1985 Fredericton Convocation - Ceremony B
Bailey, R. Edward
Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
Orator: Methven, Ian R.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1985
R. EDWARD BAILEY
to be Doctor of Science
Far too rarely do we honour those dedicated professionals who labour in the trenches with little public recognition, but whose work has a profound impact on society. Mr. Bailey is such a person; a prophet so to speak, whom we wish to honour "in his own country and in his own home."
Mr. Bailey graduated from UNB with a BScF in 1964, worked with the Canadian Forestry Service as a Research Officer, and obtained an MSc in soils from McGill in 1968. He then moved to Nova Scotia to work with the Department of Lands and Forests where he is now the Director of Reforestation and Silviculture.
Mr. Bailey's great contribution has been his ability to advance the application of forest science to real operational problems on the ground. He has never waited for more research. He designed a usable forest size classification system for the province that both rationalized the existing broad scale system to permit management use, and provided a solid base for land comparison with respect to productivity. This early work identified a series of mensurational problems which Bailey then systematically attacked over a period of years.
Management planning requires forecasts of stand yield. Bailey led a program that produced a set of usable softwood yield tables for Nova Scotia related to the site classification system. To further facilitate management planning he generated local tables and nomograms showing the expected yield response of stands to such treatments as planting, spacing, thinning and herbicides. As it became apparent that procedures for analyzing wood supply problems, and design of management solutions, were needed at the scale of a forest management unit, he led the development of a comprehensive computer model for wood supply analysis in Nova Scotia.
It seems that wherever there has been a need for quantitative expression of a forestry problem in Nova Scotia in the last 20 years Bailey has been on the job. Further, he has proceeded directly from problem definition to incisive analysis and, with time, to a solution. In the process Bailey has written many technical reports directed straight at his fellow foresters to enhance their capabilities in the field. A summation of much of this advice now can be found in a ubiquitous, and comprehensive, "little yellow field handbook" published by his Department and used beyond the boundaries of Nova Scotia.
Mr. Bailey has established a solid reputation in the industrial and governmental segments of the profession, as well as outside it, for a careful, thoughtful, and above all factual approach to the design of forest management. Perhaps this reputation is limited regionally, but that necessarily follows where on-the-ground management is involved. It is easy to espouse vague theories of forest management that might apply equally anywhere in the country. It is quite another thing to design an implementable management regime that will apply to the varied problems from wood availability to logging costs in a real forest with real users. To do so requires a deep understanding of both the problems and of the forest itself. Like too few foresters, Bailey has worked in, and learned about, his forest and its problems hard enough and long enough to deliver real management designs that can be converted to real on-the-ground management. We wish to honour him as a credit to his profession and to our university.
Insignissime Prases, amplissima Cancellaria, tota Universitas, praesento vobis R. Eduardum Bailey ut admittatur honoris cause ad gradum Doctoris in Scientia in hac Universitate.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
R. EDWARD BAILEY
to be Doctor of Science
Far too rarely do we honour those dedicated professionals who labour in the trenches with little public recognition, but whose work has a profound impact on society. Mr. Bailey is such a person; a prophet so to speak, whom we wish to honour "in his own country and in his own home."
Mr. Bailey graduated from UNB with a BScF in 1964, worked with the Canadian Forestry Service as a Research Officer, and obtained an MSc in soils from McGill in 1968. He then moved to Nova Scotia to work with the Department of Lands and Forests where he is now the Director of Reforestation and Silviculture.
Mr. Bailey's great contribution has been his ability to advance the application of forest science to real operational problems on the ground. He has never waited for more research. He designed a usable forest size classification system for the province that both rationalized the existing broad scale system to permit management use, and provided a solid base for land comparison with respect to productivity. This early work identified a series of mensurational problems which Bailey then systematically attacked over a period of years.
Management planning requires forecasts of stand yield. Bailey led a program that produced a set of usable softwood yield tables for Nova Scotia related to the site classification system. To further facilitate management planning he generated local tables and nomograms showing the expected yield response of stands to such treatments as planting, spacing, thinning and herbicides. As it became apparent that procedures for analyzing wood supply problems, and design of management solutions, were needed at the scale of a forest management unit, he led the development of a comprehensive computer model for wood supply analysis in Nova Scotia.
It seems that wherever there has been a need for quantitative expression of a forestry problem in Nova Scotia in the last 20 years Bailey has been on the job. Further, he has proceeded directly from problem definition to incisive analysis and, with time, to a solution. In the process Bailey has written many technical reports directed straight at his fellow foresters to enhance their capabilities in the field. A summation of much of this advice now can be found in a ubiquitous, and comprehensive, "little yellow field handbook" published by his Department and used beyond the boundaries of Nova Scotia.
Mr. Bailey has established a solid reputation in the industrial and governmental segments of the profession, as well as outside it, for a careful, thoughtful, and above all factual approach to the design of forest management. Perhaps this reputation is limited regionally, but that necessarily follows where on-the-ground management is involved. It is easy to espouse vague theories of forest management that might apply equally anywhere in the country. It is quite another thing to design an implementable management regime that will apply to the varied problems from wood availability to logging costs in a real forest with real users. To do so requires a deep understanding of both the problems and of the forest itself. Like too few foresters, Bailey has worked in, and learned about, his forest and its problems hard enough and long enough to deliver real management designs that can be converted to real on-the-ground management. We wish to honour him as a credit to his profession and to our university.
Insignissime Prases, amplissima Cancellaria, tota Universitas, praesento vobis R. Eduardum Bailey ut admittatur honoris cause ad gradum Doctoris in Scientia in hac Universitate.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
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