Dam construction on the Peace River has significantly reduced peak water flows while leaving sediment delivery into the river largely unchanged…
Date: Thursday January 7th, 2010
Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: North Peace Cultural Center Theatre, corner of 100th and 100th Fort St John BC
Event: Peace Region Professionals recognized Pro-D event; public welcome to attend
Cost: $20 cost recovery fee charged at the door
Register: email lisa@scitechnorth.bc.ca or 250-785-9600
Dr. Mike Church is a globally acknowledged expert on rivers, their channels and surrounding catchment areas, and how they respond to human pressure and natural change.
Dr. Church’s research includes a long-term study of the Peace River. For several decades, he has studied the effects of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River and during his presentation will share his findings and forecasts. Dr. Church’s work is the most detailed follow-up study to the damming of a major boreal river ever attempted. His data compilations lead him to predictions about the effects of existing and additional dams and about the ultimate adjustment of the river. These results form a context for determining ecological changes and for changing patterns of human use of the river.
A Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Church has been hugely influential in getting provincial and national governments to see the value of geomorphology in managing the natural environment. Dr. Church has lent his expertise to numerous resource management debates. His insights have been applied in particular to sustainable forestry, and fisheries in British Columbia’s large river basins and coastal regions.
Professor Church is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has received awards from the British Society for Geomorphology and the United States National Academy of Science. This year he was awarded the Massey Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for contributions expanding the knowledge of Canadian geography.