Trouble in the Headwaters with Dr. Younes Alila

Date: Tuesday March 24, 2026

Seminar Start: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM (PST)

Location: ASB 10900 (Big Data Hub Presentation Studio)

Trouble in the Headwaters is an important 25-minute documentary by filmmaker Daniel J. Pierce that explores the root causes of the devastating 2018 floods in Grand Forks, B.C. The Narwhal featured film follows Dr. Younes Alila, a professor of forest hydrology at the University of British Columbia, who investigates the upstream impacts of clear-cut logging on the hydrology of the Kettle River watershed. In this seminar, we will present the 25-minute documentary and then Dr. Younes Alila will lead us in a discussion about the impacts of clear-cut logging in British Columbia.

Many students graduating from SFU will go on to pursue a professional designation including biologists, planners, geoscientists, engineers, and forestry among others. Increasingly, environmental management decisions in British Columbia are being made by professionals in their fields. Through decades of research on the impacts of forestry, Dr. Alila will share his observations on the roles of professionals to safe-guard the environment and highlight how we can improve professional practice going forward. This discussion will be relevant to anyone who is interested in applied environmental practice in British Columbia.

Dr. Younes Alila is a professor at the Faculty of Forestry of the University of British Columbia. Dr. Alila teaches and conducts research on climate and land use effects on water resources. As a specialist in forest hydrology, his research confirms the negative effect that clearcutting has on forest watersheds, and the long-overdue need for forestry legislation to catch up with science.

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Host or Publisher Katrina Wynne