Trouble in the Headwaters - Film Screening & Community Discussion - Calgary

Trouble in the Headwaters – Film Screening & Discussion

Trouble in the Headwaters is a powerful documentary exploring how industrial land use—particularly clearcut logging—has altered forested headwater landscapes, increasing flood risk, degrading water quality, and undermining the natural systems communities depend on.

Through compelling science, lived experience, and on-the-ground footage, the film examines the links between forest management, hydrology, and extreme flooding, with lessons that resonate deeply across Alberta’s Eastern Slopes and Rocky Mountain headwaters.

Following the screening, audiences are invited to stay for a live discussion and Q&A with:

• Younes Alila — Professor of Forest Hydrology, internationally recognized expert on forest disturbance and flood processes

• Daniel Pierce — Filmmaker and director of Trouble in the Headwaters

Hosted by Save Our Slopes, this event is part of a broader effort to build public understanding, foster dialogue, and support community-led action to protect headwaters, drinking water sources, and intact mountain ecosystems.

Who should attend

• Community members concerned about flooding, water security, and land use

• Outdoor recreationists, conservationists, and land stewards

• Municipal leaders, planners, and policy-curious residents

• Anyone interested in the future of Alberta’s headwaters

Accessibility & Cost

• This event is free or by donation to remain barrier-free

• Donations help support Save Our Slopes’ organizing, education, and community engagement work

Further Details:

One-minute teaser trailer:

FILM SYNOPSIS: The City of Grand Forks has faced an onslaught of destructive floods. More than 100 families have been displaced and tens of millions of dollars have been spent on flood infrastructure. But new science has revealed that the root cause of the floods lies hundreds of kilometres upstream, where timber companies have logged vast swaths of the surrounding watersheds. We follow UBC hydrologist and engineer Dr. Younes Alila deep into the forest headwaters to reveal how clearcutting has unleashed a vicious cycle of flooding and drought on rural BC.

Director’s statement from Dan Pierce:

“It’s become clear that the costs of clearcutting now far outweigh the benefits. Dr. Alila’s science has exposed a dirty secret of the BC government and the timber industry – that they have wildly underestimated the flood risk being created by their logging. Now is the time to get together and have a real conversation about stepping into a new forestry paradigm in this province, one that protects communities and puts people to work restoring forests back to ecological health.”

DANIEL J. PIERCE – Writer, Director, Producer, Editor

Daniel Pierce is a filmmaker and journalist based in Vancouver, B.C. For more than a decade, he has documented the forests of British Columbia and the timber industry for his Heartwood documentary series. He’s crowdfunded $50,000, garnered hundreds of thousands of online views, and been published in The Narwhal, Vice and Seeker. His first long-form documentary, The Hollow Tree, was broadcast on Knowledge Network and CBC Documentary. Dan also co-wrote, produced and hosted a six-part CBC podcast called Pressure Cooker, which was nominated for a Webby and named one of Apple’s Top Podcasts of 2022. He also works as a story editor in non-fiction television, including multiple docuseries for Knowledge Network (Transplant Stories and Wildfire).

DR. YOUNES ALILA – Professor of Forest Hydrology, UBC

Younes Alila is a professor of hydrology in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC-Vancouver, and a registered professional engineer with EGBC. He teaches and conducts research on climate and land use change effects on water resources. His work over the last 20 years on forests’ effects on floods challenged a century-old wisdom on how forests affect large floods. His work has been the subject of peer reviewed discussions and generated press releases by the American Geophysical Union. Younes served as an expert witness in three court cases: Randy Saugstad vs. Tolko industries Ltd. (logging effects on hydrology, 2015), Waterway Houseboats Ltd. vs. British Columbia (flood hydrology unrelated to logging, 2018), and Ray Chipeniuk and Sonia Sawchuk vs. BC Timber Sales & Triantha (logging effects on hydrology, 2022). Younes continues to do research in the Kootenay and Kettle River Basin.

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