OWEN BRICKER'S LEGACY: WATERSHED SCIENCE FOR SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

My father, Owen P. Bricker, was an avid hunter and outdoor enthusiast with a keen interest in conservation. He was also a geochemist who dedicated his career to improving the understanding of complex earth processes as a basis for solving environmental problems. He helped lead the development of regional, national and international programs and conferences, such as the National Acid Precipitation Assessment and Chesapeake Bay Programs, and BIOGEOMON conferences, all with a focus on science-based solutions to solve pollution problems. His favorite role was teacher.

His most recognized and important research involved small watershed studies. He helped develop the mass balance approach to examine factors influencing weathering and erosion. He extended the method to evaluate effects of anthropogenic perturbations on natural processes, for example, impacts of acid rain, highway runoff, and nutrients from poultry farms. Comparative small watershed studies throughout the US addressed local problems and showed the method to be broadly applicable. He developed a method to estimate stream sensitivity to acid deposition using a fundamental geochemistry tenet, bedrock determines stream chemistry.

Owen used these concepts to explore the fate and impacts of waters that originate from headwater catchments on estuarine end points, specifically Chesapeake Bay. Long-term data and the mass balance approach were used to examine perturbations to natural processes in the coastal zone, such as the loss-of-coolant incident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. Radionuclide mass balances from sediment cores showed that, though measurable, radioactivity from the leak was small compared to natural levels. Radioisotopes in Chesapeake Bay sediment cores were used to recreate sediment deposition and pollution history since the industrial revolution. Comparison to results from sites in CA and RI, together with records of land use, industrial, and domestic activities within these watersheds, provided a more comprehensive picture of pollution processes, and thus potential management solutions, than could have been derived solely from the local study.

Recently his work had begun to include consideration of ecosystem services. His legacy continues through the research of his students, colleagues and family.