Ecological Accounting Process

“The idea that nature provides “ecological services” is not intuitively understood by the public, elected representatives and asset managers. Because the concept is abstract, it requires a leap of faith for buy-in at an operational level in local government where numbers matter. This challenge accentuates the need for effective communication tools. The Nested Concepts graphic helps local governments move past the rhetoric and focus their attention on achieving desired outcomes through a sustained and affordable investment in restoration of streamside protection zones,” stated Kim Stephens.

“It is amazing that we have been able to produce a methodology that defines what a stream is, can find the value of the stream using impartial BC Assessment data, and add to that a riparian assessment that looks at the 30m zone and a further 200m upland area to evaluate the water balance condition and what is happening to water pathways,” stated Tim Pringle. “How concepts are explained is crucial. What is easily understood and measured gets implemented. The use of cascading concepts as a mind map helps us cut through the rhetoric to provide audiences with meaningful context and content.”

“We figured out that you can do all you want with stormwater runoff to restore the water balance, but you still are not going to restore the aquatic resources to where they need to be unless you actually jump into the streams and riparian areas and do restoration there. So that is what I did. My leadership position as Division Director at Kitsap County allowed me to put science into practice. We learned through experience that you cannot do just stormwater or restoration. You have to do both. Also, working at multiple scales and multiple levels is really key,” stated Chris May.

“Thirteen local governments in five sub-regions of the Georgia Basin / Salish Sea Bioregion participated in the EAP program. The sequencing of the 9 case studies proved consequential and sometimes game changing. While the methodology and metrics are universal, each situation is unique. Understanding what each partner needed as an outcome from the project became a critical consideration in the building blocks process. EAP evolved as one big idea led to the next one. The 19 big ideas are transformative in their implications for why and how local governments would implement Sustainable Drainage Service Delivery,” stated Kim Stephens,

“The Langley Ecological Services Initiative is about compensating rural parcel owners who are willing to set aside areas of their land to protect and/or enhance riparian and woodland assets. The Township posed the question: Is ‘payment for ecological services’ part of an Asset Management Strategy? The Township turned to EAP for a method to find the financial value as well as the worth of these streamside assets. This provides the Township and the community with a defensible asset management approach that is about the asset that will be tied up for the ecological purposes,” stated Melisa Gunn.

The protected stream corridor for Bings Creek is the central feature around which urban development has taken place in this century. Strata parcel development is a dominant land use. It replaces native vegetation from 60% or more of the parcel area with hard (impervious) surfaces and alters what remains. This scale of landscape alteration has a material impact because it short-circuits pathways by which water would naturally reach the Bings Creek channel. “This conclusion is validated by the streamflow history as recorded by the Bings Creek gauging station,” stated Dave Preikshot.

“The Saratoga Miracle Beach study area within the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) is defined by its water assets. The presence of wetlands differentiates the Saratoga Miracle Beach EAP Project from other EAP case studies and added a new dimension to the EAP analysis. The CVRD anticipates using this work, together with the Master Drainage Plan and flood mapping work, to inform the development of new regulatory tools and to assist in communicating the value of these natural assets to the public during future community engagement,” stated Darry Monteith.

“In 2016, the Partnership embarked upon a 6-year program of applied research to evolve EAP through a 3-stage building blocks process of testing, refining, and mainstreaming the methodology and metrics for financial valuation of stream systems. The program involved 9 case studies and 13 local governments and yielded 19 “big ideas” or foundational concepts. The program goal was to answer the question, how much should communities budget each year for maintenance and management of stream systems,” stated Tim Pringle.

“The context for EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, is protection and restoration of stream systems. Two questions set the stage for EAP. First, what is the stream worth to the community? Secondly, how would a municipality operationalize EAP to pay for stream maintenance and management (M&M)? Everything comes down to one question: What is the number for the line item in a local government annual budget? The use of ‘cascading levels of understanding’ as a mind map helps us cut through the rhetoric and jargon to provide meaningful context and content for EAP,” stated Kim Stephens,.

“Master drainage planning, integrated stormwater planning, and other processes at best pay lip-service to the role of the streamside protection zone within a stream system context, the condition of native vegetation and woodlands cover, and the need for restoration. Now, the Ecological Accounting Process (EAP) provides the reason to ask the question, why aren’t these factors considered and given equal weight to engineering considerations? With EAP as a foundation piece, local governments have a rationale and a metric to do business differently via multiple planning pathways,” stated Tim Pringle.