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Beyond the Guidebook 2020 shows how to achieve water sustainability through outcome-oriented urban watershed plans. “It is a great resource, well written … Down to earth, and in line with what the Water Sustainability Action Plan speaks about… The new business as usual, connecting the dots and giving useful tools and roadmaps for success. It is an easy read,” stated Kathy Bishop. “I also see that it is inspiring, with all the VI municipalities stories, for Vancouver Island to move forward with connecting the dots throughout the Island. What a great foundation/springboard for The Nanaimo Dialogue.”

“In 2005, we said this would be a different kind of guidebook. We said that the Guidebook would be the ‘telling of the stories’ of how change is being implemented on-the-ground in BC. Before the chapters could be written, however, the regional case studies had to run their course. Five years later, Beyond the Guidebook 2010 is the story of how we got to here and where we are going next. If one goes back 10 years, there was a void of policy and legislation. This led us down an educational path as the logical alternative. We took the Stormwater Planning Guidebook, which is a document released in 2002, and we moved it to implementation,” stated Glen Brown.

“Extreme weather patterns, including higher rainfall intensities and more frequent flooding, are one of the projected outcomes of climate change. Managing stormwater effectively will be a critical climate change adaptation tool. Increased development and increased storm intensity from climate change are increasing peak flows and altering the rules of the game. We can’t engineer away our problems fast enough, and have to look at other, lower impact solutions,” stated Anna Warwick Sears.

“So many of us in local government are still searching for the magical ‘silver bullet’ that with the stroke of a pen will resolve all our watershed issues and challenges while at the same time stimulate economic activity and accommodate growth. While the search continues, it is important to note that the practical solution is around us everywhere, and is staring right at us: Soil, vegetation and trees can do more for our watersheds than decades of planning, consulting and complicated engineering design will ever achieve,” stated Richard Boase.

“In 2005, we said that the Guidebook would be the ‘telling of the stories’ of how change is being implemented on-the-ground in BC. Before the chapters could be written, however, the regional case studies had to run their course,” stated Glen Brown. “Well, it is five years later, and this s the story of how we got to here and where we are going next.”

The UBCM convention was held in Whistler, venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Hence, the theme was Forging Gold Medal Standards. “The spirit of collaboration and new found bonds that we have fostered in 2010 are undeniably valuable. But without action, we cannot move our communities forward. This convention offers an opportunity to take our goals, and forge them into tangible outcomes and continue to build gold medal standard communities,” stated Harry Nyce, UBCM President.

“The intention is to learn with and from each other about what we can do to advance community-based efforts in creating a conservation culture in BC and achieving an environmentally sustainable future,” stated Pia Nagpal. “To achieve an environmentally-sustainable future with adequately functioning natural systems will require the involvement and commitment of all citizens.”

“We get to make our own choices. We get to make our own future. We just have to have the vision to imagine, and the tenacity to pursue it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it,” stated Premier Gordon Campbell.

“We spent the last half a century trying to control runoff with dikes, storm sewers, curbs and gutters. Now, increased development and increased storm intensity from climate change are increasing peak flows and altering the rules of the game,” states Anna Warwick Sears. “We can’t engineer away our problems fast enough, and have to look at other, lower impact solutions.”

The ‘Dialogue in Nanaimo’ provided a high profile opportunity to announce release of Beyond the Guidebook 2010. “There is now clear guidance for aligning local actions with provincial and regional goals to ‘design with nature’ so that British Columbians can create greener communities, live water smart and prepare for climate change,” stated John Finnie. “We believe that BC is now at a tipping point. Implementation of a new culture for urban watershed protection and restoration is within our grasp.”