My current research interests include the
More recently I have been active in The Forest History Association of British Columbia, particularly in organizing talks, mounting oral-history listening-parties and producing the newsletter.
David Brownstein (2023). "Hastings Mill: The Historic Times of a Vancouver Community", book review, published in BC Studies, no 217, pp 128-130.
David Brownstein (2021, November 3). "History of protests in B.C.'s forests" [Radio broadcast]. CBC. On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko.
David Brownstein (2021). "Tackling industrial reforestation", double book-review of Slashburner: Hot Times in the British Columbia Woods by Nick Raeside; and Highballer: True Tales from a Treeplanting Life by Greg Nolan, published in The Ormsby Review.
J Howes and D Brownstein (2021). Archival and GIS support for the Museum of Vancouver "That Which Sustains Us" exhibition.
David Brownstein (2020). Initial creator of and content contributor for the Terry Allan Simmons Wikipedia article.
J Howes and D Brownstein (2019). Co-curators for the 8-vitrine semi-permanent exhibit Fashioning the Landscape: Women's Interwar Sportswear at the Canadian Pacific Railway Resorts, hosted by UBC Rare Books and Special Collections. Download the promotional poster here. Or, click on the thumbnail to go directly to the exhibit abstract.
Francis Johnson, Scott Scholefield and David Brownstein (2019). "Forest History and Reconciliation", editorial published in the Forest History Association of BC newsletter, no 104, p 11.
Hollis Marriott, David Brownstein and Daniel Mosquin (2019). Initial creators of and content contributors for the Ellen Powell Thompson Wikipedia article.
David Brownstein (2019). Review of "A Mill Behind Every Stump" by Marianne Van Osch, in BC Studies.
David Brownstein (2018). "Vancouver Natural History Society: 100 Years of Nature Study, Conservation & Exploration." Banquet speaker at BC Nature conference and annual general meeting.
David Brownstein (2018). Review of "Explorers of the Maritime Pacific Northwest" by William L. Lang and James V. Walker, in The Ormsby Review.
D Brownstein and J Howes (2018). Timber Forever! Standing Tall & Strong for 75 Years: The Truck Loggers Association, commissioned institutional history, self-published, 124 pages.
David Brownstein (2017). The history of Tree Planting is Way Cool because...", presented to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Vancouver, BC
David Brownstein (2016). "Origins of tree planting in British Columbia", Invited guest lecturer to UVic Biology 325, and Graduate student Colloquium, Victoria, BC.
David Brownstein (June 21, 2016). "The Surprising history of forest regeneration on British Columbia's south coast, 1914 - 1939," Keynote speaker, presented to the BC Seed Orchard Association biennial meeting, Langley, BC.
David Brownstein (2016). "Spasmodic research as executive duties permit: Space, practice and the localization of forest management expertise in British Columbia, 1912-1928" in Journal of Historical Geography, vol 52, pp 36 - 47.
David Brownstein (2016). "The Herbarium is Way Cool because...", a talk in celebration of the UBC Herbarium's 100th birthday, presented to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Vancouver, BC
David Brownstein (August 2015). "Teaching Environmental History: Canada in Context" a set of eight digital teaching modules commissioned by the academic journal Environmental History.
David Brownstein (March 2015). "A History of the UBC Botanical Garden" presented to the Friends of the Garden.
David Brownstein (February 2015). "The Surprising history of forest regeneration on British Columbia's south coast, 1914 - 1939" presented to the Canadian Institute of Forestry, Vancouver Section.
Lisa Szabo-Jones & David Brownstein (2014). "A Natural History and Dioramic Performance: Restoring Camosun Bog in Vancouver, British Columbia" in Sustaining the West: Cultural Responses To Canadian Environments, Liza Piper & Lisa Szabo-Jones (eds), Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp 43 - 63.
David Brownstein (2014). "Archival Donation Guide: The Canadian Forest History Preservation Project", an 'Old Growth' column in The Forestry Chronicle , vol 90, no 6, pp 716 - 718.
David Brownstein (November 2014). "A Pre-history of Seed Collection on the British Columbia Coast" presented to the staff of the B.C. Tree Seed Centre.
I had the honour of supervising Kim Keskinen's masters thesis in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University. Undertaken over 2013-2014, it is: Assessing the effectiveness of physical treatments to control non-native spartina patens in a constructed marsh in Port Moody, British Columbia.
David Brownstein (2013). Book review of "The Insatiable Bark Beetle", by Reese Halter, and "Empire of the Beetle: How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America's Great Forests" by Andrew Nikiforuk in B.C. Studies.
David Brownstein (July 4 2012). "An Introduction to Archival Research and Writing Forest History," eLecture delivered to the Canadian Institute of Forestry, series #29, Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Ongoing History of Canada's Forests.
David Brownstein (June 27 2012). "The Canadian Forest History Preservation Project," eLecture delivered to the Canadian Institute of Forestry, series #29, Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Ongoing History of Canada's Forests.
David Brownstein (September 2011). "A short history of British Columbia Forest Regeneration" delivered to the Canadian Institute of Forestry, Annual General Meeting, Huntsville, Ontario.
David Brownstein (2011). Book review of "Forestry and Biodiversity: Learning How To Sustain Biodiversity in Managed Forests", edited by Fred L. Bunnell & Glen B. Dunswroth, in B.C. Studies.
David Brownstein (2010). Book Review of "The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest" by Jack Nisbet, in B.C. Studies.
David Brownstein (July 2, 2010). "British Columbia conifer seeds, 1912-1940," presented to the Anglo-American conference of Historians at the Senate House, University of London.
David Brownstein (2009). "Canadian Forests", reviews of Awful
Splendour: A Fire History of Canada, by Stephen J. Pyne and, The
Eternal Forest, by George Stanley Godwin" in Canadian
Literature.
David Brownstein (2008). "Nature, Order and Chaos in John Davidson's
Archive: A Photo Essay" in
B.C. Studies, no 159, pp 121 - 130.
David Brownstein (May 30, 2008). "John Davidson and the Environmental
History of Early Vancouver" presented to the Canadian History and
Environment Summer School, UBC.
David Brownstein (April 25, 2008). "The Future of B.C. Forest
History" presented to the
Forest History subcluster of the Network in Canadian History and
Environment, Vancouver, British Columbia.
David Brownstein (March 11, 2008). Researcher/Writer for the Virtual
Museum of Canada web exhibit John
Davidson: The Legacy of a Canadian Botanist, hosted by the UBC
Botanical Garden.
David Brownstein (November 14, 2007). "VICTORIA VS. VANCOUVER: JAMES
ROBERT ANDERSON, JOHN DAVIDSON AND BOTANICAL COMPETITION ACROSS THE
GEORGIA STRAIT" published in the Botanical
Electronic News, no 383.
David Brownstein (November 7, 2007). "John Davidson's Garden
Roadshow, or The Many Moves of the UBC Botanical Garden" presented to
the UBC
BG Friends of the Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia.
David Brownstein (November 4, 2006). "Spasmodic research as
executive duties permit: Practice and Authority in the British Columbia
Forest Branch, 1912-1925." presented to the History of Science Society ,
Vancouver, British Columbia.
David Brownstein (September 22, 2006). "Natural Historians as
advocates of Forest Conservation" presented to the Society for the History of Natural
History , Montreal, Quebec.
David Brownstein (July 15, 2005). "A crop more valuable than the
pampered fruit trees of the orchard: British Columbia conifer seeds,
1912-1940" presented to the International
Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology ,
Guelph, Ontario.
David Brownstein (June 4, 2005). "British Columbia tree seed and
European forest regeneration, 1919-1940." presented to the Canadian
Association of Geographers , London, Ontario.
David Brownstein (April, 2005). "James Robert Anderson, B.C. Deputy
Minister of Agriculture and Forest Policy Advocate" in the British
Columbia Forest History Newsletter, published by the Forest History Association of British
Columbia , Victoria, British Columbia, number 76, pp 5-6.
David Brownstein (April 29, 2005). "Creeping policy shifts and B.C.
Silvicultural research, 1912 to 1940" presented at the BC Studies
Conference , Prince George, British Columbia.
David Brownstein (Sept-Oct 2004). Archival Photo Research Contract
in suport of Reasoning Otherwise: Canadian Leftists and the
People's Enlightenment, 1892-1919, a manuscript by Ian McKay of
Queens University, Kingston.
David Brownstein (April 4, 2004). "Duelling Herbaria: Botanical
conflict and the demise of the B.C. amateur tradition" presented to the
American
Society for Environmental History, Victoria, B.C.
David Brownstein (May 28, 2003). "Photographing Landscape Change in the
Saanich Peninsula, British Columbia, 1913 - 1925" presented to the Canadian Association of Geographers,
Victoria, BC.
David Brownstein (May 2, 2003). "An Odd Study of Tree Stumps: Chartres
Cecil Pemberton and the Natural History Society of British Columbia"
presented to the BC
Studies Conference, Vancovuer B.C.
David Brownstein (2000). "Emergence of the British Columbia Expert
Forester" presented to the American
Society for Environmental History, Tacoma Washington.
David Brownstein (1999). "The 1914 Berlin-Waterloo Plan: Rough Draft to
Public Document" in Environments,
volume 27, no 2, pp 45-61.
David Brownstein (1998). "Early Conservation Efforts in Waterloo
County" in Annual
Volume of the Waterloo Historical Society, vol 86, pp 7-31.
David Brownstein (1998). "The Street Names of Kitchener-Waterloo,
Cambridge and Guelph", in Annual
Volume of the Waterloo Historical Society, vol 86, pp 136-166.
