Don V. Gayton, M.Sc, P.Ag, Consulting Ecologist and Writer, d.gayton@shaw.ca 

Don Gayton, M.Sc, P.Ag, is a prolific author and working ecologist, living in Summerland, BC. Gayton’s writing includes award-winning books of popular non-fiction (Man Facing West, Okanagan Odyssey, Interwoven Wild, Kokanee, Landscapes of the Interior and The Wheatgrass Mechanism). He has also authored many technical and research publications about grasslands, fire ecology, invasive plants and ecological restoration. He has also written for Canadian Geographic and other magazines. Don holds an undergraduate degree in Agronomy from Washington State University and a Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology from the University of Saskatchewan. 

ABSTRACT

Fire in the Dry Forests: A Pilgrim’s Progress

Don Gayton will offer his personal chronology of fire, starting with boyhood experiences and then fast-forwarding to the 1990s in the Rocky Mountain Trench, where he became embroiled in elk-cattle conflicts. At that time that he discovered fire-maintained ecosystems, First Nations use of fire, and contemporary prescribed burning. Don went on to study fire histories and the techniques of tree fire-scar dating. From his perspective as a grizzled elder with an edge of humor, Don will recount some of the people and events that forged our current understanding of fire in our dry forests and grasslands.