When talking about Dave Hadden, the words "fiscal conservative" are bound to arise. This term sums up much of his role in the Society. Dave is currently the Secretary/Treasurer for the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society. As Treasurer, he is partially responsible for overseeing the Society's actions to ensure that they are in the Society’s best interests, that they are attainable, and that they are on budget. Dave is in fact ideally suited to his role. His ordered and organized methods bring an always-needed clarity to the functioning of the Society. Hand in hand with these methods comes his practical need for things to be done in a simplistic, cost effective and timely way.

His past and current interests outside of the Society range from service in the Navy between 1964 and 1967, to being the Secretary/Treasurer for the BC branch of the Steelhead Society from 1990 to 1997, to surfing, to being a free-lance journalist for local papers and various magazines. In addition, Dave has been a sports angler for the past forty-five years or more. Through his years as an angler, Dave has made numerous contacts, many of which have been an asset in his years with the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society.

Dave is a fan of good literature, and a storyteller at heart. When talking about Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek there is one story in particular that Dave likes to tell. It is the story of how in 1963 he hauled cement blocks to the edge of Kingfisher Creek in order to raise walls along its banks.

Dave Hadden

These walls were capped and covered with fill, forming a square tunnel underneath the lumberyard, which was being extended over the top of the creek. The tunnel was built to give the coho a way to get to their spawning beds. To Dave, this tunnel is a testimonial to the perseverance of the coho that continued to swim up this tunnel, through two different culverts, and into the stream on the Haig-Brown property, which was on the other side of the Island Highway.

It is just a little ironic how a young man who helped put Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek underground, is now, thirty five years later, striving to return it to daylight. Through his professional connections, history with the creek and Campbell River, and some past relations with the Haig-Browns, Dave has become an invaluable member of the Haig-Brown Kingfisher Creek Society. His clear and organized methods are truly an asset to the restoration of a once productive watershed.

Top of page.