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The third installment of the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver covers the period 1997 through 2005. This sweeping narrative weaves quotable quote to tell the story of what led up to publication of BC’s Stormwater Planning Guidebook in 2002, and the impact of what followed in the wake of publication. “Transformation is often fraught with danger. How does one dance with the tiger? You do it carefully, skillfully, courageously, in tune to the same music, advancing step by natural step,” wrote co-authors Mary Altomare and Brian Nattrass.

In a magazine article titled Stormwater Paradigms, Andy Reese insightfully looked back at why we pursued stormwater management in ways which unknowingly – at the time – foreclosed opportunities for more sustainable, livable communities. Andy Reese traced nine such shifts against the backdrop of social change. “We only reluctantly change our ways and agree with someone else’s paradigm,” observed Andy Reese. The article inspired the BC team of Erik Karlsen, Robert Hicks and Kim Stephens to collaborate with Andy Reese to introduce a tenth paradigm.

“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,” stated Kim Stephens.

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! A thought leader and change agent, Erik Karlsen turned networking skills into an art form. He had an unparalleled network of connection with Georgia Basin communities – and most importantly, a high degree of trust with those communities. He has a special place in the history of the Partnership for Water Sustainability. was a mover and a shaker in the public service. His legacy is embodied in the continuing work of the Partnership.

In his book, 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. He wrote the book to help readers better understand past decisions and their consequences. “Many books have been written about individual communities and industries around the great waterway, but none have examined the region as a geographical unit with its own dynamic systems, which can best be understood as an interrelated whole,” stated Macdonald.

The context for the Partnership for Water Sustainability celebrating the life of Barry Janyk is the Smartstorm Forum Series. This transformational series fueled a movement and galvanized an ecosystem-based approach to rainwater management and green infrastructure within the Georgia Basin bioregion of southwestern British Columbia. Barry Janyk, who was then mayor of Gibsons, infused the SmartStorm Forum Series with his passion. He was the political champion who carried the green infrastructure torch to the Metro Vancouver Regional Board and then to UBCM.

“The stream systems component of the region’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 the Minister of Environment approves an LWMP, it is legally binding. Thus, the LWMP is potentially an effective mechanism for influencing what we do within watersheds. The third LWMP is a window of opportunity to get it right,” stated Kim Stephens.

Between 2014 and 2022, the BC Ombudsperson published the Striking a Balance series of reports on riparian enforcement. Jay Chalke linked loss of riparian integrity to failure by local governments to employ adequate oversight of stream systems. In the late 2000s, the hollowing out of the environmental agencies meant they withdrew from former oversight and enforcement roles.

“Advances in science led to different paths along the west coast for British Columbia, California, Oregon and Washington. West Coast experience is a counterweight to those who lean to Ontario and northeast USA for their experience. But many in BC do not understand why mimicking flow duration is risk management. It baffles me why it is that way. Risk management is a really big deal,” states Jim Dumont.

“The 1990s was a very instrumental time of policy and regulation development. And municipal dialogue too. You felt like you were part of a movement. Those were such fantastic discussions and collegiality between municipalities. There was a really good alignment and call to action on making streamside regulation work. It was a major advancement but a lot of stress as well,” stated Susan Haid.