Eric Higgs
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ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs
@ehiggs.bsky.social
71 followers 66 following 28 posts

Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, Author of Nature By Design and director of the Mountain Legacy Project. .. more

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Eric Stowe Higgs is a Canadian ecologist. He is a professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Trained in ecology, philosophy, and environmental planning, his work concerns ecological restoration, historical ecology, intervention ecology, and the changing character of life in technological society. He also works with the Mountain Legacy Project as the Principal Instigator. .. more

Environmental science 64%
Geography 18%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Eric Higgs

cathmckenna.bsky.social
Catherine McKenna @cathmckenna.bsky.social · 23h
Join me tonight at @uvic.ca for a conversation of climate, connection, and fighting for change.

🕖 7:00–9:30 p.m. PST (doors 6:30)
📍 University of Victoria

🔗 Event details & tickets: tinyurl.com/RLAG-uvic
🎥 Livestream: tinyurl.com/RLAG-uvic-live
@picscanada.bsky.social

Reposted by Eric Higgs

nichecanada.bsky.social
NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 1d
Do you appreciate that we take care of a large archive of research and writing that goes back nearly 20 years?

If so, help us keep the lights on, donate to our fundraising campaign. Still stuck at 60%! Can you help us move to 65%?

fundrazr.com/niche2025?re...

#envhist #cdnhist #envhum
Help NiCHE Write the Next Chapter of Environmental History: 2025 Campaign
The Network in Canadian History and Environment is a not-for-profit public history organization dedicated to the dissemination of environmental history research in Canada and building a network of res...
fundrazr.com

Reposted by Eric Higgs

uvicenvi.bsky.social
UVIC Environmental Studies @uvicenvi.bsky.social · 4d
Join us for the #UVicENVI Colloquium on Nov 26, 11:30–12:30 in DTB B255.
Dr. Katherine Achacoso shares work on Surigaonon ecological knowledge, anti-colonial resistance, and futures beyond extractive systems.

Reposted by Eric Higgs

nichecanada.bsky.social
NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 6d
Today our editor, @gabtm.bsky.social, combed our archive for Mountain Voices and Echoes to help promote the latest collection in our @ucalgarypress.bsky.social Canadian History & Environment open-access book series.

niche-canada.org/2025/11/19/m...

#envhist #cdnhist #books #mountains
Mountain Voices and Echoes from NiCHE's Archive
Western Canada’s mountains emerge as dynamic landscapes of knowledge, danger, leisure, infrastructure, and change, illuminated through NiCHE’s diverse historical perspectives.
niche-canada.org

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · 14d
Still buzzing from the Mountain Voices launch event in Banff at the Whyte Museum on Friday. Thrilled to share the stage with Senator Karen Sorensen, Bill Snow, Ali Criscitiello, Leanne Allison and a dozen more contributors—mountain royalty! @mountainlegacy.bsky.social
@ucalgarypress.bsky.social

Reposted by Eric Higgs, Stephen D. Murphy

alanmaceachern.bsky.social
Alan MacEachern 🇨🇦 @alanmaceachern.bsky.social · 16d
Informed, inspiring text. Beautiful, illuminating pix.

Congratulations, @ehiggs.bsky.social, Zac Robinson, @msanseve.bsky.social, Kristen Walsh, & @mountainlegacy.bsky.social!

@ucalgarypress.bsky.social & @nichecanada.bsky.social

press.ucalgary.ca/books/978177...

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · 16d
It’s out and it’s beautiful. Mountain Voices featuring photographs from @mountainlegacy.bsky.social went on sale Friday evening at our launch event at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff.

Reposted by Eric Higgs

mountainlegacy.bsky.social
Mountain Legacy Project @mountainlegacy.bsky.social · 17d
The MLP recently provided images for the short film Embers, which premiered this past week at the Banff Film and Book Festival!

This short animated video from the production shows the dramatic change in the Athabasca Glacier from 1917 to 2011:

tinyurl.com/EmberVideo

Trailer:
vimeo.com/1131446093
Embers Official Trailer
After losing her home in the 2024 Jasper wildfire, aerial artist Sasha Galitzki is forced to reckon with catastrophic changes to her mountain home. Short documentary…
vimeo.com

Reposted by Eric Higgs

nichecanada.bsky.social
NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 19d
Today we are highlighting an excerpt from the latest book in our Canadian History & Environment series with @ucalgarypress.bsky.social, Mountain Voices, in collaboration with the Alpine Club of Canada

"Prospector’s-Russell Col, Mount Logan" by Alison Criscitiello

niche-canada.org/2025/11/06/p...
Prospector’s-Russell Col, Mount Logan
Facing frostbite or storm entrapment, Alison Criscitiello chose frostbite, later returning to Mount Logan for ice-core research revealing past climate secrets.
niche-canada.org

Reposted by Marcus Collier

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Oct 17
Very happy to report the first glimpse at the new identity for our research group—EcoVisualization Studio—which combines @mountainlegacy.bsky.social with CEDAR (Co-Lab for Ecological Design And Restoration). More soon!

Reposted by Eric Higgs

gbrumfiel.bsky.social
Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · Oct 3
Well gang, it's happened: OpenAI has built a platform filled exclusively with fake, AI content.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and I think it's safe to say we're basically kissing reality goodbye.

Here's the story: www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

And some thoughts 🧵

Reposted by Eric Higgs

marcuscollier.bsky.social
Marcus Collier @marcuscollier.bsky.social · Oct 1
We are hiring!
Applications are open for an Assistant. Prof. In Plant #Biodiversity and #Conservation at Trinity College, School of Natural Sciences in the Discipline of Botany! my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...
Any enquiries, please DM me!
#academicjobs #universityjobs #environmentalscience

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Sep 12
Very happy to announce the book, Mountain Voices, will be published in early November by @ucalgarypress.bsky.social. Fifty authors explore their love of Canadian mountains through interpreting photographs from @mountainlegacy.bsky.social. press.ucalgary.ca/books/978177... Order early!
Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada
Discover Canada’s mountains as you’ve never seen them before with gorgeous photography from the Mountain Legacy Project accompanied by gripping essays from mountaineers, artists, and mountain research...
press.ucalgary.ca

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Sep 6
Jeanine Rhemtulla and I are presenting “The Mountain Legacy Project as a Platform for Understanding Fire the Canada Wildfire webinar series at 08:30 Friday Sept 12. Free to register. Please join us. www.canadawildfire.org/webinarsandc...

@mountainlegacy.bsky.social
Canada Wildfire - Webinars and courses
Our webinars feature leading experts discussing a range of topics related to wildfires. Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, or simply interested in learning, our platform provides a space for d...
www.canadawildfire.org

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Sep 5
All great suggestions but I feel your pain on volume of applications. Do you have threshold criteria—achievement and practical—that can filter the applications? This step can be undertaken by someone else without compromising the integrity of the process. This makes your job more tractable.

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Sep 1
Very pleased work with Drs. Jeanine Rhemtulla and Lori Daniels and students on the 2024 Jasper wildfires to be featured in the New York Times today. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
In a Mammoth Wildfire’s Remains, Clues to Tame Future Blazes
www.nytimes.com

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Aug 14
Big thanks to PhD student, Claire Wright, who managed the fieldwork, & Wildfire Canada, and Jasper National Park for great support. Great to work alongside UBC faculty Jeanine Rhemtulla & Lori Daniels. We were delighted to have artist/photographer Desirée Patterson and writer Jesse Winter join us.

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Aug 14
Wrapped up a very successful field season with @mountainlegacy.bsky.social. We repeat high resolution oblique photographs in some case for the fourth time creating a sequence from 1915 to the present including before and after photos of the 2024 Jasper Wildfire Complex.

Reposted by Eric Higgs

ecol-evol.bsky.social
Ecology and Evolution @ecol-evol.bsky.social · Jun 10
Peering Into the Past Century of Mountain Diversity Change by Uniting Two Modes of Remote Sensing. New from @juliefortin.bsky.social, @random-blackbear.bsky.social & @ehiggs.bsky.social: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #ornithology

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jul 22
I had the pleasure of working with 16 fine students in the School of Environmental Studies @uvic.ca and in our Restoration of Natural Systems Program. They delivered insights for the community on six research projects that key into priorities of the galianoconservancy.org
Black and white photograph of students in front of the rustic classroom building.

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jul 3
Heading to the Millard Learning Centre on Galiano Island to teach my annual “advanced principles and practices in ecological restoration” course. Ten days of good work with 16 @uvic.ca students culminating in presentations to the Galiano community! galianoconservancy.ca/event/uvic-s...
UVic Student Presentations | Galiano Conservancy
You are cordially invited to join us at the Millard Learning Centre classroom on Saturday July 12, 2025, 4:00pm-5:30pm, for a public talk by UVic Environmental Studies and Restoration of […]
galianoconservancy.ca

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jul 1
After some technical hiccups over the last few months the @mountainlegacy.bsky.social Stories series is back! Please check out the latest post by Alia Johnson on connecting work with repeat photography to ecological design. mountainlegacy.ca/2025/06/30/o...

Pls subscribe! mountainlegacy.ca/news/
On Historical Photographs, Regenerative Ecological Design, and the Value of Collaboration
By Alia Johnson Beyond being a powerful tool for understanding large-scale landscape change over time, historical photographs provide profound insights as a decision-making tool for the designe...
mountainlegacy.ca

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jun 10
Julie Fortin delivers on innovative use of repeat photography for tracking songbird diversity in a mountain landscape. Research done while a MSc student in the School of Environmental Studies @uvic.ca
ecol-evol.bsky.social Ecology and Evolution @ecol-evol.bsky.social · Jun 10
Peering Into the Past Century of Mountain Diversity Change by Uniting Two Modes of Remote Sensing. New from @juliefortin.bsky.social, @random-blackbear.bsky.social & @ehiggs.bsky.social: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #ornithology

Reposted by Eric Higgs, Laura E. Dee

dudney-joan.bsky.social
Dr. Joan Dudney @dudney-joan.bsky.social · Jun 9
This paper is exactly what we need!! Congratulations team!
jebyrnes.bsky.social Jarrett Byrnes @jebyrnes.bsky.social · Jun 9
A preprint of our paper on #CausalInference in #Ecology - Best practices for moving from correlation to causation in ecological research - led by Hannah Correia is now up as a preprint ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... 🧪🌍

This came from a GREAT workshop last year, and gives a solid framework and howto

Reposted by Karen R. Lips, Eric Higgs, Laura E. Dee , and 4 more

jebyrnes.bsky.social
Jarrett Byrnes @jebyrnes.bsky.social · Jun 9
A preprint of our paper on #CausalInference in #Ecology - Best practices for moving from correlation to causation in ecological research - led by Hannah Correia is now up as a preprint ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... 🧪🌍

This came from a GREAT workshop last year, and gives a solid framework and howto

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jun 6
Disseration available: dspace.library.uvic.ca/items/9be840...
Based on two recent publications and more to come.
The emergence of novel disturbance in Jasper National Park – evaluating the causes and implications of 100 years of landscape change using repeat photography
Recurring disturbance has a strong influence on the bounds of ecosystem variability. The concept historical range of variability (HRV) describes these bounds, providing a sense of the range of ecosystem characteristics exhibited in response to disturbance and recovery over time and space. Altered and novel disturbances can drive changes in ecosystem composition and configuration that depart from the HRV and lead to regimes shifts. In Jasper National Park, a systematic set of historical and repeated oblique photographs depict montane landcover in the aftermath of extensive fires in 1915 and a mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak in 2020/22. However, the MPB disturbance is historically unprecedented, and raises important questions about whether the characteristics of this event are within the HRV of the montane ecosystems. The focus of this dissertation is to apply a new workflow for deriving landcover maps from oblique photographs to evaluate the landcover changes that have occurred in the park’s montane ecoregion over the last 105 years. The workflow comprises a deep learning algorithm that automates the classification of landcover evident in grayscale and color oblique photographs and a georeferencing tool that incorporates these data into a GIS. I report on the accuracy of the data produced by the workflow (Chapter 2) and quantify the changes in composition and configuration of broad landcover types after the two disturbance events for a study area in the montane ecoregion (Chapter 3). A scenario planning exercise is then undertaken to evaluate the uncertainty surrounding the implications of these changes and the potential for future novel disturbance events (Chapter 4). Georeferencing accuracy using root-mean-square error for a subset of 7 images was 4.6 m and overall classification accuracy for the landcover map produced from oblique photographs using the new workflow was 68%. The change analysis in the montane ecoregion indicated that the MPB outbreak has returned a version of heterogeneity evident in 1915 to the landscape by reducing the dominance of mature conifer (both in composition and configuration) across the landscape. Four scenarios then describe alternative futures in the park based on different levels and combinations of ecological novelty and management intervention. The value of this research is to validate the development of a new workflow for analyzing historical and repeat photographs, increase the temporal depth of ecological monitoring in the park, and allow managers and restoration practitioners to develop a better understanding of how and where novel disturbance is altering ecological processes and could reoccur in the future.
dspace.library.uvic.ca

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · Jun 6
Very proud of newly-minted PhD, Dr. James Tricker. His dissertation helped develop new tools for classifying, analyzing, and geo-referencing oblique images. His work focused on a critical look at historical range of variability in light of emergent ecological novelty in Jasper National Park.

Reposted by Eric Higgs

jessicamdewitt.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica M. DeWitt @jessicamdewitt.bsky.social · Jun 2
🚨Just learned that the next book in our @nichecanada.bsky.social Canadian History and Environment series with @ucalgary.bsky.social, edited by @alanmaceachern.bsky.social, will drop in November 🚨

Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project…

#envhist

@ehiggs.bsky.social @msanseve.bsky.social
nange verino, een them before n Legacy Project ineers, artists, and and mountain ains have impacted their ascinating perspective -companied by a pair intain Legacy new 15 The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Westem Canada Mountain Voices CRIC RIGGS, ZAC ROBRISON, MARY SANSEVERPIO, AND KRISTEN WALSH ICTORY AND MOUNTAIN VOICES The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada Edited by Eric Higgs, Zac Robinson, Mary Sanseverino, and Kristen Walsh Foreword by I. S. MacLaren Discover Canada's mountains as you've never seen them before ula: with gorgeous photography from the Mountain Legacy Project Ve accompanied by gripping essays from mountaineers, artists, and ger mountain researchers. 이 In Mountain Voices, alpinists, activists, artists, and mountain researchers share the ways Canadian mountains have impacted their ar lives. Each contributor brings a unique and fascinating perspective to the mountain landscape with short essays accompanied by a pair of photographs from the remarkable archive of the Mountain Legacy Project, illustrating the history, geography, and lasting inspiration of the mountains.

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · May 12
Very proud of PhD student, Alia Johnson, who was awarded a prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This makes a perfect streak for the five Canadian PhD students working with me now (int’l students not eligible for this award).

ehiggs.bsky.social
Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · May 5
Another instalment of our “10 Questions” blog series @mountainlegacy.bsky.social This one features PhD student, Claire Wright. Check out the photo looking down the gully of Chak Peak in Jasper National Park! mountainlegacy.ca/2025/05/05/1...
10 Questions with Claire Wright
Welcome back to another episode of "10 Questions." From post-doctoral fellows to research assistants, each person has been asked to share their unique perspectives, experiences and stories by respondi...
mountainlegacy.ca