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The term ‘restorative development’ was coined by the writer Storm Cunningham in his first book ;The Restoration Economy’, published in 2002. Because he has made multiple presentations to British Columbia audiences over the years, and has a particular affinity for Vancouver Island, the Symposium program caught his long-distance attention. On the eve of the Symposium, Storm Cunningham shared his reflections in an interview. His insights provide useful context regarding the challenge of moving from awareness to implementation.

Andy Reese coined the term Voodoo Hydrology in 2006 to describe drainage engineering and stormwater management practice. “We have for years relied upon common design methodologies and trusted their results. But, should we? It is an inexact science at best. We rely on judgment and guesswork,” states Andy Reese. He is an American water resources engineer & textbook author. “Perhaps, if we make enough estimates of enough factors, the errors will average out to the right answer. This is where voodoo really comes in handy.”

“Asset management is a continuous process, not a discrete task,” states Wally Wells. “Too much emphasis is too often placed on the ‘Asset Management Plan.’ The PLAN is only a part of the overall process. The asset management process is a continuum. The process starts with the engineered assets that local governments provide. Communities will progress along the continuum incrementally as their understanding grows. By also accounting for and integrating the services that nature provides, over time communities can achieve the goal of Sustainable Service Delivery for watershed systems.”

In 2007, Rob Lawrance set the context and introduced the unifying themes for the three City of Nanaimo presentations. “Our participation in the 2007 Showcasing Innovation Series served as a catalyst for the City of Nanaimo to evaluate our progress to that date, and reflect on lessons learned from our experience in piloting innovation,” recalled Rob Lawrance. “The City of Nanaimo showcasing focus was on three policies that each addressed public concerns on different scales. A decade ago, each policy and application represented a ‘first’ for either the region or the City of Nanaimo.”

“Future planners, engineers, scientists, politicians and citizens alike will be called upon to demonstrate both vision and pragmatism, working as a team towards consensus, commitment and collaboration for the common good. Such collaboration is essential and must cross all political and community boundaries given that climate change is no respecter of such creations. The Partnership has accepted this challenge and its implementation,” stated Eric Bonham.

Looking into the future, collaboratively developed Water Sustainability Plans can integrate water and land use planning and can be combined with other local, regional or provincial planning processes to address water-related issues. “The scale and scope of each plan – and the process used to develop it – would be unique, and would reflect the needs and interests of the watersheds affected,” states Jennifer Vigano.

Storm Cunningham has been called the world’s thought leader on community revitalization and natural resource restoration. There are three types of wealth creation in this world, says Storm Cunningham. Destructive wealth, or “dewealth” is derived from depleting the earth’s resources and ecosystems and replacing them with such transitory assets. Preservative wealth is derived from preserving assets and maintaining systems. Regenerative wealth, or “reWealth,” is derived from replenishing natural and cultural resources, by restoring, reusing, renovating, regenerating the built environment.

In February 2003, a staff report to the Board crystallized the Action for Water vision. “In 2008, and as the outcome of a successful referendum, the RDN became the first regional government to create a drinking water and watershed protection service area with taxation authority in an electoral area. This was the culmination of a 6-year effort. In 2012, the service area was expanded to include the municipalities within the regional district and they became active participants in the watershed function,” reports John Finnie.

The RDN established a provincial precedent when it started the Drinking Water & Watershed Protection service in 2008. Funded through a parcel tax, the stable revenue source enables strong long-term continuity of the program. The RDN’s contribution to inter-regional “sharing and learning” is the experience it has gained over the past decade in first developing and then implementing the program. “A growing population combined with known negative impacts created the need to tackle issues of groundwater depletion, stream degradation, surface water contamination and the changes climate change will bring,” stated Mike Donnelly.

“Among the many partners it takes to tackle these issues, the First Nations in our region are likely the most important. The traditional knowledge and indigenous value of the land and the water is a realm of knowing that our scientific method does not touch,” wrote Julie Pisani. “We have started building relationships in an effort to foster trust and collaboration, and it always starts with stories. Conversations about what we care about, stories about the past which help us understand the present, and dialogue about the future and positive vision about what that may look like.”