Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “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: “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
Comments Off on FROM THE ARCHIVES (2016): “Ecosystem-based adaptation is a novel approach to planning and adaptation that prioritizes ecosystem services, enhancing biodiversity, as well as human health and wellbeing,” stated Julia Berry when she presented her research findings to the Metro Vancouver Stormwater Interagency Liaison Group
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.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“In November 2013, Sean Markey reached out to me: ‘I am working with Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond and the Still Moon Arts Society to produce an ecosystem-based plan for the Still Creek watershed in Vancouver’,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director. Sean Markey is a professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University
“Sean asked for my perspective on urban ecosystem-based planning and, to elaborate on their concept, attached Cam Brewer’sWhitepaper on inviting nature home. Suffice to say, I was intrigued and readily agreed to meet.
“At our initial meeting over breakfast, Sean inspired me with his vision. But I cautioned him that it would be challenging to resuscitate the ‘ecosystem-based approach’ as a guiding philosophy for local government actions as they relate to rainwater management, green infrastructure and climate adaptation.”
“Nevertheless, I said to Sean, we must try. Within mere months, an opportunity arose for us to do exactly that when along came the right grad student at the right time.”
“Julia Berry, one of Sean Markey’s grad students, asked me to co-supervise her Master’s thesis titled ‘Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change in Urban Areas: An Evaluation of Rainwater Management Practices in Metro Vancouver’.”
“Julia Berry applied original thinking to core concepts and produced an evaluation framework for Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Her thesis is a foundation piece in a building blocks process that stretches over time. Publication of Nature-First Cities is the latest milestone in that process.”
Think and Act like a Watershed Series drew attention to the “ecosystem-based approach”
“Fast-forward from November 2013 to May 2016. At a meeting of the Metro Vancouver Stormwater Interagency Liaison Group (SILG), a forum for municipal local government representatives, Julia Berry presented her findings.”
“The value of her work is that it connected contemporaneous research to past approaches that had been fallow for more than a decade.”
EAP provides the means to operationalize the vision for Nature-Directed Stewardship so that cities and nature can co-exist
“Fast-forward from 2016 to the present. For almost a decade, the Partnership and the Nature-First Cities team have been progressing along parallel tracks. In the months ahead, we will be collaborating in ways that merge our efforts to give the ecosystem-based approach a major boost.”
“In the big picture, Tim Pringle and Herb Hammond are thinking along the same lines regarding water movement within a watershed and the concept of developing a restoration network built around the water network.”
Comments Off on NATURE-FIRST CITIES AND URBAN ECOSYSTEM-BASED PLANNING: “The authors condense key lessons from a vast landscape of research into a compelling decree for cities to transform and thrive,” stated Cherise Burda, Executive Director, City Building Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University
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
Nature belongs in cities, but how do we put nature first without pushing people aside? Nature-First Cities reveals the false dichotomy of that question by recognizing that people and nature are indivisible.
This new book by three B.C. authors shows how cities can co-exist with nature. Written by Herb Hammond, Sean Markey and Cam Brewer, Nature-First Cities is a guide to building urban ecosystems.
NATURE IS THE ANSWER: Co-authors Herb Hammond, Sean Markey and Cam Brewer
This book calls for action in cities based on the science and practice of Nature-Directed Stewardship (NDS) The authors make the case that the appropriate planning unit is a focal watershed – the largest watershed that fits within the boundaries of a city.
Nature-Directed Stewardship: an ecosystem-based approach to use and protection of land
“Cam Brewer is the lead author. It has been an incredible collaborative exercise over about 12 years. Everyone has brought different strengths,” explains Sean Markey.
“I brought a lot of planning work into it. Herb Hammond has the science and the ecology, and the methodology around nature directed stewardship. Cam Brewer has brought his passion for nature. Actually, he intersects both of us in terms of his knowledge base.”
The forest sustains us; we do not sustain the forest
“I am a forest ecologist,” adds Herb Hammond. “I have worked primarily with Indigenous peoples for the past 40 years to help them advocate for a more ecosystem-based approach to using the land and protecting it.”
“That experience has resulted in the development of what I now call Nature-Directed Stewardship. And this is incorporated in the book as well.” Herb Hammond likes to remind audiences that the forest sustains us; we do not sustain the forest.
Comments Off on FROM THE ARCHIVES: “Even though we no longer have the forest we once had, with Green Infrastructure we can help the urban landscape act more like a forest,” stated Dr. Jen McIntyre of Washington State University (2016)
Note to Reader:
In May-June 2016, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia published a 4-part series under the bannerThink and Act like a Watershed. In Part 3, the Partnership showcased breakthrough research by Dr. Jenifer McIntyre at Washington State University. Her work built on the transformation work of Richard Horner and Chris May in the 1990s. Horner and May correlated the consequences of land use change for urban stream health.
CLICK TO WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNruLbD2sP8
Dr. Jenifer McIntyre, aquatic ecotoxicologist, explains the science at a WSU Innovators Lecture titled: “Stormwater detox: How natural infrastructure can help save salmon” (April 2016).
The presentation is detailed in providing an understanding of why rain gardens eliminate toxicity.
Rain gardens can help save salmon
In 1996, Richard Horner and Chris May (University of Washington) published their seminal research on the cumulative impacts of land use change on stream health. Their findings shook conventional stormwater management wisdom in the Pacific Northwest to its very foundation.
Order-of-Priority for Limiting Factors
“The significance of our research findings was in gaining recognition of the primacy of hydrology. Get that right and both stream restoration and residential water quality typically follow along,” emphasizes Dr. Richard Horner, Professor Emeritus, University of Washington.
Twenty years later (2016), new research by Dr. Jenifer McIntyre (aquatic ecotoxicologist, Washington State University) demonstrates the dual benefits of rain gardens when they mimic the natural Water Balance and eliminate toxicity from urban runoff.
Coho Salmon – “canary in the coal mine”
Coho salmon spend half their lives in freshwater. This makes them sentinels whose health speaks well for the food web, the quality of its streams, and the rainwater runoff that does or does not flow into them. More than a decade ago, unintended consequences for a City of Seattle stream restoration project in Longfellow Creek led to discovery of a phenomenon called Pre-Spawn Mortality (PSM) which is caused by road runoff.
Pre-Spawn Mortality
“The City of Seattle built it (stream restoration), the coho salmon came, the salmon died. Subsequent research resulted in discovery of PSM,” recalls Chris May, Surface & Stormwater Division Director with Kitsap County Public Works. Previously he was Urban Watershed Manager with Seattle Public Utilities.
Mimic the Water Balance
“Research has been in progress for more than a decade. Jenifer McIntyre has extended the research by taking highway runoff and demonstrating that rain gardens eliminate toxicity. This dual benefit rounds out the case for retrofitting rain gardens to mimic the natural Water Balance. Water quality is not the culprit until a watershed is well up the development scale. Physical impacts of a changing landscape is THE issue. Then riparian, in-stream and water quality – in that order.”
“The damage is at multiple scales. Therefore, repair and restoration must also be at multiples scales,” concludes Chris May.
Longfellow creek is the second largest salmon bearing creek in Seattle. Salmon use the Duwamish River and Longfellow Creek to live and spawn.
Rain Gardens Eliminate Toxicity
Salmon exposed to toxic stormwater can die in a matter of hours. But preliminary new findings by Washington State University researchers suggest that bioretention systems, such as rain gardens, that filter out contaminants from stormwater runoff are key for preventing lethal impacts on fish.
Effective bioretention systems include sand and organic matter like compost and bark.
Washington State University aquatic toxicologist Jenifer McIntyre described new findings about how coho salmon die when exposed to urban stormwater runoff at the WSU Innovators Lecture in Seattle in April 2016. Her presentation was titled, “Stormwater detox: How natural infrastructure can help save salmon.”
Saving Salmon: A Message of Hope
“At Washington State University, I study urban stormwater runoff and its impacts on aquatic animals. The really exciting thing about the research that we are doing, and the results we are getting, is that it gives people hope. Green stormwater infrastructure really can be part of the solution,” states Jenifer McIntyre, an Aquatic Ecotoxicologist with the Washington Stormwater Center.
Her Ph.D. research in 2010 at the University of Washington helped pass legislation in Washington and California that phases out copper and other metals in brake pads.
“Urban stormwater runoff carries a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, some of which are toxic to the cardiovascular system of animals, into fish habitats,” McIntyre said. “We have seen that stormwater runoff can kill adult coho salmon in urban creeks, and we know that it can cause defects in the heart of developing fish.”
She studies coho salmon in particular because they spend a significant amount of their lives in freshwater compared to other types of salmon.
Episodic Exposure in the Real World
She also presented initial results on the ability of bioretention to prevent toxicity in coho embryos that have had acute and intermittent exposure to runoff during development.
“Episodic exposure is what happens in the ‘real world’ – which is what we were trying to approximate over the course of the three-month-long embryonic development of coho embryos,” McIntyre said.
The bioretention filtration system used was able to remove contaminants that caused the worst effect: death.
A focus on road runoff because….
“Five years ago when we started our research, we chose to work with road runoff because roads are the common denominator across all urban land uses. It turns out that road runoff can cause mortality in juvenile and adult salmon, and heart defects in developing fish. We also wanted to know whether toxic effects could be prevented. One of the potential solutions is green stormwater infrastructure, such as rain gardens, to soak the water into the soil and filter out contaminants.”
“We don’t need to know everything about how toxic runoff is, or how it causes toxicity, to be able to do something about the problem. To date, the experimental results are pretty impressive – for example, 100% fish dead in polluted runoff compared with 100% fish survival in the same water after it had been filtered.”
A Transformational Finding
“Our research shows that for all experimental combinations, the bioretention system ELIMINATED the toxicity. Not reduced. Completely eliminated! Even though we no longer have the forest we once had, with Green Infrastructure we can help the urban landscape act more like a forest.”
A Path Forward
“One of the new results I am most excited about is the cause-of-death research. For more than a decade we have been studying pre-spawn mortality in coho returning to urban areas. For the first time, we have a real path forward for figuring out what about urban runoff is causing the problem.”
“The cause-of-death research has shown that, based on blood gas and blood chemistry, coho exposed to urban runoff appear to suffer from a lack of oxygen at the tissue level.”
“We know there is oxygen in the water, and oxygen is in the fish’s blood, but that oxygen either isn’t getting to their tissues or their tissues aren’t able to use it. With this new information, we can start tracking down the precise mechanism causing the hypoxia, which we hope will help us identify the responsible contaminants,” concludes Jenifer McIntyre.
Sustainable Watershed Systems: Primer on Application of Ecosystem-based Understanding in the Georgia Basin
“Everyone learns about the water balance (water cycle) in elementary school, but by high school most have forgotten what they learned,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, when the Partnership for Water Sustainability released the Primer on Ecosystem-based Understanding in 2016.
“So what does this mean for communities, the reader might well ask? Consider that: A legacy of community and infrastructure design practices has failed to protect the natural water balance (hydrologic integrity). Failure has financial, level-of-service and life-cycle impacts and implications for taxpayers. Consequences include expensive fixes.”
“Hence, this Primer is written to help multiple audiences – whether elected, administrative, technical or stewardship – ask the right questions and ensure that ‘science-based understanding is applied properly and effectively to implement practices that restore the hydrologic integrity of watersheds.”
“The Primer serves as a refresher on core concepts that underpin the vision for Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management, released by the Partnership in November 2015. We trust that readers will grasp WHY it is necessary to ‘stay true to the science’ IF communities are to achieve a vision for Sustainable Watershed Systems.”
“And we hope that readers will be inspired to learn more about the science behind the Water Balance Methodology. Restoring hydrologic integrity, and thus the water balance, is key to achieving a water-resilient future in urban areas,” concluded Kim Stephens
Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “Technical people have to demonstrate cost-effectiveness in order to transform political acceptability into political will to implement change and spend money,” stated former Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk, political champion and moderator for the SmartStorm Forum Series (1999-2001)
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 January 28, 2025 celebrated the contributions of the late Barry Janyk (1952-2024), former 4-term mayor of the Town of Gibsons.
He was outspoken, funny and fearless in following his passions and advocating for the causes he believed in. One of those causes was “Smart Development”. Because he believed in doing the right thing, he played a leadership role in setting the green infrastructure movement in motion a generation ago. He was an influencer in a profound and public way.
Remembering Barry Janyk, political champion for Smart Development
“No shrinking violet, Barry Janyk brought a larger-than-life personality to preserving Gibsons’ small-town charm during his 12 years as mayor of the Sunshine Coast community. He had a witty and irreverent sense of humour and believed politics should be fun,” wrote Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director, in his tribute to Barry Janyk.
“Under Barry Janyk’s leadership through four terms, Gibsons was one of the first communities in B.C. to consider the implications of sea-level rise and recognize water as a crucial resource. He was thrilled when the town was awarded ‘Best Municipal Drinking Water in the World’ and deemed ‘most liveable community in the world’ in international competitions.”
Rural constituencies want a voice
“Barry Janyk died of a rare form of brain cancer, just days before his 72nd birthday. A celebration of his life was held in Gibsons on January 18th. The finale moment in his public service was organizing the Keeping It Rural Conference in June 2023.”
“Barry Janyk envisioned the conference as a springboard for creating a Rural Mayors, Chairs and Chiefs Caucus. Not long afterwards, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Did the vision for what the BC Rural Centre could be die with him? The story behind that story is the flashback included as an appendix in the downloadable version of this edition of Waterbucket eNews.”
Barry Janyk was an early political champion for Smart Development in urban BC
“In 1999, Barry Janyk had a vision which morphed into the SmartStorm Forum Series. The genesis for the series was a focus group workshop convened by UBCM in October 1997. Barry Janyk coined the term Smart Development to clearly differentiate the BC approach from the Low Impact Development terminology which was then being used in the United States.”
“Barry Janyk chaired the inter-governmental committee which initiated the series. He added political profile in his moderator role for the series. His tone-setting presentation to kickoff each event was titled The Political Consequences of Doing the Wrong Thing: Why Elected Officials Must Consider Smart Development.”
“In 2007, when he was Vice-President of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities, Barry Janyk was the political champion who helped the Partnership for Water Sustainability bring to fruition the vision for the inter-regional Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum,” concluded Kim Stephens.
Comments Off on CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “Once per decade, there is an opportunity to look back to see ahead. The streams and trees component of the region’s third Liquid Waste Management Plan is a window of opportunity to reverse past failures and get it right this time,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability
Note to Reader:
In November 2024, the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia released THE SYNOPSIS for theChronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. The Chronicle is a sweeping narrative of the 30-year period from 1994 through 2024. The Chronicle is a layered package comprising four documents: the Chronicle of the Journey, Stories Within the Story, Synopsis and Executive Summary. The target audience for each layer is different.
The Synopsis is the third layer in the cascade. It is oriented to senior managers who have limited time to absorb what they need to know to make informed decisions. The Synopsis is visual and so can easily be skimmed in 20 minutes or less!
Why the LWMP matters for a re-set in 2025
“In the first decade of the 21st century, intergovernmental collaboration and partnerships inspired individuals to be change agents. Their attitude was let’s get it done. Change agents made a difference through a regional team approach to green infrastructure innovation,” wrote Kim Stephens, Synopsis author and Partnership Executive Director.
“The region gained recognition as a beacon of inspiration for championing an Ecosystem-Based Approach to community design and protection of stream systems. With hindsight, however, one can conclude that 2015 represents the high-water mark.”
Changes in land use have consequences
“The stream systems component of Metro Vancouver’s first two LWMPs drove changes in practice through the 2000s. The ecosystem-based approach emerged because of the need to remedy stream channel and corridor erosion and flooding. The unintended consequences and costs of land use practices were unfunded liabilities.”
“Once per decade, there is an opportunity to look back to see ahead. The third LWMP is a window of opportunity to reverse past failures and get it right this time.”
“Once the Minister of Environment approves an LWMP, it is legally binding. Thus, the LWMP is potentially an effective mechanism for influencing what we do on and to lands within watersheds. But preventing impacts requires that multiple factors be in alignment.”
Contextual statements frame the defining issue surrounding each one of the three LWMPs
