Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER – PART C: “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” – from ‘Dancing with the Tiger: Learning Sustainability Step by Natural Step’, published in 2002
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective (REPRODUCED BELOW), and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on October 28, 2025 featured the third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. Part C covers the period 1997 through 2005. This sweeping narrative weaves quotable quote to tell the story of what led up to publication of Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia in 2002, and the impact of what followed in the wake of publication.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“My connection to Dancing with the Tiger is that my work at UniverCity on Burnaby Mountain is featured in Chapter 7. To successfully dance with the tiger and create transformational change, you simply must get a flagship project across the finish line. Nothing less matters,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
A once in a lifetime opportunity
THE CONUNDRUM: How to resolve competing priorities and preserve regional livability
Comments Off on INCREASED FREQUENCY, MAGNITUDE, DURATION AND LIABILITY OF FLOODS: “Thinking about cumulative effects is what has been lost in the science. And that is what continues to be lost obviously in the professional practice,” stated Dr. Younes Alila, professional engineer and professor in the UBC Faculty of Forestry
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on October 21, 2025 is about profiles in courage and is reproduced in part below. It featured two individuals: former BC cabinet minister Mike Morris; and University of BC professor Dr. Younes Alila. The story behind the story is about how they have aligned efforts to build awareness of Dr. Alila’s Flood Risk Methodology for flood protection. Their compelling message is that removal of forest cover, whether in rural or urban watersheds, increases the frequency, magnitude, duration and liability of floods.
The documentary profiles research by Dr. Younes Alila of UBC Forestry that reveals how loss of forest cover has triggered a cycle of flooding, landslides and drought. The two announcement provides context for this edition of Waterbucket eNews.
Images are mostly from the Partnership’s library. Some are from the public domain and Creative Commons.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Increased frequency, magnitude, duration and LIABILITY of floods – conversations with Mike Morris and Younes Alila
PART TWO: What motivates Younes Alila? His belief and inspiration that science without passion is not science!
The context for the conversation with Mike Morris and Younes Alila isClear-cutting linked to 18-fold rise in extreme floods, UBC study finds, a story published by UBC Reports in July 2025. The story generated major news coverage in BC because of its relevance for forest management practices.
TOPIC 5: A watershed is a system and everything is connected
“The forest owes its power to the landscape features, not to its ability to evapotranspirate. That is the headline,” says Younes Alila with passion in his voice.
“Evapotranspiration is necessary but not sufficient to empower the forest and affect hydrology in general and floods and droughts in particular. This can only be revealed through a probabilistic framework.”
“Our research also highlights the potential for natural asset management which supports the context and ecosystem service based approach to land and natural resource management.”
Cause-effect and the space-time relationship
“Thinking like a system means you do not make decisions at the site scale. It is not about a particular cut block, stream reach or cross-section, or a bridge or a culvert. You need to step back and look at the big picture.”
“You need to look at the entire stream network and what these flows are doing OVER TIME…AND IN THE LANDSCAPE OF THE WATERSHED.”
“It is the modern SCIENCE OF CAUSATION which imposes the probabilistic framework for investigating the causal relationship between the climate and/or land use coverage change.”
An understanding of cumulative effects is foundational
“The cause-effect relationship is the only way to put to the forefront the desperate need for an understanding of cumulative effects. And the desperate need for thinking about the headwaters when we are making decisions downstream.”
“And guess what? That cumulative effect study, investigation or assessment…that UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM CONNECTION…can only be investigated through a causal framework.”
“Cause-effect. The climate is the cause. The effect is the hydrological response. The land use, land cover changes are the cause…and the hydrological response is the effect.”
TOPIC 6: Nature’s laws are inherently probabilistic
“If the cause-effect relationship is not investigated in the probabilistic framework, it is non-causal, which means that it is scientifically indefensible which means that it is not even science.”
“And why do we need that probabilistic framework? Because the hydrologic response is driven by many factors, all of which are occurring RANDOMLY OVER TIME AND IN SPACE. Period.”
“The response is inherently stochastic. Inherently probabilistic. NATURE’S LAWS ARE INHERENTLY PROBABILISTIC. And the only way we can understand nature…in this case the hydrologic response of the landscape…is through that stochastic or probabilistic framework.”
TOPIC 7: Time means the climate dimension and space means the landscape
“The frequency imposes itself by the nature of the response. The response is stochastic by nature. The response of the landscape, the response of the hydrology, or geomorphology or climatology are all stochastic.”
Build an understanding of hydrologic system response based on flow duration analysis
“Our professional practice does not portray an understanding of the environmental controls of the dimension of the frequency, which is critical for proper management of the hydrologic risk. And when I say frequency, it is not just the frequency of the floods and the droughts, IT IS THE FREQUENCY OF THE FLOWS IN GENERAL.”
“Which brings us to the flow duration curve which underpins both Jim Dumont’s Stream Health Methodology and my Flood Risk Methodology. One axis is duration or percent of time. That is basically probability. Frequency is the only thing that makes the investigation of hydrology causal and hence scientifically defensible.”
“My Flood Risk Methodology is about peak flow frequency analysis in a rural setting while Jim Dumont’s Stream Health Methodology is about low flow duration analysis in the urban setting.”
“Both are founded on the probabilistic framework for understanding and predicting hydrology. And that is what is gratifying for me. Independently and for over 30 years, Jim Dumont and I both have been advocating for the same framework.”
“Now the Partnership for Water Sustainability and I have combined forces to reinforce each other’s efforts to make hydrology in professional practice causal and hence defensible in both settings. Hydrology is hydrology!”
TOPIC 8: Attribution science is Younes Alila’s Flood Risk Methodology by another name!
“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.”
“Attribution science is also known as extreme event attribution. It is the study of how much human-caused climate change influences specific weather and climate events. It compares observed conditions to what might have happened without human influence.”
“That new framework is PROBABLISTIC in nature. It tells us for instance the extent to which the BC flood of November 2021, which resulted in over $17 billion of damage, is caused by climate and/or land use and forest cover changes. Independently, and without knowing about attribution science, I have been developing that same framework. I rest my case!”
Comments Off on LOOK AT HYDROLOGY DIFFERENTLY: “Look at watersheds as systems. Know your hydrology, prevent floods and habitat loss,” stated Jim Dumont, Engineering Applications Authority for the Partnership for Water Sustainability
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on October 21, 2025 is about profiles in courage. It featured two individuals: former BC cabinet minister Mike Morris; and University of BC professor Dr. Younes Alila. The story behind the story is about how they have aligned efforts to build awareness of Dr. Alila’s Flood Risk Methodology for flood protection. Their compelling message is that removal of forest cover, whether in rural or urban watersheds, increases the frequency, magnitude, duration and liability of floods.
Trouble in the Headwaters
The gripping 25-minute documentary titled Trouble in the Headwaters profiles decades long research by Dr. Younes Alila of UBC Forestry.
Look at watersheds as systems. Know your hydrology, prevent floods and habitat loss
“The story behind the story is about Younes Alila’s Flood Risk Methodology for flood protection.A complementary methodology is Jim Dumont’s Stream Health Methodology for habitat protection. Together they support holistic thinking that views watersheds as systems, understands how water reaches streams, and manages them as systems,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“Both are founded on the probabilistic framework to understanding and predicting hydrology. The Flood Risk Methodology is about peak flow frequency analysis while the Stream Health Methodology is about low flow duration analysis.”
Four quotable quotes provide context and perspective
“Can we afford to continue on the same path when the stakes are high? We cannot manage the risk of hydrologic extremes without the right understanding of the probabilistic response.”
“There is a need for a new approach to hydrologic design, Jim Dumont advocated in the mid-2000s. So, Fergus Creek in Surrey became the pilot for a runoff-based approach because duration of discharge links directly to stream health.”
“Engineers routinely extrapolate way, way beyond the limits of the data and then argue fiercely about which curve fitting technique is most accurate.”
“Everybody wants to repeat things. Or they ignore things because all the reports and all the findings are covered in dust. Or they are lost in some server that got unplugged 20 years ago when they upgraded the server.”
An urban watershed perspective
The technical foundation and starting point for restoring water balance and reducing risk and liability in human settlement areas is Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia, released by the Province in 2002.
Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER – PART B: “When read together, the stories of conversations with 13 green infrastructure influencers in the Metro Vancouver region paint a picture of what it takes to innovate and lead changes in practice in the local government setting,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective (REPRODUCED BELOW), and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on May 13, 2025 is an introduction to and a high-level overview of Part B of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024. The 100-page Part B is included as an attachment. It is a sweeping narrative that brings to life an era.
Part B feature and consolidates the stories of 13 “green infrastructure influences”. Each of their stories was published previously in 2023-2024 as a series of preview extracts.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“Three decades ago, there was trouble in paradise. All communities in the Lower Mainland and along the east coast of Vancouver Island were under intense pressure and knew they had to do something about it,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“Launched by the Province in 1994, the Georgia Basin Initiativewas a call to action. Municipalities were all-in. By the 2010s, however, the energy dissipated, and the region lost its way because municipalities lost sight of the goal.”
When everything is in alignment, transformational changes are possible
“With the passage of time, it is possible to view the Metro Vancouver regional picture in context. It is clear what elements are necessary for success. The synthesis below identifies the 10 elements of a regional team approach to municipal collaboration that powers change,” continued Kim Stephens.
Most of all, there must be political commitment
“A unifying theme in conversations with 13 green infrastructure influencers is that staff champions in local government can only carry things so far. Only when someone who is elected takes the lead, and is the champion, does something happen.”
“In the 2000s, everything was in alignment. The right people were in the right place at the right time. There was energy, there was passion. The regional team approach to municipal collaboration brought all the players together for a shared mission. They learned from each other; they moved forward in tandem. This established a series of precedents forpeer-based learning.”
“Writing the 7-part Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation is my way of giving back. This 700-page tome brings to life an exciting period in local government “convening for action” history,” concluded Kim Stephens.
Comments Off on VOODOO HYDROLOGY WEBINAR 2021 IN AN ONGOING SERIES: “Urban Hydrology: A Look Behind the Curtain” – The Voodoo never stops! This webinar was born out of the Andy Reese article by the same name in the July/August 2006 edition of Stormwater magazine
Note to Reader:
In February 2013, Andy Reese delivered a webinar for Forester University titled “Voodoo Hydrology – Pitfalls of Urban Hydrology Methods & What You Need to Know”. This was the first in what became an annual webinar series, with the last one being in 2021. The Voodoo never stops! That webinar is still available on the Stormwater University website.
Andy Reece is a popular speaker and thought leader having spoken at over fifty conferences including keynoting the inaugural STORMCON and the first Water Environment Federation Stormwater Congress. He has taught many short courses on topics related to stormwater management including webinars on Voodoo Hydrology, Stormwater Utility Development and Green Infrastructure Program Development. He has published over fifty articles and papers including the best selling textbook Municipal Stormwater Management which he co-authored with Dr. Thomas Debo in 2002.
Voodoo Hydrology – Pitfalls of Urban Hydrology Methods & What You Need to Know
“Urban hydrology is stormwater management’s dirty little secret. It has been estimated that one out of every three design plan submittals has significant errors in hydrology estimates but only one in twenty is caught,” states Andy Reese.
“The truth is: urban hydrology—including newer Green Infrastructure sizing approaches and even detailed modeling approaches—as commonly practiced, is an inexact science at best. We can just now make the same mistakes at near light speed!”
“As such, knowing the inner workings of the “black boxes,” unstated assumptions, and limitations inherent in the urban stormwater hydrologic design methodologies that we commonly use (even within modern computer packages) is essential to ensuring proper application—but there are few places to get such information. This webinar is one of them.”
To Learn More:
To download a report-style PDF copy of the 2013 waterbucket.ca story complete with the 2006 article by Andy Reese, click here.
Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER – PART A: “SO WHAT are the ways we inform, inspire and enable people to work together through partnerships to ACT NOW?” asked the late Erik Karlsen, former Director of Growth Strategies in the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective (REPRODUCED BELOW), and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on April 29, ,2025 is a tribute to the memory and legacy of the late Erik Karlsen on the 5th anniversary of his death. For a generation of elected representatives, his was a familiar face in the local government setting. His influence was profound and far-reaching. He touched many lives over the course of his unique career in public service.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“When Erik Karlsen brought people together, he would cast a magic spell. When he asked you to get involved in an initiative, of course you said yes! That is what happened to me on October 10, 1997 during a consultation session for development of the Streamside Protection Regulation. My subsequent collaboration with Erik Karlsen was career-defining,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
Convening for Action in British Columbia
“Erik Karlsen was a thought leader and change agent. Former cabinet minister Joan Sawicki told me that Erik turned networking skills into art form She added that you could count on Erik to nurture a fragile seed into yet another interdisciplinary cross government committee – of which he himself was always an active member.”
“Erik Karlsen, Ray Fung and I co-created the Water Sustainability Action Plan,” continued Kim Stephens. “When the Partnership rolled it out in February 2004, Erik Karlsen chaired and infused the component Convening for Action initiative with his vision and pragmatic approach to influencing choices by individuals and organizations.
“Erik Karlsen has a special place in the history of the Partnership for Water Sustainability. He was our ‘eminence grise’. He guided us through a sharing and learning process that produced our philosophical foundation. He taught us how pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones achieves breakthroughs.”
History repeats itself with consequences
“The issues in 2025 are no different than they were 30 years ago. That is when Joan Sawicki and Erik Karlsen were tasked with a mission as their part of the call to action by Premier Mike Harcourt. Their mission was to energize and operationalize the Georgia Basin Initiative.”
photo credit: — Magnus Larsson/Flickr. CC BY SA 3.0
“Erik Karlsen was a splendid person and public employee,” stated Mike Harcourt in his 2020 tribute. “Whether it was the Environmental and Land Use Committee Secretariat, the Agricultural Land Commission, or municipal planning and development, he was a quietly skilled leader with huge people skills.”
Erik Karlsen left us with an enduring positive impact on the way we build communities
“Erik Karlsen was a public service entrepreneur. He was tireless at building networks and at mentoring professionals. His amazing collection of friends and associates spoke to his ability to build and maintain relationships,” Dale Wall emphasizes.
“During the time I worked with him he was instrumental in the development of the Georgia Basin Initiative, and in building the base for the protection and restoration of urban waterways. He would later go on to lead the Agricultural Land Commission.”
Comments Off on STORYTELLING PLATFORM FOR SHOWCASING AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH TO RAINWATER MANAGEMENT: “waterbucket.ca is a powerful communication platform. It allows Living Water Smart champions to record and share their history even as they are creating it, thus promoting peer-based learning,” stated Mike Tanner, founding chair of the intergovernmental waterbucket.ca partnership
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective and Context for Busy Reader, and the Story Behind the Story.
The edition published on April 15, 2025 featured Mike Tanner, founding chair of the Waterbucket.ca Website Partnership and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of waterbucket.ca in April 2025. The combination of waterbucket.ca and the Waterbucket eNews newsletter gives champions in the local government and stewardship sectors a platform and voice for telling their stories. The One-Minute Takeaway and the Editor’s Perspective are presented below.
20th anniversary of waterbucket.ca, storytelling platform
Waterbucket.ca is one of six original elements of the Water Sustainability Action Plan for BC
“In 2004. a consortium of provincial and regional organizations and federal agencies came together under the umbrella of the Water Sustainability Action Plan to form a partnership and provide funding to create waterbucket.ca. BC Hydro Power Smart provided the seed funding that set everything in motion.”
“Aside from the trust factor, the success of waterbucket.ca as a platform for peer-based learning has added to the credibility of the Partnership for Water Sustainability. How many websites are there like waterbucket.ca that have been able to do it for the length of time that we have, yet still remain current?”
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“The 20th anniversary of the waterbucket.ca website is an opportunity for celebration as well as reflection. An intergovernmental partnership funded development of waterbucket.ca to support an Ecosystem-Based Approach to land development and water use,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
waterbucket.ca is a platform for an ecosystem-based approach
“With the passage of time, people either forget about or never knew what my generation or previous generations were trying to do and why. With that thought as context, a recent observation by legendary foreign affairs commentator Thomas Friedman resonates with me. What he stated in an interview is a reminder of the importance, relevance and power of storytelling.”
“Storytelling has never been more important. The combination of waterbucket.ca and Waterbucket eNews gives champions in the local government and stewardship sectors a voice for telling their stories. We have a communications platform and we share the stories behind their stories.”
Somebody had to put up the initial seed funding for waterbucket.ca and that is what Mike Tanner brought to mission possible
“Mike Tanner is the waterbucket.ca visionary. His leadership got the website off the ground and online within 12 months of the inaugural meeting of founding partners. He did the heavy lifting that brought together provincial ministries and so many others for a common purpose.”
“Somebody had to put up the initial seed funding to build support for the waterbucket.ca idea. And that is what I was able to bring from BC Hydro with a $5000 contribution from the Power Smart program,” recalls Mike Tanner.
“Twelve months after the inaugural meeting of the Waterbucket.ca Partnership, the announcement by Minister Barisoff formally launched the waterbucket.ca website. Lynn Kriwoken primed the Minister on the drive to Penticton,” continues Kim Stephens.
Influencing change through peer-based learning
“In 2006, I stepped into the breach as a volunteer to takeover from Joanne de Vries as Waterbucket Editor when we lost our Environment Canada funding after Stephen Harper became prime minister. This was supposed to be stop-gap but I got hooked and 20 years later the mission continues. And I love it!”
“Mike Tanner and I have been colleagues for over thirty years. Even so, the conversational interview for this story provided me with fresh insights into the crucial part his Power Smart experience played.”
Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER – PART A: “The pressure on this ecologically vulnerable area will only intensify. Will we continue with Business as Usual or implement Wise Use in the Salish Sea? The first step is to understand the complex story of the region,” Dr. Howard Macdonald Stewart, author of Views of the Salish Sea, published in 2017
Note to Reader:
In April 2025, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia released PART A oftheChronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. The Chronicle is a sweeping narrative of the 30-year period from 1994 through 2024.
The April 1, 2025 edition of Waterbucket eNews is an introduction to and a high-level overview of the 73-page Part A. The storyline is structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story (reproduced below). Part A is included as an attachment that brings to life an era.
source: The Georgia Basin Initiative, 1994 brochure
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Livability of Southwest BC at a crossroads, again
Without the passion and commitment of Darlene Marzari, Joan Sawicki and Erik Karlsen, the call for action in the 1993 report by the BC Round Table on the Environment and the Economy may not have gone anywhere. They made a difference and they changed history in the Georgia Basin.
To see ahead one must learn to look back
Never has storytelling been more important than it is today. And that is because knowledge and memory are being lost at an alarming rate. A look into the future by Jay Bradley in 2007 has proven prescient in foreshadowing what is happening in the post-COVID era.
Jay Bradley’s quote nails the nub of one of the challenges of our time. And that is, loss of continuity is happening just when continuity of understanding is needed most.
Will it be business as usual or wise use?
The Georgia Basin links two nations and includes three bodies collectively known as the Salish Sea. “It is not mere coincidence that two-thirds of the population of British Columbia occupies lands bordering its great inland sea,” wrote Howard Macdonald Stewart in his book titled Views of the Salish Sea: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Change around the Strait of Georgia.
In Views of the Salish Sea, Howard Macdonald Stewart documents that, too often in his career as an advisor to the United Nations, he experienced a vital paradise that had become an environmental desert due to ‘business as usual’ decisions.
Concerned that many past decisions made in the Georgia Basin were contributing to its degradation, he wrote his text to help readers better understand these past decisions and their consequences for the evolving future of the Georgia Basin.
Focus on” Context, Intent and Results”
“The region’s continued health and sustainability demands that we treat it as one system, not as a composite of separate and jurisdictionally distinct entities.” – from page 14, Georgia Basin Initiative: Creating a Sustainable Future, 1993.
“As Parliamentary Secretary or the Georgia Basin Initiative, I had a visionary document and strong personal support from Minister Marzari at the top ” recalls Joan Sawicki. “And I had Erik Karlsen’s on-the-ground connections with Basin communities and their issues. All I had to do was run with it. And that’s what we did!.”
“Erik Karlsen not only had the passion and understanding for this stuff and was way ahead of his time, but he also had an unparalleled network of connection with Georgia Basin communities – and, most importantly, a high degree of trust with those communities.”
“Sustainable refers to attaining certain conditions in the context of social, economic and environmental considerations. Resilient in a biological sense is primarily the ability for an ecosystem to recover from an intervention,” wrote Erik Karlsen in 2015.
Build consensus around the need for action
“The Province passed the Regional Growth Strategies Act in 1994. It was then my job to implement regional growth management. The government subsequently combined Regional Growth Strategies and the Georgia Basin Initiative into one operation so that Erik Karlsen wound up working for me, ” recalls Dale Wall, former Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Erik Karlsen was a sessional lecturer at Royal Roads University. He taught change management and was the éminence grise behind the guiding philosophy that drives the Partnership for Water Sustainability. His core message was one of hope and determination. Erik Karlsen understood the power of story!
To Learn More:
Waterbucket eNews stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story. To read the complete 3-part storyline, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Livability of Southwest BC at a crossroads, again. The document is complete with the 69-page Part A of the Green Infrastructure Chronicle as an attachment.
Comments Off on OVERCOMING FEAR AND DOUBT TO BUILD A COMMUNITY ATOP BURNABY MOUNTAIN: The UniverCity sustainable community atop Burnaby Mountain was the catalyst for “reinventing hydrology” by developing the Water Balance Methodology to protect Stoney Creek
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on March 4, 2025 featured Michael Geller, He is driven by a CAN DO ATTITUDE.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Overcoming fear and doubt to build a community atop Burnaby Mountain – a conversation with Michael Geller
“The story behind the story comprises four topics because my conversational interview with Michael Geller went in unexpected directions,” wrote Kim Stephens, Partnership Executive Director and Waterbucket eNews Editor. “He is an effective communicator and is frequently featured on TV and in the print media.”
“When I asked Michael why he is a go-to-person on housing issues, he replied that:
In a nutshell, what the reader will learn…
“Michael Geller is driven by a CAN DO ATTITUDE. His passion for innovation goes back to the early years in his career at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation when CMHC was a force for research and demonstration.”
“Couple that with what Michael reveals in Topic One about the influence the legendary Edward de Bono had on his thinking. It is no wonder he was the right person to get UniverCity built. And within a comparatively short period of time!”
“As Michael explains in Topic Two, it is the “living lab” idea that allowed him to take calculated risks at Simon Fraser University that propelled innovation. And that combination of a “can do attitude” and knowing how to take calculated risks to do “get it right” is something that we have lost in recent decades.”
“Also, a lack of understanding of the bigger picture and how everything is connected plays out in failure to anticipate unintended consequences. So, do not make them too overwhelming, says Michael Geller.”
“That lived experience is the springboard to Topic Three in which Michael Geller connects the dots between the current provincial housing strategy and drainage consequences. Topic Four is closing reflections on creating a legacy atop Burnaby Mountain.”
TOPIC ONE: Edward de Bono influenced Michael Geller to think differently than everybody else
“People often say to me, you do things that most normal people would never even consider trying. Why is that? And I reply, it is all because of Edward de Bono, He was an English educator and doctor. He was the father of the concept of Lateral Thinking. Thinking outside the box,” says Michael Geller.
“In 1982, my boss said you are always going on about this Edward de Bono. I just read he is going to be in Seattle. Do you think we should bring him to Vancouver to give a talk? Of course, I said.”
“So, we rented a room at the Four Seasons hotel. Edward de Bono insisted on a particular set-up complete with an overhead projector. When he came into the room, he did not say a word to anybody other than good morning. He just sat down and started talking.”
“As he was talking, he was doodling on the overhead screen. And he told a story. His punchline is we often go down one track without thinking that there might be another completely different track.”
To learn more, watch Edward de Bono build to his vision for a “Palace of Thinking”
“Edward de Bono wrote a book called Six Thinking Hats which is absolutely brilliant. A lot of corporations use it as a way to get people to think differently. Edward de Bono influenced my thinking greatly when I was a young professional. It was an amazing experience to be in the room with him in 1982.”
“In the video of his presentation at the 2010 Creative Innovation Conference, de Bono concluded with a provocative statement which is universally applicable and leads me to think about the role the Partnership for Water Sustainability plays in British Columbia.”
Limits of our thinking is our biggest problem
“Many years ago at the United Nations, I tried to set up a group to provide some additional ideas. I had various meetings. Secretary General Kofi Annan proved absolutely impossible,” Edward de Bono stated.
“They all said we are not here to think, we are here to represent our countries, not to think. Somewhere in the world there needs to be a source for new thinking, new ideas. So, my project is to set up a Palace of New Thinking which would have two functions.”
“In other words, our existent thinking is good for recognizing past and standard situations. Not good for designing new possibilities. That is why I say that the limits of our thinking are the biggest problem facing the world. And if we improve that, we might improve our way of dealing with climate change,” concluded Edward de Bono.
TOPIC TWO: Michael Geller brought an interest in innovation to learning by doing
“One of the real advantages we had at UniverCity is that I was able to try out new ideas,” continues Michael Geller. “Whenever people would say, we cannot do that, I could say: I will give you written assurance from the university that if this idea does not work, we will fix it.”
“Part of the appeal when I took the job was that I have always been interested in innovations. At one time, I worked for CMHC in Ottawa and headed up the Research and Demonstration Group. The reason I loved that was because we got to try out new things. They did not always work. Invariably that was because people tried to do too much at one time.”
“And that is why I must admit that at SFU…while I was willing to try out a lot of things and we were successful…there were things that I was not willing to do…for example, district energy. Sometimes you have to decide.”
Learning by doing at UniverCity
“We could do a lot of these things because the university was willing to support me in providing an undertaking to fix things. And most private developers can never give that assurance to a municipality or provincial government because there is always the fear that they will go broke.”
“But in terms of stormwater, Kim Stephens could do whatever he wanted because Don Stenson had told me that protecting Stoney Creek from drainage impacts was THE most important thing that I could do.”
Are we managing watercourses or the watershed?
“Competing expectations created a number of barriers. The #1 barrier was the lack of trust that a sustainable, compact and complete community could be achieved while protecting the environment. Overcoming this barrier meant earning trust through a process”.
“Bumps along the way included shortcuts that did not work, uncovering people’s worst fears, imperfect personality matches that resulted in conflict, difficulty finding built precedents, and accepting some risk.”
“Once trust was established, the interagency group was able to jointly find innovative solutions that created win-win results.”
TOPIC THREE: Michael Geller warns of the challenges in getting drainage design right when single family lots are densified
“I came from an urban background. And I have returned to an urban background. Not everyone gets to plan a brand new community on top of a mountain. But a lot of people are now going to have to start dealing with drainage and stormwater management on a single family lot.”
“This notion of putting 4 or 6 homes on a single family lot in conformance with the new provincial legislation does not anticipate what this means for drainage design.”
“Dealing with drainage and stormwater management is more challenging when you put 6 homes on a single-family lot than anything we did at UniverCity.”
“I have been telling everybody that I know that when they want to start talking about multiplex development to keep in mind what I have discovered through lived experience.”
Reflections by Michael Geller on meeting the moment to get the drainage right
“Conceptually, developers and others should be aware that drainage and stormwater management may once again turn out to be a major challenge. And I say that because on my last project we were just about to invite the first residents to move in and I was walking the site with a wonderful contractor.”
“I said, the ground seems awfully wet. And this was in summer. It was because our stormwater management system was not working. The contractor had to tear the entire thing out and rebuild the system. It was incredibly expensive and caused a great deal of strife.”
Flashback to a teachable moment at UniverCity:
“This experience immediately reminded me of the time I was walking the UniverCity site with Kim Stephens. It was August and It had not rained for quite a while. But there was water flowing out of the forest and into a tiny drainage channel.”
“Kim said, I am surprised how much water is flowing when we are at the top of the mountain. We should investigate. When it comes to drainage, I learned from that experience that observation and details matter.”
“I immediately thought, this is terrific because we can get rid of this as a designated creek which means we will not have to provide the necessary setbacks for development of the site.”
“And Kim said, no, I don’t think you are going to be successful with that. I couldn’t help but think, how stupid could it be that a creek that was the result of a leak in a water tower could be designated as and remain a Class C watercourse!”
TOPIC FOUR: NY Times headline – “A Community Comes to a University” (May 7, 2006)
“One day I was interviewed by the NY Times on another matter. I said there is another story here about creating a community as part of a university on land owned by the university, partially to enhance the university and partially to generate revenue.”
“I said there are a few universities doing this in the USA but not very many. I think it is a story worth telling. A few months later the NY Times published a story titled A Community Comes to a University.
“Immediately after that story was published, there was new interest by various university faculties in learning a bit more about what we were doing. That was very gratifying and something that I had always anticipated would happen,” concludes Michael Geller.
UniverCity, a PowerPoint presentation by Michael Geller
To learn much more about the early history of what was involved in creating a community atop Burnaby Mountain, download a copy of the PowerPoint narrative by Michael Geller titled the Story of UniverCity, a photo essay which he compiled in 2008.
Comments Off on RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ECOSYSTEMS AND WITH EACH OTHER: “The point is not to write the book and say, yay that’s it. What’s next? We’re trying to promote the book because it starts the conversation about Nature-Directed Stewardship to build that connectivity back to nature,” stated Sean Markey, university professor and co-author of Nature-First Cities
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on February 18, 2025 featured a conversational interview with co-authors Dr. Sean Markey and Herb Hammond about their vision for Nature-First Cities.
The book is intended to inspire government and community-based action by illustrating how cities can co-exist with nature. To that end, the book introduces a guiding philosophy and methodology the authors have framed as Nature-Directed Stewardship.
Nature-First Cities: restoring relationships with ecosystems and with each other
“The origin story started about a decade ago when Cam Brewer and I worked on a report documenting the value of nature in cities,” states Sean Markey. professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.
“What are the costs associated with having cities that are not nature-based? What are the benefits if we invite nature back into our cities?”
“That was a fairly standard survey of the literature and report writing. But we met afterwards and the conversation quickly turned to what would it take to actually do this? What would a strategy look like?”
“And that led us into a conversation where we concluded that it would be pretty fascinating to work with Herb Hammond. So, we invited Herb down into an urban watershed for the purpose of exploring what happens when we apply the principles and practices of ecosystem-based conservation planning.”
Case study applications of ecosystem-based approach
“The book contains two case studies. Still Creek in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby is intensely urban. Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island is on the urban-rural fringe. The difference between the two is the extent and amount of green space that is available to work with, and with different growth pressures.”
“In both cases, we are looking at watershed scale planning. Not just greening strategies. Not just creek restoration. But watershed-scale planning. Herb did the research and analysis to put together Nature-Directed Stewardship plans for both areas.”
To delve into the details of Nature-Directed Stewardship, watch the video of Sean Markey
