Parksville 2019 on YouTube > Bowker Creek Daylighting in the Capital Regional District – “We are changing the way we develop land by attempting to re-engineer the hydrological function back into our urban landscape. We are, in some ways, cultivating a new land ethic,” stated Jody Watson, Past-Chair, Bowker Creek Urban Watershed Renewal Initiative (April 2019)
Note to Reader:
The Parksville 2019 Symposium has been captured in its entirety in a comprehensive set of videos that have been uploaded to the Partnership for Water Sustainability’s YouTube Channel for ease of access by those who are curious and/or interested to learn about what transpired on April 2-3-4 in Parksville, British Columbia.
Module C on Day Two was titled ‘Moving Towards Restorative Development’. It featured two Vancouver Island restoration case studies that are “beacons of hope” – Bowker Creek in the Capital Regional District and Brooklyn Creek in the Comox Valley.
Jody Watson, Past-Chair of the Bowker Creek Urban Watershed Renewal Initiative shared the story of Bowker Creek. Her topic was ‘Bringing Bowker Creek Back to Life in the Capital Region: Community Buy-In is Key’.
“Our collective ‘baseline’ or memory of what a healthy creek should look like has shifted significantly,” states Jody Watson, Capital Regional District. Jody is Supervisor, Environmental Partnerships & Initiatives. Now Past-Chair, Bowker Creek Initiative, she provided strong leadership for a decade and a half (i.e. from 2004 through 2018).
“Within the urban environs, this baseline had shifted even more through generations of development and decades of engineering practices designed to get the water off the land as quickly as possible. This approach to land development has resulted in a loss of hydrological and ecological function in many areas.”
View the 44-minute presentation by Jody Watson that is posted on YouTube:
What Do You Wonder?
The story of Parksville 2019 is told in a magazine-style narrative titled “RE-CAP AND REFLECTIONS”.
The “re-cap and reflections” document was written for two audiences – first and foremost, for those who attended Parksville 2019 and wish to have an accessible and quotable reference document at their fingertips, so that they can share the story with others; and secondarily, for those who have heard about Parksville 2019 and are curious to learn more about the ‘story behind the story’, so that they may understand why this event represents a watershed moment for so many who were there.
About Parksville 2019
Close to 200 delegates attended this 3-day event. Parksville 2019 comprised a field day followed by a 2-day symposium. The program objectives for Parksville 2019 helped to inform and establish expectations. It was a matter of providing context and then being clear and succinct about the desired takeaways.
To provide relevance for streamkeepers, the theme for Day One was Sustainable Stream Restoration. To capture the attention of those in local government, the theme for Day Two was Restorative Land Development.
To Learn More:
Download a PDF copy of the Re-Cap and Reflections document at: https://waterbucket.ca/viw/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/05/Parksville-Symposium_re-cap-and-reflections_May2019.pdf
Download a PDF copy of the Jody Watson presentation titled ‘Bringing Bowker Creek Back to Life in the Capital Region: Community Buy-In is Key’
