Area of Expertise:
Bill is an Aquatic Ecologist who retired from Public Service with the Province of BC after 22 years in 2012. As a Shellfish Biologist, he was active in water quality management as Chair of the Baynes Sound Roundtable on Water Quality and in research on environmental interactions of shellfish aquaculture. In his later role as Aquatic Ecologist, he conducted stream and river surveys for trout and salmon populations and related habitat for the Province. Bill is currently the Project Coordinator and Biologist for the Hornby Island Bull Kelp Restoration Project of the Nile Creek Enhancement Society, an initiative to rebuild local kelp forests that provide habitat for juvenile salmon and many other marine species. He and his family have lived in the Comox Valley since 1990. Bill was recently invited to become a director on the Project Watershed Board and is interested in working on environmental issues such as climate change and carbon sequestration by aquatic primary producers such as kelp forests and eelgrass meadows.
In a project starting in 2016, representing Nile Creek Enhancement Society and Project Watershed, Bill worked alongside Braeden Schiltroth and Dr. Sherryl Bisgrove (SFU) and the Pacific Salmon Foundation to focus on understanding the effects of warm temperatures on bull kelp in the Salish Sea. The aim of the project is to help restore bull kelp forests which serve as crucial habitat for salmon and other marine species.
Select Presentation(s) / Publication(s):
Heath, William and Chambers, Kayt, “Bull Kelp Restoration Project at Hornby Island, BC, Canada” (2014). Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. 18. https://cedar.wwu.edu/ssec/2014ssec/Day1/18
Schiltroth, Braeden; Bisgrove, Sherryl; and Heath, Bill, “Effects of warm ocean temperatures on bull kelp forests in the Salish Sea” (2018). Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. 515. https://cedar.wwu.edu/ssec/2018ssec/allsessions/515
Heath, William and Bisgrove, Sherryl, “Salish Sea bull kelp restoration research: local, regional and international collaborations” (2018). Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. 525. https://cedar.wwu.edu/ssec/2018ssec/allsessions/525
Heath, William A; Hornby Island Diving Ltd.;, ” Collaborative Bull Kelp Restoration Project in northern Salish Sea, BC Canada” (2016). Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. 27. https://cedar.wwu.edu/ssec/2016ssec/habitat/27/
