Join us on Thursday, September 4th, from 6:15-8:45 PM at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna, for an eye-opening film and an important discussion about forestry and flooding in BC.
About the film
Trouble in the Headwaters is a hard-hitting documentary that investigates the 2018 Grand Forks flood and reveals the connection to clearcut logging in the headwaters of the Kettle River Basin. The film follows Dr. Younes Alila, a professor of forest hydrology at the University of British Columbia, and two retired loggers as they travel through the Kettle River Watershed and unravel the science connecting industrial clearcutting and the growing risk of flooding, landslides and drought across British Columbia.
Interact with the filmmaker, Daniel Pierce, and the main subject, Dr. Younes Alila, as well as local experts, after the film.
Our featured panellists include:
- Daniel Pierce, director of Trouble in the Headwaters
- Dr. Younes Alila, Professor of Forest Hydrology at the University of British Columbia
- Sonia Furstenau, former BC Green Party Leader
- Elliot Tonasket, Okanagan Nation Alliance Natural Resource Spokesperson
- Dave Gill (RPF), General Manager of Forestry for Ntityix Resources
- Mike Morris, former BC Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety
Event details
- Date: Thursday, September 4, 2025
- Location: Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts, 421 Cawston Ave, Kelowna, BC
- Doors open: 6:15 PM
- Film screening: 7:00 PM
- Q&A forum: 7:45-8:45 PM
Scan the QR code below or click here for tickets.
Connecting floods and clearcuts
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.
View the film trailer
About the filmmaker
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).
More about our featured panellists
Dr. Younes Alila
Dr. 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 Basins.
Sonia Furstenau: educator, writer and former Green Party Leader
As MLA for Cowichan Valley and party leader, Sonia is a career educator, conservationist, organizer, and activist.
Mike Morris – former BC Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety
Mike is a former BC Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety and a retired RCMP Superintendent who served most of his 32-year career in the northern half of BC, with significant experience in developing and maintaining emergency plans associated with floods and wildfires.
As a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Forests, he used his decades of experience as an investigator to conduct a province-wide assessment on the loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat. He continues his research into how the cumulative effects of BC forest practices have placed BC at risk of increased frequency, magnitude, and duration of flood events, increased risk of landslides, and increased risk of wildfires.
Dave Gill – General Manager of Forestry
Dave Gill has been the General Manager of Ntityix Resources LP (NRLP) since the fall of 2013. NRLP is a natural resource company owned by Westbank First Nation via the Ntityix Development group located in the central Okanagan Valley. Dave and his team coordinate the planning, operations, silviculture, community and stakeholder engagement on the forestry tenures held by Westbank First Nation.
Dave is a director on the BC Community Forest Association and the Silver Lake Forest Education Society, where public education and stakeholder engagement are strong guiding principles for both organizations. Since graduating from UBC Forestry, Dave has worked for industry, his own consultancy, government, and First Nations in various locations across British Columbia. For the past 20 years, he and his family have called Kelowna home.
Today, Dave’s primary interest is in working with the Westbank Community in developing ways to incorporate Indigenous values into forest management, to earn the support of, and opportunities for, the community he works for, and to build resiliency, health and future opportunities in the forests he works in.
Contribute to the cause
The IWTF is driven by volunteers and financial donations from our supporters. If you would like to contribute and allow us to better advocate for our forests, you can send an e-transfer to IWTFdonations@gmail.com.
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