ecological interrelationship, Wilford observes. Unraveling those interrelationships between natural resources and what is becoming an increasingly precious resource—water—has been a life-long pursuit for research hydrologist Wilford. “One of Dave’s strengths is that he sees the relevant connections between almost any land-management activity

and hydrology, and also within hydrology,” says colleague and Westerman award nominator, Matt Sakals, P.Geo. Wilford, who graduated from UBC to work with the BC Forest Service (now the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations) has seen BC’s resource management shift away from siloed thinking to a more integrated view during his 35 years of working in hydrology. “The focus of my career has really changed over the years,” he says, adding, “I am so lucky to have worked with the change.” In the 1970s though, this view was still fledging; however, shifts in industry and practice over time would soon demand a new way of looking at timber harvesting. Finding New Solutions As forestry companies climbed higher onto steep slopes, the 70s would see major changes in forest practices and growing conservation concerns over protection of fish-bearing streams. Fireguards—blocks of trees left to impede the march of a fire between logging slash—were eliminated as enhanced fire protection such as lightning strike detection, rapid response teams and water-bombers mitigated their need. However, this elimination triggered another impact. Gone were the trees that also acted as buffers for seeping ground waters or material that might be washed into a stream. Logging roads collapsed, debris was carried down

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