Resizing the Peace River - Some Consequences of the Peace River Dams

	Date:	Thursday, January 7, 2010
	Time:	7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
	Location:	North Peace Cultural Center Theatre, Corner of 100th and 100th Fort St John BC
	Cost:	$20.00 cost recovery fee payable through APEGBC online registration or at the door.

“Dam construction on the Peace River has significantly reduced peak water flows while leaving sediment delivery into the river largely unchanged”

In 1967 British Columbia Hydro and Power Corporation closed W.A.C. Bennett Dam on Peace River, and thereby definitively changed the flow regime of the river. At the time, this was the fifth largest hydropower project in the world (it currently ranks eleventh). Important questions arise as to the effects on the river, effects that have often been debated and asserted, but never followed up in detail. Dr Mike Church has periodically surveyed the river since the dam was closed and has compiled some details of the physical adjustment of the river over the first 40 years of the project. The results lead to some predictions about the likely effects of additional dams and about the ultimate adjustment of the river, and they form a context for ecological changes and for changing patterns of human use of the river. This research may be the most detailed follow-up study to the damming of a major river ever attempted, and is unique in its attention to a boreal river.

Dr. Mike Church is Professor emeritus of Geography in the University of British Columbia, where he taught for 38 years. His teaching was focused on environment and resources, geomorphology and research methods. His own research is focused on sediment transport and morphology of rivers. He has underway a long term study of Peace River to understand the downstream effects of the Peace River dams. He has also conducted long-term studies of sediment transport and sedimentation in lower Fraser River, which has led to proposed management programs for the river. In addition, he is interested in the stability of mountain channels. At UBC, he directs a program of experimental studies of river processes. He has a long experience of applied work, including participation in development of riparian management regulations for forest streams, hydrometric network reviews, and sediment management strategies. 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 to expanding knowledge of Canadian geography by his studies of Canadian rivers.

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