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Erik Karlsen

    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “There is no question that we have come a long way in overcoming memory loss in regional growth management and the future looks promising,” stated Ken Cameron, co-architect of Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan in the 1990s (4th installment in a preview series)


    “In Spring 2023, a group of us had meetings with Metro Vancouver planning staff to pass on our knowledge and experience. Our message was, use the strengths of the unique regional planning system you have. We did this in the interest of providing current and future Metro planning staff with some personal background on the people and, in some cases, organizations, that influenced the preparation and adoption of the Livable Region Strategic Plan in 1996 and the subsequent evolution of the planning function,” stated Ken Cameron.

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    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “It is really heartening to observe the recent renewed interest in what I think of as ecosystem-based planning and is now often called green and blue systems in cities,” stated Susan Haid, career environmental and urban planner in BC local government


    Susan Haid has played a leadership role in trailblazing an ecosystem-based approach to community planning in British Columbia. “It sounds simple, but it is heartening because this has NOT really been a key theme in the public dialogue for some time. The pandemic has reminded us of the importance of green space and access to nature,” stated Susan Haid. “It is even more important now because in the 1990s we did not have the kind of weather extremes such as atmospheric rivers and heat domes we are now regularly experiencing. There is a resurgence of ideas that is influencing policy making!”

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    REGIONAL GROWTH STRATEGIES FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: “In the 2000s, we understood that we were going to have to do cities quite differently if we wanted to achieve the sustainability goals that we had set for ourselves. And that was going to require substantial degrees of innovation,” stated Dale Wall, former Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs


    “As a matter of policy, the Province was quite deliberate in the sense that we wanted to push the boundaries of how municipal infrastructure was developed. We knew that we were going to have to do this under pretty strict fiscal constraints. And so that is why innovation became so important. We used the slogan The New Business As Usual to convey the message that, for change to really occur, practices that until then had been viewed as the exception must become the norm moving forward. With the new grant programs, we had some funding to support innovation,” stated Dale Wall.

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    DESIGN WITH NATURE TO CREATE LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES AND PROTECT STREAM HEALTH: “There are initiatives and programs flourishing today that had their beginnings in the Georgia Basin Initiative,” stated Joan Sawicki, land and resource management champion, and former provincial cabinet minister


    “And isn’t that how turning that supertanker of thinking happens? Just incrementally, then by gosh, we end up going in a whole different direction than we were when we started,” stated Joan Sawicki, Parliamentary Secretary for the Georgia Basin Initiative. Launched in 1994, the GBI was a call to action by the provincial government led by Premier Mike Harcourt. The living legacy of the GBI is embedded in and embodied by the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative. The IREI is now in Year 13 and provides peer-based education among local governments.

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    DELTA’S RAIN GARDEN PROGRAM FOR STREETSCAPE REVITALIZATION: “The road designers are taking the initiative to incorporate linear rain gardens,” stated Harvy Singh Takhar, Utilities Engineer with the City of Delta in Metro Vancouver


    “By working with the roads people on curb cuts, we have actually come up with variations. Our original detail was quite generic. Now we are able to implement it in various types of curb designs. We are striving to make sure that rain garden maintenance is as easy as possible, including inlets and outlets for drainage. We have evolved the designs so it is EASY CLEAN for all the sediment buildup. Our crews can quickly scoop it with a shovel and be on their way! That change resulted from feedback from engineering operations staff regarding what they wanted to see. We just evolved the design as per their operational needs,” stated Harvy Takhar.

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    DESIGN WITH NATURE TO CREATE LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES AND PROTECT STREAM HEALTH: “Broaden our standards so that we have the plethora of solutions on the table. It starts with education, at both the institutional and government levels, to understand why green infrastructure is necessary. And then, apply those broader solutions,” stated Hugh Fraser, former Deputy Director of Engineering, City of Delta


    “Drainage is but a sub-set of municipal engineering. Historical engineering practice did not consider some of the broader objectives that we now try to address through green infrastructure. Drainage in the context of urban planning and development decisions has historically been an afterthought,” stated Hugh Fraser. “Delta urban areas are built out. The municipality is effectively limited to retrofitting of rain gardens within road corridors in order to provide rainwater infiltration that protects stream health. Road rights-of-way account for one-third of the land area of a typical urban watershed.”

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    DESIGN WITH NATURE TO CREATE LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES AND PROTECT STREAM HEALTH: “There was tension between stakeholders. Yet the productiveness of those dialogues inspired a lot of professionals, myself included, to dig deeper and find solutions and learn. You felt like you were part of a movement,” recalled Susan Haid, career environmental and urban planner in BC local government


    Susan Haid has played a leadership role in trailblazing an ecosystem-based approach to community planning in British Columbia. “The 1990s was a very instrumental time of policy and regulation development. And municipal dialogue too. The discussions around the Fish Protection Act had a huge influence shifting perspectives to a bigger scale. The course that I teach at UBC is about how policy frameworks shape urban design. Building in resiliency to our cities from the site level to the regional level could NOT be more critical than now,” stated Susan Haid.

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    RIPARIAN AREA REGULATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: With development of EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, the Partnership for Water Sustainability honours the memory and legacy of the late Erik Karlsen who did so much for streamside protection in British Columbia


    The 2014 investigation and Striking a Balance report by the BC Ombudsperson identified “significant gaps between the process the provincial government had established when the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation was enacted and the level of oversight that was actually in place.” Erik Karlsen was concerned about the Ombudsperson’s findings. In 2015, he created a matrix to explain how to integrate two foundational concepts – Daniel Pauly’s “Shifting Baseline Syndrome” and Richard Horner and Chris May’s “Road Map for Protecting Stream System Integrity” – that provide a path forward for restoring riparian integrity.

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    DESIGN WITH NATURE GOING FORWARD (GRAPHIC): Erik Karlsen’s “integrating matrix” is a foundation piece for EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, which is a pillar for asset management that protects and restores riparian area integrity


    A stream in a natural condition is supported by a riparian ecosystem. In urban, suburban and rural settings around BC, however, riparian ecosystems have been reduced to riparian zones. Diminution due to fragmentation results in a loss of a riparian network’s ecological services. This has become the norm because the intent of BC’s Riparian Areas Protection Regulation has been compromised over time. The consequence of land use intrusion is a Riparian Deficit. EAP provides local governments with a methodology, metrics and a path forward to tackle the Riparian Deficit and thus restore riparian integrity.

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