Haig-Brown Institute

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February 21, 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of Roderick Haig-Brown’s birth. The English-born Haig-Brown at age 18 came to North America to work in a logging camp in Mount Vernon, Washington. When his USA work permit expired, he moved to Vancouver Island’s Nimpkish Valley to work in a logging camp on Woss Lake. Except for a short return to England in 1929 where he began his writing career, he returned to Vancouver Island in late 1931, in 1934 married Ann Elmore, settled in Campbell River where they raised their family and lived on the banks of that river until his death on October 13, 1976. The Haig-Brown home and property was designated a heritage property after his death with Mrs. Haig-Brown living there until she died in 1990. 

Haig-Brown wrote many books on fly fishing and others on life in British Columbia, the native people and early explorers. Long before conservation became fashionable in the ‘80s and ‘90s Haig-Brown counseled wise use of our land, water and fisheries resources. If he were alive today he would be horrified at the state of the fishery and especially the steelhead. I believe it is fair to say that in the past 100 years in North America no writer touched the lives of more fly fishers and is more revered in that community than Rod Haig-Brown.         

When the Campbell River system was being developed for power in the late 1940s, the practice of the day for water impoundments was to construct the dam and flood the valley drowning the forest. Haig-Brown believed that was bad policy and, in a two-page letter to Lee Straight, The Vancouver Sun’s outdoor columnist,  after detailing 12 points against those practices, Haig-Brown told Straight about “the present utterly irresponsible handling of its developments” what he thought about the B.C. Power Commission and their disregard for basic conservation concepts.        

This was one of the first of conservation battles between industrialists, aided and abetted by government, in which single mindedness of purpose was paramount and all others be dammed. It took some time but it became policy to remove trees from water impoundments before they were flooded.         

Dams and salmon don’t mix. The same single-minded powers that be in government had planned to approve the building of a 750 foot tall dam on the Fraser River a few miles above Lytton at Moran Canyon. Haig-Brown feared for the Fraser’s salmon runs but also he looked deeper into it and he feared that this dam could destroy the river’s whole ecosystem and the Strait of Georgia. He was against this concrete monolith and put his case forward to the people of the province in a 1972 paper called The Fraser Watershed and the Moran Proposal.    It was the words written by Haig-brown that finally laid to rest, the ill-conceived plans for the Moran Dam.                       

Haig-Brown inspired many young fishermen to fly fish.  He believed that in sport method is everything and the more challenging the fishing method the more enjoyment one receives from the activity. Haig-Brown’s mentioned in a 1950’s letter of fishing barbless is one of the first in BC and it became standard practice for conservation-minded fly fishers in the ‘80s and was later adopted in the regulations for all gear types.                 

In the early 1970s a new steelhead conservation organization, the Steelhead Society of British Columbia, was formed and for years it was the premier advocate for steelhead in the province. In the early days of its existence Jim Culp, one of the Society’s founding members and an early president, recalls when they invited Haig-Brown to address the Annual meeting of the Society. Jim says that “to all of us he was our hero, no doubt about it. We were honoured and in awe at his presence at our meeting.”         

Haig-Brown provided advice when the Society was developing policies for presentation to their members and government. One principle that was integral to the Society was its devotion to wild steelhead and to that end it developed a policy on artificial propagation for steelhead.         

Haig-Brown reviewed its artificial propagation policy. After it was revised to include comments and suggestions from Haig-Brown, the Steelhead Society adopted its Policy on Artificial Propagation and the SSBC became the leading advocate for wild steelhead in BC. When Haig-Brown passed away, the Society lost one of its best advisers.        

Organizations such as the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF), Trout Unlimited, Oregon Trout, Washington Trout, North West Steelheaders, and Caltrout, valued Haig-Brown’s input on fish and conservation issues. However, he was closest to the Totem Fly Fishers of Vancouver. In 1967, when a small group of ardent fly fishers was organizing the club they sought Haig-Brown’s advice and he made two recommendations: that the club be a social club foremost and that it concern itself not on tackle issues but be an advocate for quality fishing and fish conservation. He became the club’s first honorary member and donated personal fishing items that the club made into trophies. It remained a social club. However, some of its members became leaders in fisheries conservation in British Columbia and some Totems enjoyed an enhanced friendship with Haig-Brown.         

Another group that Haig-Brown influenced was the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Harry Hawthorn Foundation. In 1953, a group of UBC professors and president as well as Haig-Brown were on what would later become an annual fishing trip when one of the group unknowingly happen to keep one fish more than his limit one day. The group held court with Haig-Brown acting as the first Chief Justice and fined the offender, as well the groups’ wagers on first, largest and most were confiscated. The fines and wagers totaled a meager $13 which the group gave to the UBC Library for the purpose of starting a fly fishing book collection. The group was named the Harry Hawthorn Foundation because it was Harry who had accidentally exceeded his limit. The Harry Hawthorn Foundation yearly outing continues to this day. At the evening court, the Chief Justice fines members for such things as dragging the boat anchor, getting their fly caught in the motor, or catching their fishing partner with a wayward cast. The proceeds from over more than half a century of the courts and fines for misdeeds has bought over 2000 angling titles for the UBC Library.

That Haig-Brown was revered by many is an undisputed fact. As a writer he had admirers in the British Columbia literature community and they named one of their yearly awards The Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize given to recognize an outstanding work by British Columbian author. The Totem Fly Fishers named their conservation award after him. The Federation of Fly Fishers has their Roderick Haig-Brown Award which is presented to a fly fishing author of a book, books or a combination of articles and books that embody the philosophy and spirit of Roderick Haig-Brown.         

In early 1970, Haig-Brown had such a well respected name in fisheries conservation on the Pacific coast that Jack Davis, Minister of Fisheries, appointed Haig-Brown to the International Pacific Salmon Commission. It was around the time of this appointment that he was elected as Chancellor of the University of Victoria. As well, the government of British Columbia named Haig-Brown Mountain in Strathacona Park after Ann and Rod and for his work and dedication to fisheries conservation the government named the park along the Adams River the Roderick Haig-Brown Park. Supplementary to his many lifetime achievements and later the awards and places named after his death, he was such a respected figure that others have written much about him. Robert Bruce Cave, an avid Haig-Brown enthusiast, did all Haig-Brown book collectors a great favour when he published his Roderick Haig-Brown: A Descriptive Bibliography. Cave spent years researching and compiling Haig-Brown’s works and the works of other writers who wrote about Haig-Brown. In Cave’s bibliography he lists 21 books about or with chapters or sections on Haig-Brown and 40 articles in periodicals about Haig-Brown. Since 2000 after Cave published his bibliography, there has been many more. 

Haig-Brown was a leader in fisheries conservation and his influence is evident in the actions of others who have a passion for fly fishing and fish. He was a good friend on the Washington Fly Fishing Club and the Fly Fishers Club of Oregon. He had many admirers south of the border and fly fishers and conservationists such as Steve Raymond, Les Johnson, Bob Wethern, Frank Amato, Bill Bakke and Bill McMillan to name a few had high regard for this Canadian fly fishing writer.         

I didn’t know Haig-Brown personally but I did get to know him well from his books and through my friendship with Rod’s best friend Van Egan. Van and I have fished and corresponded regularly for over 25 years and during those years he has taken me to many of the places that Rod fished and he has shared his memories about Haig-Brown with me.                

Over the past couple of years Van was working on a book about Rod Haig-Brown. After reading Haig-Brown’s The Western Angler, Van was drawn to Vancouver Island in the early 1950s and when he was fishing the Campbell he met Haig-Brown, they talked, became friends after he moved to British Columbia permanently were the best of friends. Now through Van’s Shadows of the Western Angler Haig-Brown enthusiasts will get to know Haig-Brown a little better.        

Haig-Brown influenced many like-minded fly fishers over the decades and for some that influence has been profound and of western anglers.