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Kim Stephens

    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION: “When I reflect on how the memory loss issue is playing out, top of mind for me is that every area of local government needs a champion,” stated Pete Steblin, former City Manager in the Metro Vancouver region, when he reflected on how the past informs the future (3rd installment of a preview series)


    “When there is no champion, that area gets left in the dust. Of course every champion does need to put forward a compelling case for their area. At the end of the day, however, there just are not enough resources in an ongoing way to deal with all the issues. So, choices are made between competing issues and competing champions. What I see missing at times is an understanding of the linkages within a local government system. It is easy to forget there are other needs that have to be considered and balanced,” stated Pete Steblin.

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    EAP TRANSITION STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP: “There are lots of partnerships that exist for selfish reasons. But the EAP Partnership is selfless; and from all angles. The strategy ensures that knowledge is retained at an institutional level, that is, Vancouver Island University,” stated Graham Sakaki, Manager of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute


    “The story behind the story is about the importance of embedding knowledge of EAP into the youth who are going to be the future of our local governments. The framework that we have set up ensures this will happen. 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. The program enhances the ability of students to take part in applied research and have direct links to future jobs with these local governments who are providing project work experience for students,” stated Graham Sakaki.

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    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION: “When elected leaders have a trust-based relationship with their senior staff, and everyone works together to make the community a better place, that is when you really get things moving in the right direction,” stated former North Vancouver City mayor Darrell Mussatto when he reflected on how the past informs the future (2nd installment of a preview series)


    “It would be a bonus if people came into elected office with background on what matters to the operation of a local government. But most will not have a clue. Especially when it comes to infrastructure. That is why they need to educate themselves about how to develop informed policies. Elected leaders can and should say…let’s work with talented staff and see if we can come up with something together that is going to work for me as an elected official and for you as staff…and us together for the community,” stated Darrell Mussatto.

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    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION: “You can have a succession of changes. At the end you want to sustain miserable leftovers. We adjust our baseline. And the question is, why do people accept this? Well, because they don’t know that it was different,” stated UBC’s Daniel Pauly, a legendary global fisheries scientist, when he coined the term Shifting Baseline Syndrome in 1995 (1st installment of a preview series)


    Launched in 1994, the Georgia Basin Initiative was a call to action by the provincial government of the day. There was trouble in paradise. All communities knew they were under intense pressure and that we had to do something about it. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. Just turn it. Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge. The living legacy of the Georgia Basin Initiative is embedded and embodied in the successor Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative (IREI). Three decades and counting is an amazing legacy. The IREI itself is in Year 13.

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    CONVENING FOR ACTION AT THE 2024 BC LAND SUMMIT: “Held in Nanaimo, the summit is the event of record for announcing that henceforth Vancouver Island University will be known as the home for the EAP Centre of Excellence,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability (May 2024)


    “Held every five years as a 3-day event, the BC Land Summit is a watershed moment for showcasing new ideas. The Partnership delivered a 2-part program to introduce Blue Ecology and the Ecological Accounting Process. Because the audience comprised players involved in the land professions, the Partnership hopes that the summit will prove to be a seminal moment in sparking an attitude change about land and water. Time will tell,” stated Kim Stephens. “Everyone on the team delivered. The storylines flowed. The audience engagement was terrific. That is THE MEASURE of success!”

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “You can bend the hydrology of a watershed for the better over decades just because of the housing redevelopment cycle. But you get just one chance every 50 years to get it right.” stated Robert Hicks, career engineer-planner in local government in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia


    Robert Hicks was the internal champion at Metro Vancouver for creating the Water Balance Methodology and Model for scenario comparison purposes. Such comparisons were transformational in helping decision makers visualize HOW their municipalities could meet watershed targets and mitigate population growth and climate change. “Metro Vancouver had the budget to fund the early work on the Water Balance Methodology and thus bridge the source control information gap. What we learned from the 50-year scenario comparisons became a foundation piece for BC’s Stormwater Planning Guidebook,” stated Robert Hicks.

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “Those who forged their career on the basis of the old will never admit to the wrong precedent. These are the counter-revolutionary forces!” stated Dr. Younes Alila, professional engineer and professor in the UBC Faculty of Forestry


    “The story of my forest hydrology research over the past 30 years is actually a traumatizing story,” stated Younes Alila. “Most of the landscapes in British Columbia and most of our watersheds are sitting at a very heightened risk when it comes to hydrology and geomorphology. The risks are greater than we were led to believe by government, industry, and professionals. Now the genie is out of the bottle regarding RISK and LIABILITY. Once they know about the science of extremes and frequency, professionals have a duty to protect the public and properly advise policy makers.”

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “We framed a Design With Nature approach to community development in terms of six objectives that would reduce risk and liability,” stated Ray Fung, a retired Director of Engineering in local government, and former Chair of the Green Infrastructure Partnership


    “When we brought four groups together in 2003 and founded the Green Infrastructure Partnership, the term green infrastructure was not in the local government lexicon, whether in BC or beyond. We essentially adapted Smart Growth principles, albeit in action-oriented soundbites, to create a new mind-map with six objectives for designing with nature,” stated Ray Fung. “Designing with nature captures the essence of climate change adaptation. Adaptation is about responding to the changes that will inevitably occur. Adaptation is at the community level and is therefore about collaboration.”

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “We had big goals. We had a lot of practitioners at the local government level who wanted to innovate, and we had a lot of political interest in how to do this,” stated Dale Wall, former Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs


    “Moving into the 2000s, the Green Infrastructure Partnership was bringing practitioners together in Metro Vancouver to have conversations about innovation. It was the convening for action process that built confidence among practitioners to introduce these approaches. It was a peer learning network that the Partnership was building. And that was one of the strands to introduce infrastructure innovation and build more sustainable regions. It was a conversation between practitioners who said, I tried that and this is how it worked or did not work, or this is what I learned,” stated Dale Wall.

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “With the change of government in late 1991, all of a sudden land use planning and natural resource management was front and centre, and I really wanted something substantive to do,” stated Joan Sawicki, land and resource management champion, and former provincial cabinet minister


    “There was a clear understanding and consensus on the challenges – that the Georgia Basin was one of the most ecologically diverse regions and also one of the most threatened. There was trouble in paradise. All communities knew they were under intense pressures and that we had to do something about it. With a strong Minister of Municipal Affairs, Darlene Marzari, the ‘settlement side’ of land use planning went straight into regional planning and the Growth Strategies Act. We also had been given a clear vision along with sustainability principles,” stated Joan Sawicki.

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