John Stanley Rowe

Rowe, John Stanley

John Stanley Rowe, botanist, ecologist (b at Hardisty, Alta 11 Jun 1918; d at New Denver, BC 6 Apr 2004). Educated at the universities of Alberta, Nebraska and Manitoba, J. Stanley Rowe worked as a forest labourer and school teacher in British Columbia and then as a research officer on the Prairies with the federal Department of Forestry from 1948 to 1967, when he became professor of plant ecology at the University of Saskatchewan. In his work on the ecology of the boreal forest, tundra and peatlands, Stan Rowe insisted on broad long-term conceptual approaches to resource questions, an approach reflected in his many scientific and popular articles.

His 1959 treatise (revised 1972), Forest Regions of Canada, is a key source for foresters, biologists and land managers. An active participant in the International Biological Program and on the Canadian Forestry Advisory Council, Stan Rowe received the Canadian Forestry Achievement Award in 1972. After retiring in 1985, Rowe stayed active, promoting forest conservation and ecosystem management in articles and reviews for the more popular environmental journals. He also wrote 2 popular books, Home Place: Essays on Ecology (1990) and Earth Alive: Essays on Ecology (published posthumously in 2006). In 1994, Rowe was honoured with the J.B. Harkin Conservation Award.