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“In the early 2000s, when I was on the faculty at the Harvard Business School, I began my research into the concept of a networked approach that is more focused on network-building and trust-based relationships, and less about building an organization to get to your mission impact,” explained Jane Wei-Skillern. “My hope is that we can spearhead a larger initiative which is a culture change in the conservation space to value the power of relationships and networks. This is on top of innovation in technology which is essential.”

“”We are at the point where we need to move past concepts and truly begin addressing the problems. A large part of that involves re-evaluating services and better informing taxpayers on levels of service and costs. And then making tough decisions on how to fund the services that communities deliver. Asset Management concepts have been around long enough for staff and elected officials to have an awareness of the issues. We need to truly begin addressing the struggle to implement. The theme that I am now promoting is this, just tell us your story,” stated Arnold Schwabe.

“Work with the system to move good ideas forward,” stated Carrie Baron. The third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver covers the period 1997 through 2005. In the 2000s, leaders ventured into uncharted territory. Great changes took place. These were possible because individuals took personal risks to innovate. This sweeping narrative weaves quotable quote to tell the story of what led up to publication of BC’s Stormwater Planning Guidebook in 2002, and the impact of what followed in the wake of publication.

“Transformation is often fraught with danger for both the change agents themselves and their organizations. It is like dancing with a tiger – with the outcome frequently uncertain. How does one dance with the tiger? You do it carefully, skillfully, courageously, in tune to the same music, advancing step by natural step,” wrote Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare, authors of Dancing with the Tiger. Their analogy provides relevant context for the third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. This covers the period 1997 through 2005.

“In 2018, I happened to read a report which quoted a paper by Younes Alila. So I started reading more of his work. This is significant, I thought, because lives have been lost and billions of dollars in infrastructure damage has happened. And nobody seems to care. Here we have a UBC professor of hydrology who has completely changed how forest hydrology is looked at now. And he has determined that we have been using the wrong methods to determine the prescription outcomes from forest harvesting practices. Yet we are still continuing to do the same thing,” stated Mike Morris.

“Climate change scientists have always been overly consumed with extremes. The probabilistic framework has guided them since the mid-1980s. It has evolved into what they now refer to as attribution science. It has been developed aggressively by climate change scientists. That new framework is PROBABLISTIC in nature. It uses the frequency of extremes to tell you the extent to which the atmospheric rivers of November 2021 resulted in over $17 billion of damage due to human influence. Independently, I have been developing that same framework,” stated Younes Alila.

“In the BC Interior and the Okanagan, most are passionate about water, its science, limitations, and challenges. Okanagan Lake is key to our survival. Kelowna’s Water Security Plan came out of a need to recognize that water quality, not just quantity, is critical to our path forward. It took a long time to get there. But we got it across the finish line. We are known for our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater practices. But our outcomes must also consider natural asset management, environmental flows, and source water protection,” stated Rod MacLean.

“The Agricultural Land Inventory for me was a chance to translate reality into data, to make a permanent record bearing witness to these changes and providing the facts for informed decision-making. I am so proud of Christina Gemino’s work in turning that data into a message and call for action,” stated Kevin Eastwood. What is neat about the story of Christina Gemino and her body of research is how she infuses her passion to paint a picture of land use within the Agricultural Land Reserve. Through her analysis, she shines a light on what is going on within the ALR that is not right.

Christina Gemino titled her master’s thesis The Silent Death of Agriculture in Metro Vancouver. “The non-sanctioned expansion of industrial use on agricultural land was a factor that drove my research. It can forever change the agricultural land base. There was a 121% increase in ALR parcels with industrial use from 2016 through 2022. It should be ZERO percent. You can build warehouses and industrial stuff pretty well anywhere you have a piece of property. You cannot build a farm by bringing in soil. We have to find other places for this other stuff,” stated Christina Gemino.

“I was inspired to write the book because a couple of years back I was looking at a lot of old photos. And I could not help but feel how fortunate I have been to have seen so much of the world through the lens of rivers. The book takes the reader on a multi-decade global adventure. And it chronicles a lot of the real-life encounters I have had on rivers around the world,” stated Mark Angelo. As an avid kayaker, canoeist and rafter, Mark Angelo has traveled on close to a thousand rivers spanning well over one-hundred countries; perhaps more than any other individual.