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“With release of the Guidebook, the Province changed the direction of stormwater management in British Columbia, with an initial goal of capturing rainfall at the site. But that was only the start of the journey,” stated Kim Stephens. “The Guidebook set the stage for what needed to come next. The second paradigm-shift involved getting drainage practitioners thinking about what level of rainwater runoff volume reduction makes sense at the site, catchment and watershed scales.”

“The ‘salmon crisis’ throughout the 1990s decade galvanized awareness in BC. In response, governments recognized the need to restore and protect watershed and stream health. This set in motion a chain of actions and events. The ripple effects are reverberating through time,” states Kim Stephens. “We all learn from stories, and the most compelling ones are based on the experience of those who are leading their communities. Beyond the Guidebook 2015 showcases five ‘regional stories’.”

The seminar was structured in three parts to deal with the Why, What and How in going Beyond the Guidebook. The seminar also enabled the Green Infrastructure Partnership to report out on provincially funded programs and tools. “The response by the engineering community and others was overwhelming, and came as a welcome surprise,” reported Paul Ham.

“The Ministry looks forward to aligning efforts with the Partnership to further advance implementation of the ‘Beyond the Guidebook’ initiative. Inter-regional collaboration is the pathway to a consistent approach to water sustainability and green infrastructure policies and practices up and down the east coast of Vancouver Island,” stated Cairine MacDonald.

“If one goes back 10 years, there was a void of policy and legislation. 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,” states Glen Brown.

“The learning outcome for the mini-charrette was that participants would be able to express how green infrastructure policies and practices can be successfully implemented at the site scale to protect stream health at the watershed scale,” stated Remi Dube.

“While its primary purpose is to provide province-wide guidelines, Develop with Care 2012 also emphasizes how environmental protection and stewardship can benefit the community, the property owner and the developer, as well as the natural environment,” states Marlene Caskey.

“An ISMP is a potentially powerful tool to achieve a vision for ‘green’ development, one that protects stream health, fish habitat and fish; and anticipates climate change. Local governments now have a decade of experience from which to extract lessons learned,” states Kim Stephens.

“Beyond the Guidebook 2010 demonstrates that the practitioner culture is changing as an outcome of collaboration, partnerships and alignment; and provides local governments with 'how to' guidance for developing outcome-oriented urban watershed plans,” states Ted van der Gulik. “The Guidebook recognized that water volume is something over which local government has control through its infrastructure policies, practices and standards.”

“To help tell the stories of local governments that are convening for action to manage settlement change in balance with ecology, we posted a series of stories on Water Bucket during the August through October period. These preview stories foreshadowed what to expect at the workshop,” states Mike Tanner,