Peter Law, Founding Member and Director
Peter Law
Peter Law was a Senior Biologist with the Ministry of Environment for 30-plus years. In addition to his Partnership responsibilities, Peter is a Past-President of the Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society.
“My principle interest is to promote Water Sustainability as it pertains to the restoration of our small streams and how this is linked to maintaining a watershed’s health. While with the Ministry of Environment for 30-plus years, I became acutely aware of how our existing land development practices are causing natural systems to degrade. I have supported the need for ‘change’ through educational approaches promoted by the Partnership to mainstream a Design with Nature mind-set and practitioner culture,” states Peter Law.
Under his leadership, and with support from the Partnership, MVIHES established a series of provincially significant precedents on a wide front, from community-based social marketing to water balance analysis. This set a high bar for “citizen science in action”.
Shelly Creek in Parksville is Peter Law’s “living laboratory”
“Peter Law and I met in October 1997 at a UBCM consultation workshop when he was an ecosystem biologist with the Ministry of Environment. Our long history of collaboration provides me with context and perspective for judging his accomplishments, both with the Ministry and with MVIHES,” wrote Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director, in a article titled Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Shelly Creek in Parksville is a “living laboratory”.
“Few people realize that Peter Law was chair of the inter-governmental steering committee responsible for Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia, released in June 2002. In addition, he was a member of the inter-ministry team led by the late Erik Karlsen which developed the original Streamside Protection Regulation, passed in 2001.”
“This background is important for readers to know and appreciate. It is in small streams such as Shelly Creek where the impacts of changes in the seasonal water balance and on riparian integrity are being felt most. Peter Law’s experience informs his science-based approach to developing solutions.”
“Peter Law has put his time and energy into Shelly Creek, as do many other stream stewards in their watersheds around BC, such that Shelly Creek has become a “living laboratory” for the local Parksville community to enjoy.”
In 2001, the Streamside Protection Committee was honoured with a Premier’s Award of Excellence:
Look beyond the channel to understand the stream as a system
According to Peter, the intent of the current Riparian Protection Areas Regulation was to provide flexibility based on the expected scientific outcomes. “Instead,” he says,” we have ended up with simple and minimal-type measures of the level of riparian protection on behalf of fish.”
“Looking beyond the stream to understand the stream as a system is put on the shoulders of others, and those ‘others’ are not typically brought in. So, what is the consequence? The system context is lost. Small streams on Vancouver Island have minimal levels of riparian protection and are now going dry.”
“In contrast,” Peter points out, “enhanced riparian greenways like Shelly Creek Park allow fish to survive in natural conditions without encroachment issues. That 1990s decision to create an enhanced linear park showed great foresight. The proof of the pudding is that it saved the resident Cutthroat trout population during the heat dome and extreme drought of 2021.”
