New BCLSS Board Member: Ken Ashley

We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Ken Ashley back to the BCLSS board of directors! Dr. Ashley was a founding member of the BCLSS in 1997, and after his recent tenure with BCIT as the Director of the Rivers Institute and an instructor in BCIT’s Ecological Restoration Program from 2012 to 2023, we are excited to have him join the board and contribute his extensive expertise to the BCLSS.

Ken was born and raised in Vancouver. He attended UBC and received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in the Zoology Department, specializing in aquatic ecology, and an M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. at UBC in the Faculty of Applied Sciences in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He worked for the Ministry of Environment in the Fisheries Research and Development Section on the UBC campus from 1979 to 2005, initially as a project biologist, and eventually as Section Head for Fisheries Restoration and Bioengineering. While in this position he conducted a set of large-scale adaptive management experiments, and is internationally recognized for his expertise in the design, operation and effects of lake destratification and hypolimnetic aeration/oxygenation systems, lake and reservoir fertilization, and stream/river enrichment. Ken received the Murray A. Newman Award in 1997 from the Vancouver Aquarium for Significant Achievement in Aquatic Research, the Fisheries Professional of the Year in 1999 from the BC Ministry of Environment, the Seth Diamond Award for Interdisciplinary Conservation Research in 2001 from the University of Idaho-Moscow and University of Montana-Missoula and the Applied Research Award in 2022 from BCIT. Ken transferred to the Greater Vancouver Regional District from 2005 to 2007 as Senior Engineer and was the project lead for the Environmental Management team, with responsibility for raw drinking water quality, and monitoring the environmental effects of wastewater discharges from the regions five wastewater treatment plants and municipal water withdrawals from the Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam rivers. Dr. Ashley was Director of the Rivers Institute at BCIT, and an instructor in BCIT’s Ecological Restoration Program from 2012 to 2023. Ken is also Vice-Chair and a Director-Trustee of the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and a Director with the North Shore Streamkeepers Society.