Alex Fraser Research Forest manager Ken Day is one of five University of B.C. staff to be presented with the university’s 2014 President’s Service Award for Excellence.
He will be officially presented with the award at the university in November.
The awards recognize excellence in personal achievements and contributions to UBC and to the vision and goals of the university.
Day has managed the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest near Williams Lake since it was first established in 1987.
“In Williams Lake and surrounding communities, Ken is the face of UBC,” states the UBC notice recognizing the award. “During his years in the community, Ken has demonstrated excellence as a manager field forester, academic associate, volunteer and leader.”
The report says Day and his staff extend invaluable assistance to faculty members, graduate students and others who conduct research on or in the vicinity of the Alex Fraser Research Forest.
The research forest has an office in Williams Lake and manages 10,000 hectares of forest on two separate blocks, one at Knife Creek south of Williams Lake and the other at Gavin Lake near Big Lake. Between the two blocks there are three different climatic conditions.
In addition to maintaining the financial viability of the research forest through good economic times and bad, Day has demonstrated how B.C.’s interior forests can be managed to reduce wildfire and beetle hazards, as well as the integration of timber production, fuel management and grassland restoration.
Under Day’s guidance and leadership, the university research forests have become an irreplaceable educational tool in the forestry profession, and serve as a living lab for the university’s world-renowned research.
Day notes he doesn’t run the research forest alone. There are five full-time staff, plus interns, logging and log trucking contractors involved in the operations.
UBC forestry students also spend time at the research forest in the summer.