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“Early in her career, Jody Watson realized the importance and value of local government-community relationships built upon mutual trust, respect and common purpose. In her role as Supervisor of Environmental Initiatives, Jody has emphasized collaboration and teamwork at every opportunity. Creative community partnerships are being forged to address changing circumstances. An able communicator and mentor who ‘walks her talk’, Jody is both a visionary and a pragmatist, for the vision and task are equally important, and that is what makes the difference,” stated Eric Bonham.

“Scientists walk that tightrope between being overly reactive or not bringing the appropriate dynamics to bear on a situation. That is the debate in so many policy decisions which ultimately are up to senior managers, politicians and the public to make. Hopefully, scientists can provide information that helps. I believe that scientists need to talk to politicians, managers, and community members. However, it is really hard to keep everybody interested over the long term that characterizes ecosystem management questions. That is a challenge I face,” stated Dr. Dave Preikshot.

“There are lots of partnerships that exist for selfish reasons. But the EAP Partnership is selfless, and from all angles. It is a leap of faith for member local governments. Partnership for Water Sustainability commitment to passing the baton is unwavering. The EAP Partnership was set up in a really unique, really valuable and viable way right from the beginning. The Partnership for Water Sustainability made the connections to the three local governments. Vancouver Island University, as a smaller university, is very focused on applied research and community engagement. This is a good fit for the EAP mission,” stated Graham Sakaki.

“Our discussions lead to an expanded common vocabulary. Sustainable Service Delivery, Eco-Assets and Eco-Asset Management, the Ecological Accounting Process, Municipal Natural Asset Inventory, Riparian Deficit, and watershed stewardship are some of the words in our new common tongue. The rabid environmentalist, the cold-hearted accountant and the aloof engineer could come together and focus on a common goal – Water Balance. At a very key level, it is about our relationship with water and with each other. We design and build our communities based on our relationship to water,” stated Paul Chapman.

“My commitment is to the community that I love and so my career strategy has been different. It has meant I may not grow as quickly as I could, but in the passage of time I feel rewarded for staying with one organization. We are currently experiencing rapid change in our organization and priorities. With all this change there is a need for institutional memory to provide stability, insight, and rapid response to these new opportunities. Now that I have evolved into a more senior role, I feel the strategy of commitment and patience is allowing me to contribute more decisively and effectively,” stated Nancy Gothard.

“Shelley Creek is typical of small streams on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Of the 5.5 km channel length, a mere 300m exists in its natural state. And this is only because the City of Parksville created an enhanced riparian zone for park purposes when the surrounding area was subdivided in 1998. We wanted to understand what factors influence the movement of resident cutthroat trout over their life history in Shelly Creek. We investigated how a small population of resident fish survives in a stream that undergoes significant changes to water flows over the seasons,” stated Peter Law.

The Town pf Comox had to re-invent land development practices. “I am proud of what the Town has accomplished over the past decade. It took hard work though. Now that the Northeast Comox rainwater management plan is in place, water balance modeling is a requirement, and supporting bylaws help us regulate what developers must do on the ground. All in all, it has been such a huge step for the Town to get to where we have arrived at. The situation called for an educational process to bridge a gap in understanding in the engineering community,” stated Shelley Ashfield.

“The View Royal site that BC Transit is redeveloping was previously an old, degraded industrial property with a badly damaged waterway. The stream restoration, and now the fish, show that sound management and community stewardship can have amazing results,” stated Theresa Fresco. The new stream has riffles and pools, as well as purposely placed rocks, logs and weirs that break up the water flow, introduce oxygen to the water, and reduce stream bank erosion. The stream has also created a wildlife corridor connecting to the forest along Craigflower Creek.

“The Salt Spring Island Freshwater Catalogue Project that I am leading is providing field data for ground-truthing, as I call it, for some of the community-based science work that we are doing to support the work by the Islands Trust and Capital Regional District. The data can help us understand water quantity variability and water balance for an island. It all hangs together and dovetails nicely in a multi-threaded, decision-making process. Water quantity is such a big deal. Why is that? Well, islands only have rainwater for water supply,” stated John Millson.