Comments Off on COUNTERBALANCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITH NATURAL INTELLIGENCE! – “I am worried about youth because they are going into these artificial worlds and may never experience the natural world,” stated Michael Blackstock, co-founder of the Blue Ecology Institute, and ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on February 4, 2025 features Michael Blackstock, independent Indigenous scholar and creator of the Blue Ecology ecological philosophy. He provides historical context for core beliefs that shape our contemporaneous view of water. And he draws attention to the unintended consequences of going down the Artificial Intelligence rabbit hole. Because AI disconnects people from the natural world, Michael Blackstock presents Blue Ecology as a Natural Intelligence approach that counterbalances the AI hype.
Counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence!
Michael Blackstock is a rarity because he is an original thinker who bridges two worlds…Indigenous and Western. A third dimension adds to his mix of attributes. His 35-year career in government as a negotiator and mediator gave him frontline experience in conflict resolution.
The three ways of thinking come together in Michael Blackstock’s Blue Ecology, a holistic environmental approach that interweaves Indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge. Blue Ecology points the way forward to Water Reconciliation.
“My keynote presentation at the Asset Management BC annual conference in November was my first opportunity to judge a live audience response to the idea that we must counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence. The reaction was positive. And that is when I realized that I was onto something,” states Michael Blackstock.
THE BIG IDEA: Indigenous wisdom reflects knowledge of Natural Intelligence
“Natural Intelligence is an idea that resonates because it is intuitively obvious. I believe it is that simple. Coming out of the Asset Management BC conference, I realized that I must be explicit in defining what Natural Intelligence means in an ecosystem context.”
“Natural Intelligence is another angle on interweaving Western science and Indigenous knowledge because it explores what Indigenous knowledge is based on. Blue Ecology is a Natural Intelligence approach. Natural Intelligence is a form of Indigenous wisdom…which is knowledge of Natural Intelligence and how to live with it and how to be harmonious with it.”
“Basically, Blue Ecology started with water. But the five principles of Blue Ecology apply to everything in nature. Blue Ecology is broadening out from water and flowing out to all of nature. So I have been thinking more broadly than water. What I have learned from water can be applied to all of nature,” foreshadows Michael Blackstock.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is all-in with our support for Michael Blackstock and Blue Ecology. In fact, our collaboration with Michael is living proof of what it means to walk the talk and lead by example when it comes to interweaving Indigenous and Western views of water,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
Natural Intelligence defined
“The Partnership for Water Sustainability is therefore excited to announce that this edition of Waterbucket eNews is the publication of record for unveiling Michael Blackstock’s definition of Natural Intelligence:”
Blue Ecology in the Cowichan initiative
“Leading by example is playing out in the Cowichan Valley Regional District,” continues Kim Stephens. “The Regional Board has designated the Partnership for Water Sustainability as a Strategic Partner for the purposes of the Cowichan region’s Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program (DWWP).
“The umbrella for our current collaboration with the regional district is the Blue Ecology in the Cowichan initiative. Building bridges between two cultures is about a mind-set change. To quote Michael Blackstock, it costs zero dollars to change one’s attitude.”
Blue Ecology restores the human dimension to our understanding of how natural water systems function naturally
In 2023, the Watershed Moments team produced a video documentary titled: Blue Ecology: A Pathway to Water Reconciliation and Resilience at the Local Scale. It was broadcast across BC by Shaw Spotlight on their community channels.
“The next evolution in the Watershed Moments series of symposia and videos is the proposed Cowichan Blue Ecology Circle Tour of Indigenous communities for staff and/or elected officials to learn of Indigenous watershed stewardship firsthand.”
“The Cowichan Region Climate Gathering held in December is the springboard to Step One of the Cowichan Blue Ecology Circle Tour. Stay tuned for a story in February about this amazing event, Michael Blackstock’s role, and the historical parallels with the Our River, Our Future Symposiumwhich was a milestone moment for the Georgia Basin Initiative in June 1995.”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence – a conversation with Michael Blackstock
“AI, AI, AI. The radio chatter is non-stop about how we have to invest in AI; how companies are signing energy agreements to power these big AI data centres; and how they are using water to cool the data centres because they are using so much electricity. Frankly, it is a bit too much hearing all these CEOs stating that AI is so important,” states Michael Blackstock.
“Because we humans are losing more and more of our connection to the natural world, I am worried about our youth. They are going into these artificial worlds and may never experience the natural world. We need to counterbalance that. So, I thought, what is the opposite of AI? Well, it is Natural Intelligence! All my recent reading and thinking has flowed from that epiphany.”
PART ONE: Michael Blackstock delves into the past to understand contemporary beliefs
“For a long time, I have been thinking about Carl Linnaeus, an 18th century biologist and physician who was born in 1707. He is known as the father of taxonomy because the Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.”
“Water never got on the list of the living world. Instead, it was put in the abiotic or non-living world. The chapter that I am writing for theBloomsbury Handbook to the Blue Humanities has helped me dig more deeply and read more so that I can solidify my thinking around the consequences of classifying the natural world the way the Linnaeus did.”
“The takeaway is that three centuries ago Carl Linnaeus and his classification system prevailed over the work of Compte de Buffon and that changed history. Although de Buffon was philosophically more aligned with the Indigenous view of nature, that critical understanding is lost in the mists of history.”
PART TWO:Michael Blackstock asks audiences to reconsider…what is water, really?
“Carl Linneaus developed a classification system for living things that has five kingdoms. We all know that water is life. Yet water did not make his list and has yet to be added. How was that possible? It is a question that begs an answer.”
“At the Asset Management BC Conference, I seeded the idea for a sixth kingdom which I propose to call Hydros. The idea is a work-in-progress because I have yet to think through the details as I have done for Natural Intelligence.”
Failure to recognize that everything in a system is connected…can have unintended consequences
“The medical profession talks about brain health resting on heart health, and that is a relevant comparison. It is about being in balance, and that is what is missing in the hype about AI.”
“in general, we pay lip service to systems thinking. It is not our current reality. It rarely is. Too often we fall into the trap of looking at things in isolation. That is why so many actions have unintended consequences. And that is why I am so concerned about the hype around AI.”
What if de Buffon had changed history by embedding an Indigenous perspective in science in the 1700s?
“What if things had turned out differently and de Buffon had not been forced by the church to recant his theories? Well, we would be having a different conversation in 2025 because the definition of water would be different.”
“In the 2000s, when I was a member of the UNESCO-IHP Expert Panel on Water and Cultural Diversity, I pushed hard to get agreement on redefining water. And we did. The whole group did that definition. It was a negotiation.”
PART THREE: Michael Blackstock believes a change in the water definition would be a bold leap forward for Indigenous reconciliation
“If we collectively open our minds to look at water with fresh eyes, it is basically a progression. If we redefine water to align with the UNESCO definition, that affects the definition of an ecosystem.”
“We should also repair the definition of the Linnaean classification system, by adding the kingdom Hydros. In my mind, it comes down to how we reframe the conversation to counterbalance Artificial Intelligence with Natural Intelligence.”
Change is a building blocks process: reframe the conversation, educate and inspire with bold thinking
“It was around 2002 that I wrote my first paper proposing a new definition of water. The first building block in the change process was getting buy-in for the UNESCO definition as of 2008. The Bloomsbury Handbook is the next major milestone in the building blocks process.”
“In 2025, publication of the Bloomsbury Handbook will elevate the Natural Intelligence idea within academia. If all goes according to plan, the handbook will start a global conversation about the definition of water that trickles down and triggers a re-think. It sure would be great if that influences policy and practice the way Carl Linnaeus did three centuries ago,” concludes Michael Blackstock.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on REMEMBERING BARRY JANYK, POLITICAL CHAMPION FOR SMART DEVELOPMENT: “Barry Janyk could take up a lot of space in a room. He was a really fierce advocate for his town. I don’t know many mayors that care so visibly about their town,” stated Bruce Milne, former mayor of Sechelt
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on January 28, 2025 celebrated the contributions of the late Barry Janyk (1952-2024), former 4-term mayor of the Town of Gibsons. He was outspoken, funny and fearless in following his passions and advocating for the causes he believed in. One of those causes was “Smart Development”. Because he believed in doing the right thing, he played a leadership role in setting the green infrastructure movement in motion a generation ago. He was an influencer in a profound and public way.
Remembering Barry Janyk, political champion for Smart Development
No shrinking violet, Barry Janyk brought a larger-than-life personality to preserving Gibsons’ small-town charm during his 12 years as mayor of the Sunshine Coast community. He had a witty and irreverent sense of humour and believed politics should be fun.
Under Barry Janyk’s leadership through four terms, Gibsons was one of the first communities in B.C. to consider the implications of sea-level rise and recognize water as a crucial resource. He was thrilled when the town was awarded “Best Municipal Drinking Water in the World” and deemed “most liveable community in the world” in international competitions.
Rural constituencies want a voice
Barry Janyk died of a rare form of brain cancer, just days before his 72nd birthday. A celebration of his life was held in Gibsons on January 18th. The finale moment in his public service was organizing the Keeping It Rural Conference in June 2023.
Barry Janyk envisioned the conference as a springboard for creating a Rural Mayors, Chairs and Chiefs Caucus. Not long afterwards, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Did the vision for what the BC Rural Centre could be die with him? The story behind that story is the flashback included as an appendix in the downloadable version of this edition of Waterbucket eNews.
Barry Janyk was an early political champion for Smart Development in urban BC
In 1999, Barry Janyk had a vision which morphed into the SmartStorm Forum Series. The genesis for the series was a focus group workshop convened by UBCM in October 1997. Barry Janyk coined the term Smart Development to clearly differentiate the BC approach from the Low Impact Development terminology which was then being used in the United States.
Barry Janyk chaired the inter-governmental committee which initiated the series. He added political profile in his moderator role for the series. His tone-setting presentation to kickoff each event was titled The Political Consequences of Doing the Wrong Thing: Why Elected Officials Must Consider Smart Development.
In 2007, when he was Vice-President of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities, Barry Janyk was the political champion who helped the Partnership for Water Sustainability bring to fruition the vision for the inter-regional Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum .
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“Zooming out to view the past three decades as a whole, the period 1997 through 2005 was the crucible for the golden period that followed from 2006 through 2011. This is our context for remembering Barry Janyk, a true political champion for smart development,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“The crucible era is bracketed by the passage of the Fish Protection Act in 1997 and the Green Infrastructure Consultation Workshop held in May 2005. These were literally watershed moments.”
“A large cast of characters was involved. We were venturing into uncharted territory, and that meant taking leaps of faith and calculated risks that we were heading in the right direction. We pushed the boundaries of knowledge and experience. We learned together.”
Smart Development founded on an ecosystem-based approach was a movement
“The cast of players during the period 1997 through 2005 was large indeed. There was passion, there was commitment, and most of all there was a can-do attitude. It was a movement,” continues Kim Stephens.
“Drawing on my firsthand knowledge and experience in working closely with so many during this period, I view the roster of players in term of three tiers of champions. Keep in mind that my perspective is the convening for action lens.”
Who are the Tier One champions?
“Many individuals have played important roles in the green infrastructure movement. But whose efforts were make or break during the crucible period? Seven individuals stand out as Tier One champions because of their ability to change the game. And Barry Janyk is one of the seven!”
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That expression captures the collective contribution of the group of seven. Their individual orbits intersected, overlapped and aligned in ways that powered a movement that was inspired by the greater good.”
“Each individual in the group of Tier One champions rose to the moment in ways that were complementary. They provided leadership within their individual spheres of influence. When the smoke cleared, the collective impact of their contributions was transformational,” concludes Kim Stephens.
To learn more about those who were influencers in a profound and public way, click on Tier One Champions for implementing an Ecosystem-based Approach in British Columbia. This is an extract from the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Remembering Barry Janyk, political champion for Smart Development
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.
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.
Overcoming Institutional Barriers to Smart Development and Stormwater Management: From Planning to Implementation
Co-hosted by the City of Nanaimo and the provincial and federal governments in January 1999, the wildly successful first event in the SmartStorm Forum Series might well have been a one-off, footnote in history. And then, Gibsons Councillor Barry Janyk stepped forward.
He called me out of the blue and said, “we would like to host a similar event on the Sunshine Coast.” Because we had to turn people away when attendance reached the 250-person capacity of the Coast Bastion, I asked Barry how could his community build on that kind of success and who would travel to the Sunshine Coast.
It was simply amazing. Barry Janyk mobilized his community. Our first interagency planning meeting was hosted by the Sechelt Nation. Barry brought everyone to the table. After that there was no looking back.
A political champion for smart development
Barry Janyk emerged as a political champion for what he called smart development. He ran for mayor, was elected, and then brought other mayors into the fold to host forums in the Fraser Valley. In total, Barry Janyk was the moderator for three of four forums in the series.
He infused the series with his energy and enthusiasm. He coined the term Smart Development to clearly differentiate the BC approach from the Low Impact Development terminology used in the United States.
The legacy of Barry Janyk is that his efforts elevated our profile and credibility with local government elected representatives. He got us onto their radar screen and that enhanced our ability to influence them.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on WILL 2025 BE THE YEAR OF THE RE-SET? “I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times.” – from a speech by British politician Joseph Chamberlain in 1898
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on January 21 2025 kicked off the 2025 season of “stories behind the stories” of those who are leading changes in thinking and implementing in BC. The unifying theme for upcoming editions is this question: Will 2025 be the year when decision-makers within government build on lessons from the past to initiate a re-set that overcomes organizational amnesia?
May you live in interesting times
Memorable quotes that encapsulate wisdom are timeless. Consider what Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in 1849: the more thing change, the more they stay the same. Despite apparent changes or advancements in society, certain fundamental aspects or patterns of behaviour remain unchanged over time.
A second quote…”may you live in interesting times”…aptly describes the array of local, provincial, national and global challenges that we face today. The phrase is ironic because “interesting” times are usually times of trouble.
The “may you live in interesting times” quote has an interesting history. In a 1936 speech, Sir Austen Chamberlain used it to great effect in his appeal for rearmament to combat the rise of Nazi Germany. Three decades later, in 1966, Robert F Kennedy popularized the quote with his “Ripple of Hope” speech.
The first documented use of the quote was in a 1898 speech by Joseph Chamberlain, British politician and social reformer. He was the father of both Austen Chamberlain, a Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1930s, and Neville Chamberlain who was Britain’s prime minister at the beginning of WW2.
Lessons from the past inform the future
In the world of government, it helps to understand what works and what does not. Having deep knowledge provides a foundation upon which to base sound decisions. During troubled times, there is no substitute for lessons learned through lived experience.
“And everyone here will ultimately be judged – will ultimately judge himself – on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort,” added Robert Kennedy in his Ripple of Hope speech.
As of 2025, organizational amnesia is “the challenge” for governments to overcome
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“A recent conversation with Arnold Schwabe was my source of inspiration for featuring the “may you live in interesting times” quote. In mid-2024, Arnold succeeded Wally Wells as Executive Director of Asset Management BC. Our context for meeting was the passing of the baton from Wally to Arnold to continue the collaboration with the Partnership,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“So, what do we do? Really, it is about focusing on those areas of restarting and refreshing,” states Arnold Schwabe. “And everybody, especially elected officials, having the courage to start making the change that is coming. I want to believe all the things are in place for change to occur, for a reset to take place.”
We see 2025 as the year of the re-set for “whole-system asset management”
“Loss of continuity is happening just when continuity of understanding is needed most,” continues Kim Stephens. “Knowing what we know, the Partnership believes the moment is right to brand 2025 as THE YEAR OF THE RE-SET in an effort to create a self-fulfilling prophecy!”
“Re-set means implement a course correction so that governments would maintain and manage engineered and natural assets as interconnected components within a system that includes the people who live there.”
“What would success look like? At a high level, the community writ large would buy-in to the need and financial case for funding SOLUTIONS THAT ARE AFFORDABLE, EFFECTIVE AND PRAGMATIC. That is the point of departure for setting in motion changes that are for the common good.”
Avoid the solution becoming the problem
“Before one can fix a problem, however, decision-makers and the community must believe that there is a problem. Otherwise, the solution becomes the problem. That is the conundrum that Frank Leonard, former Saanich mayor (1996-2014), addressed in the inaugural edition of the Asset Management BC Newsletter in 2010.”
“Frank Leonard’s pragmatic wisdom has influenced both Asset Management BC and the Partnership in our respective approaches to nudging changes in policy and practice.”
The Partnership’s four parallel tracks of effort would inform a re-set in 2025
“In the case of the Partnership, we are moving along four tracks,” explains Kim Stephens. “Waterbucket eNews featured all four theme areas last year. In 2025, we will continue to connect dots through storytelling about lived experience and deep knowledge that points the way forward for a re-set. Stay tuned!”
“Track #1 is our collaboration with Asset Management BC. Track #2 is the Partnership’s collaboration with Michael Blackstock to mainstream Blue Ecology and Indigenous knowledge as a pathway to Water Reconciliation.”
“Track #3 is our collaboration with provincial ministries. The Partnership understands how government works and is the “water memory” of the Province. At the request of the Province, the Partnership developed and maintains a suite of online calculators that the provincial water management program relies on.”
“Track #4 is the legacy of the Georgia Basin Initiative which is embedded in the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative. There is no formal mechanism to enable or facilitate inter-regional collaboration in BC. Launched in 2012 by the Partnership in collaboration with five regional districts, the IREI fills this gap and fosters peer-based learning among local governments.”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Will 2025 be the year of the re-set?
“What did you learn along the way, current local government staff would ask me, and where did that lead each time. Their questions prompted me to dig deeper. So, I expanded my “story behind the story” interviews to delve into motivating factors.”
Nine cascading factors that must be in alignment to implement a course correction
“Next, I had to find a way to distil and communicate three decades into an easy-to-tell story of how the Metro Vancouver region got to where we are today. I boiled 700 pages down to a table. Four distinct eras define the past three decades, with the period of time for each varying between 6 and 9 years.”
Table of Cascading Factors
“The table below is distilled from my lived experience over the past three decades. When one is in the heat of the moment, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. With a multi-decade perspective of time, however, one can see a picture. And that is what the table represents.”
“The descriptors for the cascading factors are succinct for ease of recall. But the words have deep meaning and substance. My lived experience is that the nine must all be in alignment to effect change. All it takes is one factor to be out of alignment and that can be enough to derail a process and progress. Yet it may be years before that consequence becomes apparent.”
“Along the way, inter-regional collaboration allowed us to cross-pollinate Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Okanagan experiences.”
“The difference between Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver, for example, is that enough champions who remember are still in the frontlines on Vancouver Island to hold things together. For now, that is enough to offset memory loss region-wide. But the window is narrowing until those champions age out.”
Restore political commitment and build a new coalition
“In the 2000s, Metro Vancouver put British Columbia on the international map because the region was viewed by many as a beacon of inspiration. Could lightning strike twice? Could the region re-emerge as a beacon of inspiration?”
“Of course it could. But it will come down to whether the right people are in the room at the right time, and whether they can learn from and build on past experience. Staff can only carry things so far. When an elected leader who is respected is THE CHAMPION, momentum can quickly accelerate.”
“Released by the Partnership in November 2024, the Table of Cascading Factors is a communication tool, has value as a conversation starter, and is resonating with audiences. Because it is a conversation starter, the table allows us to pivot from the past to the future, and pose question such as:”
“At the top of the list of cascading factors is political leadership and commitment to the shared vision. Leadership boils down to a willingness to act and bring together other champions willing to provide the type of energy and organizational drive that overcomes inertia.”
Defining statement for each era
“In the image below, the chronicle of the past three decades is distilled into a set of defining statements to describe each of the five sub-periods. The first four provide the springboard for a re-set and course correction beginning in 2025.”
Now what will we do to overcome organizational amnesia?
“I am an eternal optimist. The glass is half-full and the water level is rising. You just have to play the long game and be patient until there is a reachable moment when minds are open and thus receptive to the message.”
“Then it is carpe diem to convert the window of opportunity into a teachable moment that changes history! Timing is everything. It always is. In my experience, the most effective city managers are the ones who anticipate an issue and are ready with a recommendation when council is primed for the moment.”
“The takeaway message from this season opening edition of Waterbucket eNews is EMBRACE THE INTERGENERATIONAL BATON AND LEARN TO LOOK BACK TO SEE AHEAD. In closing, I offer readers this cautionary note about the essential need to build a coalition:”
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on SEASON FINALE FOR WATERBUCKET.CA SERIES ON LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA (December 2024): “Storytelling is among the oldest forms of communication,” stated Professor Rives Collins, author of ‘The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling’
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on December 3, 2024 brought to a close the Fall 2024 season of the weekly newsletter series. During the past 3-month period from September through November 2024, the Partnership for Water Sustainability has published 11 feature stories.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTENT FOR THE BUSY READER
“Water brings people together. It is a natural starting point for any conversation about common interests, and by extension, our shared future. Stories unite us. Water does it. Water is life,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“We share our world view through our stories and storytelling. It is not the technical stuff that carries the day. It is the stories about the technical stuff that carry the day.”
“Addition of one word, WATER, can make or break whether minds open or close when an idea is introduced to an audience. It is no surprise, then, that the terms water sustainability and water reconciliation are comparatively powerful. Take a moment to think about it.”
A loss of continuity has consequences
“Never has storytelling been more important than it is today. And that is because knowledge is being lost at an alarming rate. A look into the future by Jay Bradley in 2007 has proven prescient in foreshadowing what is happening in the post-COVID era.”
“Jay Bradley’s quote nails the nub of one of the challenges of our time. And that is, loss of continuity is happening just when continuity of understanding is needed most.”
“Without the passing of that baton, those who follow will not know what they do not know. This is why stories behind the stories are important. One must look back to see ahead. But it is more than that. It is also the ability to adapt.”
“Alvin Toffler, regarded as one of the world’s outstanding futurists, stated in a 1998 interview that: Society needs all kinds of skills that are not just cognitive; they’re emotional, they’re affectional. You can’t run the society on data and computers alone.”
SEASON IN REVIEW: Headlines and Defining Quotable Quotes
“We learn through stories. This is how we pass on our oral history. Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. This is why each and every edition of Waterbucket eNews is built around a conversational interview. We start with a compelling quotable quote and delve into the story behind the story because that is what is interesting and relevant,” continues Kim Stephens.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2024: While the housing issue dominates, “quality of life” context is as important as it was in the 1990s
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on ELECTION DAY FLOODING SPURS RE-SET AND COURSE CORRECTION: “Nine cascading factors must all be in alignment to implement a course correction,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
Election day flooding spurs re-set and course correction
On election day in British Columbia, an atmospheric river deluged Metro Vancouver and parts of the province’s south coast. Flooding was widespread across the Lower Mainland.
“The storm caused more than $110 million in insured damaged according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada,” reported the Canadian Press on November 15, 2024. On top of this are the flood costs incurred by local governments.
Draft Interim LWMP is the springboard to a re-set and course correction in 2025 for the “streams and trees” component
Timing is everything. When Metro Vancouver’s Liquid Waste Committee met in October and again in November, the Election Day Flood was top of mind. When the members endorsed theDraft Interim Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP), it was a culminating moment in a 3-year process.
Once per decade, the LWMP update process is an opportunity to “look back to see ahead”. The Draft Interim LWMP focuses on reducing demands at source – which means rainwater runoff. The plan has key elements for a re-set and course correction in 2025 to get it right this time.
Lessons from the past inform the future
In November 2024, the Partnership released THE SYNOPSIS for the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver. The Chronicle itself will follow in 2025. The Chronicle is a sweeping narrative.
The Chronicle tells the story of the past three decades by weaving quotable quotes from a host of champions who led changes in thought, process and practice. The Chronicle is crafted to serve as a “legacy resource” so that lessons from the past inform the future.
The Synopsis of the Chronicle is visual and light on text Oriented to senior managers, it can easily be skimmed in 20 minutes or less! The Synopsis concludes with a framework for a re-set and course correction for the “streams and trees” component of a revitalized LWMP.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“The week after the election day flooding, I contributed to a special 3-hour workshop meeting of the Liquid Waste Committee. In my remarks, I stressed that we could learn from Indigenous peoples. They understand that water and land are inseparable just like you cannot separate blood from the body. But we have forgotten that,” states Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“I closed on a note of optimism: Experience in the 2000s demonstrates the benefits and impact when the Metro Vancouver Regional District has a budget plus plays a leadership role in facilitating a regional team approach, one that strives for livable communities while protecting people, property and habitat.”
Editor’s Perspective in the “Synopsis of the Chronicle” is reproduced as follows:
“Writing the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver is my way of giving back. It is the third in a series of retrospectives that bring to life an exciting period in local government convening for action history.”
“The series is a volunteer effort. It is at the heart of my commitment to tell the stories of champions in five regional districts. Thanks to their unwavering support and enthusiasm, we embarked upon the Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Education Initiative in 2012. Now we are in Year 13 and counting!”
“In Metro Vancouver, the regulatory requirement in the late 1990s that the region have a Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) was the catalyst for rainwater management innovation. The LWMP is a unifying thread for the Chronicle.”
“Of relevance to my story is that I was the chair of the advisory panel for the region’s second LWMP in 2010. With an update underway in early 2023, Metro Vancouver staff reached out to me for historical perspective on the “streams and trees” component of the LWMP. This evolved into a knowledge-sharing process.”
“What did you learn along the way, they would ask, and where did that lead each time. Because of their questions, what started out as a chronology of events grew into something much bigger in scope. The Chronicle is a tome!”
“Their questions prompted me to dig deeper and distil, distil, distil. For the past two years, I have been doing “story behind the story” interviews for the Chronicle. With each interview, I gained more and more insight into my own lived experience. The passage of time does provide perspective. Themes emerged.”
“Next, I had to find a way to distil and communicate three decades into an easy-to-tell story of how the region got to where we are today. The companion images below help do that. Four distinct eras define the past three decades, with the period of time for each varying between 6 and 9 years.”
“Experience shows that nine cascading factors are critical to success. ALL MUST BE IN ALGIGNMENT to effect change. Over time, the region has regressed from a situation where many things were in alignment to one where few are in alignment. A post-pandemic reality is organizational amnesia!”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: To see ahead one must learn to look back
The Synopsis is oriented to senior managers who have limited time to absorb what they need to know to make informed decisions. It is structured as six sections.
In Section 1, we concisely encapsulate three decades of history. Our purpose is to paint a broadbrush picture of how the region arrived at a GENERATIONAL MOMENT in 2024
The historical overview sets the stage for Section 2 which is about organizational amnesia. Before one can talk about solutions, one must acknowledge that there is a problem – which is MEMORY LOSS.
In Sections 3, 4 and 5 we provide a glimpse into the rich history of experience that a new generation of practitioners can learn from so that they can TURN RATHER THAN REINVENT THE WHEEL.
In Section 6, we introduce a set of four desired outcomes. These would flow from key elements in the Draft Interim Liquid Waste Management Plan. Regional Board approval of the plan is a first step towards overcoming memory loss. A critical foundation piece is POLITICAL COMMITMENT that enables a REGIONAL TEAM APPROACH to peer-based learning among local governments.
Previous installments in “Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation” preview series
In the first installment, the theme was:Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge. former cabinet minister Joan Sawicki and former city engineer Ray Fung reflected on their lived experience at the provincial and local scales, respectively.
In the fifth installment, the theme was: Cities are all about choices. Former premier Mike Harcourt talked about cross-border collaboration in the 1990s that was an over-arching context for the Growth Strategies Act.
In the sixth installment, the theme was:Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing? Ted van der Gulk’s impact as an innovator extends into the urban setting. His vision for water management aligns with Indigenous views on taking responsibility for care of the land
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on IS OUR FOOD SECURITY SLIPPING AWAY WITHOUT ANYONE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA NOTICING? “Few people know how important the Fraser Valley is to food security for British Columbia. The question is…does anyone care, really?” – Ted van der Gulik, President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability, and former Senior Engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on November 19, 2024 features Ted van der Gulik and his perspective on how British Columbia can achieve food security. As the former Senior Engineer in the BC Ministry of Agriculture, he was ahead of his time when he spearheaded development of the Agriculture Water Demand Model almost two decades ago. With this tool, British Columbia has been able to quantify what the province has versus what the province needs with respect to land and water for food security.
Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing?
Two decades ago, Ted van der Gulik had a vision for agricultural water management and he made it real. As the Senior Engineer in the BC Ministry of Agriculture…and continuing after his retirement from government…Ted van der Gulik has put innovative ideas and numerous online tools into practice.
“Food security, land security and water security are not separate issues. They are one and the same,” states Ted van der Gulik.
What we have versus what we need for food, land and water security in British Columbia
“How many hectares of food lands do we have? How many do we need to irrigate for food security? And how many hectares are we losing within the Agricultural Land Reserve and without even knowing it?”
“Thanks to satellite imagery, British Columbia has a powerful capability for understanding exactly what is happening on the land. We also have a 500-metre gridded climate data set – the only one in North America.”
Loss of food land within the Agricultural Land Reserve
“For the food lands within Metro Vancouver, we completed the first analysis of water requirements in 2013. Metro Vancouver co-funded land use inventory updates on the south and north sides of the Fraser in 2022 and 2023, respectively.”
“The comparison between then and now has revealed the accumulating loss of up to 50 hectares per year due to land sterilization within the Agricultural Land Reserve. To compound matters, everything I am seeing in our water management program is not conducive to supplying water to our food lands.”
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“As long as I have known Ted van der Gulik, and that goes back to 1988, he has consistently translated vision into action. So, it is not surprising that in his career he has been honoured with two Premier’s Awards of Excellence. And Ted van der Gulik is one of only 22 individuals tapped for membership in the British Columbia Public Service Hall of Excellence,” states Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“In addition to his leadership role related to water for agriculture, Ted van der Gulik led the intergovernmental partnership which won a Premier’s Award of Excellence in 2009 for the Water Balance Model for British Columbia. The model is a scenario comparison tool for green infrastructure design in the urban setting.”
“Ted van der Gulik is a green infrastructure influencer and his influence is described in the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024. This edition of Waterbucket eNews is the 6th installment in a preview series.”
“In the Green Infrastructure Chronicle, I identify seven individuals who stood out in the 1990s and 2000s for their ability to change the game in ways that were consequential. Ted van der Gulik is one of the group of seven.”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Is our food security slipping away without anyone noticing? – extracts from a conversation with Ted van der Gulik
The story behind the story is structured in four parts (topics). The bookends are about the existing Agriculture Land Reserve and a potential Agriculture Water Reserve as foundation pieces for food security. In between are high-level perspectives about a mind-set change and the pragmatic tools we now have to protect water and soil.
The spotlight in Topic One is on the food lands in the Fraser Valley because few people in British Columbia know or appreciate how important the Agriculture Land Reserve in the Fraser Valley is to food security for British Columbia. Also, that water security is key to food security.
TOPIC ONE – Agricultural Land Use Inventories reveal that, even with the ALR, we are losing our best farmland without even knowing it
“With high reliance on imported food from places like California and Mexico – and increasing risks related to those sources – British Columbia had the incredible foresight to legally protect the very limited amount of land we have that can grow food,” explains Ted van der Gulik.
“Even in 1973, Joan Sawicki reminds me, it was recognized that the ALR could only be a first step in safeguarding our food security. Joan was an original employee of the Agricultural Land Commission and has remained a strong advocate of the ALR ever since. She is also an Ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability.”
“The Fraser Valley can grow a lot of the food that we need…vegetables, dairy and poultry. The fertile Fraser Valley is the best farmland in the province. But we are slowly losing our land base for growing food. And it is not because land is coming out of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Rather, it is all about what is happening on the land within the ALR.”
The ALR saved the land for farming but…
“At a time when most other jurisdictions continue to lose their food lands, BC’s Agriculture Land Reserve remains the most successful agricultural land preservation program in North America,” says Joan Sawicki.
“While the program has enjoyed generally broad public support during its 50-year history – and that in itself is amazing – we cannot afford to take it for granted or to be complacent.”
“With climate change, rising transportation costs, urbanization, land degradation and other food supply challenges, the risks associated with our reliance upon imported food are now greater than ever. Meanwhile, internally, pressures upon and within the ALR continue unabated, and may actually be increasing.”
“We need to embrace the incredible legacy that is the ALR and take the needed steps to nurture, facilitate and encourage farming within it, if we are serious about achieving food security for present and future generations of British Columbians.“
TOPIC TWO – We need to embrace a Caretaker Leadershipvision for protection of water and soil
“At the Asset Management BC annual conference this month, I listened to Michael Blackstock of the Gitxsan Nation deliver the keynote address,” continues Ted van der Gulik. “His claim to fame is Blue Ecology and I am proud to say that Michael Blackstock is an Ambassador of the Partnership for Water Sustainability.”
“Michael is an original thinker. He spoke to the pressing need for us to embrace what he describes as Caretaker Leadership if we are to truly protect water and soil. To quote Michael, it costs zero dollars to change your attitude.”
There is untapped Natural Intelligence in nature
“Michael explains that Blue Ecology is about creating a new form of knowledge by interweaving useful threads from our two cultures. Michael’s perspective on the need for an attitude change regarding our relationship with the land and with water resonates with me.”
“For British Columbia to move ahead, we all need to be on the same page. This requires trust in what the science is telling us about the changing climate and what the consequences mean for water and food security.”
“Blue Ecology reinforces the mind-set change that is necessary to support widespread use of tools and resources that the Partnership for Water Sustainability has been pioneering for more than two decades to help local governments design with nature.”
TOPIC THREE – We already have the tools to support a Caretaker Leadership vision for protection of water and soil
Ted van der Gulik’s impact as an innovator extends into the urban setting. His vision for use and conservation of water and soil aligns with the Caretaker Leadership vision espoused by Michael Blackstock. He has spearheaded implementation of multiple online calculators that enable improved land and water management across sectors.
Ted has often been asked why the Ministry of Agriculture chaired the inter-governmental Water Balance Model Partnership. He would always reply by stating: “Because the water balance consequences of urbanization in the uplands are felt in the agricultural lowlands!”
Setting targets for efficient outdoor water use
Another of Ted van der Guilk’s innovations is the BC Landscape Water Calculator. It is a spinoff from the Agriculture Water Demand Model.
“Targeting seasonal outdoor water use represents the best opportunity to achieve water use in balance with a changing seasonal water cycle. Soil depth as an ‘absorbent sponge’ is a primary water management tool for climate adaptation, during both dry-weather and wet-weather periods,” explains Ted van der Gulik.
“The general populace does not appear to be accepting of what science is telling us. It is very easy to just not believe science and accept what is happening to be just temporary anomalies. The issue of climate change is a good example.”
TOPIC FOUR – The Agriculture Water Demand Model generates numbers that make the case for establishing Agriculture Water Reserves
“Preserving the best farmland is half the equation for our ensuring food security. The other half is about securing and delivering water to irrigate the food lands that we need for food security. That means quantify how much we need and what infrastructure we will require,” continues Ted van der Gulik.
“With longer and drier summers being the new reality for water management, the Agriculture Water Demand Model is a useful tool in developing water management plans to achieve food security in British Columbia. And given the accuracy of the land use inventories, we can reliably estimate the total water need for agricultural irrigation. This further means that the Province can align water allocation and water use.”
Water is life and without water, there is no food
“The Water Sustainability Act includes language for Agricultural Water Reserves. I believe this is an idea whose time has come. It is in the WSA. Now it can be triggered. But that would require political will and investment of political capital at a time when other issues are top-of-mind for our elected representatives.”
“It is also necessary to link water allocation and water licensing. Currently, there are too many users that are not licenced to take water. At the same time, we must continually strive to improve the licensing system by taking advantage of all the science as it comes along.”
Food security is still within our grasp
“Collectively what we need in British Columbia is a mind-set change to affect an attitude shift,” emphasizes Ted van der Gulik. “People need to care about what is done to land and water so that they can be protected for the benefit of everyone.”
“Without a shift in thinking, sustainable water management may never be achieved in British Columbia. We need to secure water for First Nations, environmental flow needs, food security, domestic and other needs.”
“Embracing an attitude change will be very difficult and something that cannot be led by one entity alone. Recent elections in British Columbia and the United States tell us that the populace is split 50/50 on many issues and the management of water may be similar.”
“Getting everyone on the same page will require building trust between all sectors and accepting what mainstream science is telling us. Where and how do we start, that is the big unknown,” concludes Ted van der Gulik.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on WHY REGIONAL GROWTH STRATEGIES MATTER: “Cities are all about choices – choices that become reality very quickly, with lasting consequences. Over the 21st century – the urban century – much will depend upon getting the choices right,” stated Mike Harcourt, the former Premier of British Columbia whose leadership made possible the Growth Strategies Act
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on November 12, 2024 featured Mike Harcourt. He was premier of British Columbia from 1991 until 1996. In the interview, he talked about the cross-border collaboration that was his bigger picture context for the Georgia Basin Initiative. In turn, the GBI provides relevant context for Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan, deemed to be the region’s first regional growth strategy.
Understand my regional growth strategies matter
Experience in the Metro Vancouver region over the past three decades illustrates WHY AND HOW a set of cascading factors must ALL be in alignment to sustain the livability of the Georgia Basin region. This edition features former premier Mike Harcourt. His leadership made so much possible in the 1990s.
It is not too late to use the regional growth strategies tool the way it was intended
“A key purpose of the regional growth strategies legislation our government introduced in 1995 was to enable local government to respond to housing needs,” states Mike Harcourt. He was premier of BC from 1991 through 1996.
“It provided a basis for regional districts and their member communities to support adequate, affordable, and appropriate housing in places where the necessary facilities exist or can be provided. It promoted settlement patterns that would minimize the use of automobiles and encourage transit, walking and cycling.”
“Since then, this plan has provided the overall framework for the planning and development of urban centres, transit corridors, job lands and infrastructure. It has been updated twice, most recently in the form of Metro 2050, adopted in February 2023.”
“Metro 2050 seeks to expand the supply and diversity of housing. Meeting Metro Vancouver’s urgent housing demand is exactly the sort of situation for which we developed the regional growth strategies legislation. It is not too late to put this tool to use for the benefit of our current and future residents,” Mike Harcourt emphasizes.
Create Livable Communities and Protect Stream Health: 7-part series previews the Green Infrastructure Chronicle
This edition is the fifth installment in a series of seven previews leading to release of the Synopsis for Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024. The tag-line for the Chronicle is…create livable communities and protect stream health.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“It was 2009 when I had the opportunity to get to know former premier Mike Harcourt. The opportunity arose when UBC’s Patrick Condon recruited us to be part of his Sustainability by Design Research Roundtable and I chaired the Water Group,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“SXD was a collaborative effort to produce a compelling representation of what the Metro Vancouver region might look like in 2050 at the neighbourhood, district, and region-wide scales. It is the only initiative of its kind.”
Nested layers – context for integrating perspectives to create livable communities
“For the past two years, I have been doing “story behind the story” interviews for the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation. With each interview, I gain more and more insight into the context surrounding my involvement in the critical first decade of the Georgia Basin Initiative (GBI).”
“When Mike Harcourt sent word to me that he was interested to chat about the history of the Georgia Basin Initiative, it opened the door to asking what inspired him to make the GBI a priority for his government. Our subsequent conversation was a revelation.”
Understand The Why
“Mike Harcourt talked about the cross-border collaboration that was his bigger picture context for the Georgia Basin Initiative. In turn, it provides context for Metro’s Livable Region Strategic Plan. This was deemed to be the region’s first regional growth strategy when Minister of Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari approved it in February 1996.”
“Cross-border collaboration, the George Basin Initiative and Livable Region Strategic Plan are nested layers for integrating planning, engineering and environmental perspectives to create livable communities! Cross-border collaboration in the 1990s with thought leaders in Washington State had a huge influence on my lived experience.”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Cities are all about choices which is why regional growth strategies matter – extracts from a conversation with Mike Harcourt, former premier of British Columbia
Mike Harcourt served as a Vancouver alderman from 1973 to 1980. He was Mayor of Vancouver from 1980 to 1986. As mayor, his term in office was dominated by planning for Expo 86, an event that saw many new developments come to the city. Elected premier of BC in 1991, he served until 1996.
Mike Harcourt and Ken Cameron co-authored with the late Sean Rossiter, City Making in Paradise: Nine Decisions That Saved Vancouver, published in 2007. The book details nine of the most important decisions the Vancouver region has faced since 1945.
Collaboration across boundaries begins with conversations about common interests
“The Georgia Basin Initiative had its origin in the cross-border Salish Sea Ecosystem Conferences. Beginning in the 1990s, conferences would alternate every two years or so between Vancouver and Seattle,” recalls Mike Harcourt.
“The conferences covered a whole range of growth management issues. How do we manage the number of people that are moving into the basin when we have a very tough geography where the urban space is pretty limited by the sea and the mountains, and by rivers and agricultural land and park wilderness.”
“When you take all that out, there is not a lot of land for urban development and an urban population. So, it is an area and ecosystem all on its own that deserves that kind of close attention.”
“At the end of 1986, I left the comfortable pew of the mayor’s chair in Vancouver to go into provincial politics because I wanted to change our relationship with First Nations. I figured that reconciliation was and still is the #1 issue in British Columbia. And so I wanted to deal with aboriginal rights and title and re-do the relationship.”
“It was a crazy era with the war in the woods and the fear that conservationists had of losing some key wilderness areas. When I was elected premier in 1991, I had a pretty clear set of priorities laid out in the election platform.”
“Among the priorities were: end the war in the woods; sustainable land use for cities and the natural resource areas; and land use planning processes like the Growth Strategies Act that Darlene Marzari, Joan Sawicki and I put together for the large urban areas that were fast growing,”
Georgia Basin Initiative: when the stars align anything is possible
“In 1992, I asked the BC Roundtable on the Economy and Environment to investigate the challenge of growth from a bioregional perspective. The idea for the Georgia Basin Initiative was seeded in their report titled Georgia Basin Initiative: Creating a Sustainable Future. The Roundtable findings were clear.”
Georgia Basin Initiative spawned a movement
“The 1990s was a very heady time in government in terms of land use planning and natural resource management. Because Mike Harcourt and Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari had come out of local government, they were very familiar with the urgent growth pressures and the ecological impacts that they were having,” adds Joan Sawicki.
Closing reflections on the passing of the intergenerational baton
“In 1991, I had some very specific things that I wanted to get done. This included dealing with the backlog of schools that needed to be built and health care facilities and transit and infrastructure that had fallen behind in the 1980s. We had a list of projects and we got them all done.”
“And when I think reflect on what we also achieved through cross-border collaboration, the good one was the park and wilderness joint commitment by BC and Washington State. Between the two governments, we put $130 million into protecting park and wilderness lands.”
Journey from then to now
“In my experience, ideas and initiatives ebb and flow. You just have to take the long view and remain committed to passing on the knowledge that comes from experience. That is why I still have the fire and am still involved. People say to me, when are you going to retire. And I reply, why would I do that?“
“Because the Partnership is the keeper of so much relevant history over the past three decades, publication of the Green Infrastructure Chronicle in 2025 will be timely. I believe people are ready to look over the tops of their foxholes and look further ahead over the horizon,” concludes Mike Harcourt.
Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024
The Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation is a 500-page tome. Distil, distil, distil. The essence of the past three decades boils down to a table for the purposes of telling a story.
In the first installment, the theme was:Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge. former cabinet minister Joan Sawicki and former city engineer Ray Fung reflected on their lived experience at the provincial and local scales, respectively.
Table of Cascading Factors – a lesson learned is that all must be in alignment for success
Four distinct eras define the past three decades, with the period of time for each varying between 6 and 9 years. In the image below the table, a defining statement characterizes each era.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on LAND PLANNING PERSPECTIVE FOR RISK REDUCTION ON STREAMS: “Urban streams are rarely managed as ecological systems or as municipal assets. Rather, they are sliced and diced to suit land development objectives,” said Tim Pringle, Chair of the Ecological Accounting Process (EAP)
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on November 5, 2024 features Tim Pringle and Robert Hicks in a 4-part storyline that describes a path forward for reducing financial risk by protecting stream function in the urban setting. Tim Pringle’s methodology for the Ecological Accounting Process (EAP) closes the loop on applied research spearheaded by Robert Hicks in the late 1990s to develop the Riparian Forestry Integrity (RFI) index.
Land planning perspective for risk reduction on streams
The previous five editions of Waterbucket eNews alternated between two series of stories – one featuring Metro Vancouver and the other Vancouver Island experience related to Green Infrastructure and Natural Asset Management, respectively. Both terms revolve around quality of life.
With this edition, we interconnect the two series for the following reasons. Last month, Tim Pringle informed an Asset Management BC audience with his storyline titled The Story of the Ecological Accounting Process (EAP): Why was it developed and what does it do. Tim’s presentation dealt with applications of EAP in both regions.
EAP is evolving as a predictive tool for use by land use planners in a spatial way to explore policy implications for streams and trees
“The starting point for EAP is Natural Asset Management. It lets local governments know the financial value of their streams as a Natural Commons Asset. And that value is based on BC Assessment parcel values as applied to the 30-metre setback for streamside regulation,” states Tim Pringle, chair of the Ecological Accounting Process initiative.
A land planning perspective
“EAP is a spatial view because the methodology is keyed to parcels which is as spatial as you can get. The EAP process allows local governments to transcend the numbers and explore the financial impact of land development choices. And it is also about solutions.”
“Planners have a spatial way of looking at land use. So, I imagine that they would like to have a means of understanding a stream from a spatial point of view…what is being measured, what are the metrics for doing that measurement, how do you use it. It has to be that basic.”
“In this way, the community would see the streamshed altered or interrupted in a number of ways. The EAP analysis calculates the value of a streamshed spatial area based on RAPR, the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, the purpose of which is to protect the features, functions, and conditions that are vital for maintaining stream health and productivity.”
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“In the late 1990s, Metro Vancouver was ahead of its time and on the leading edge when the Stormwater Management Technical Advisory Task Group developed the Riparian Forest Integrity (RFI) versus total impervious area index as a measure of stream health,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
EAP comes full circle to close the loop on RFI
In the 1990s, however, there was no mechanism or metric to make RFI actionable other than through the “streams and trees” component of the first Liquid Waste Management Plan. But the region was not ready for implementation of the RFI concept.
The story behind the story is structured in four parts. The book-end parts feature a contemporary perspective by Tim Pringle about the history of streamside regulation and the vision for deploying EAP as a predictive tool, respectively.
In between, Robert Hicks provides an historical perspective on why an interagency task group developed the relationship between RFI and total impervious area and the issues of concern that this addressed. In the decades since, the situation has not improved.
Lessons from the past inform the future
Last week, I contributed to a special 3-hour workshop meeting of the Metro Vancouver Liquid Waste Committee. This group of elected leaders is tasked with responsibility for shepherding the region’s Liquid Waste Management Plan. My purpose was to provide historical context at a high level for the “streams and trees” component of the plan.
Thus, my presentation was titled Lessons from the Past Inform the Future. Once per decade, I explained, there is an opportunity to “look back to see ahead”. The flooding impacts of the atmospheric river on Election Day (October 19th) have created a timely teachable moment for making the case for doing business differently. This means designing with nature, I emphasized.
For three decades, we have known what we must do to protect people, property and habitat. So, why are streams still degrading? Why has our region fallen behind Washington State, California and Oregon? What are the RISKS and COSTS when we FAIL to get it right?
I concluded my presentation on a note of optimism. Experience in the 2000s demonstrates the benefits and impact when the Metro Vancouver Regional District has a budget plus plays a leadership role in facilitating a regional team approach to ensuring livable communities while protecting people, property and habitat.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Land planning perspective for risk reduction along streams – extracted from the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver from 1994 through 2024
“Urban streams are rarely managed as ecological systems or as municipal assets. Rather, they are sliced and diced to suit land development objectives,” explains Tim Pringle.
“When we initiated EAP in 2015, it was almost intuitive to pick up on where things were after a decade of riparian area regulation, and then recognize that local governments need a number if they want to get natural assets into their management plans on a regular basis.”
“EAP finds a financial value for the streamside protection and enhancement area prescribed by RAPR. Local governments can use that number to establish plans and budgets for asset management.”
“EAP metrics and measures evaluate the condition of the target riparian zone AND assess upland areas that may be affected by a stream system.”
TOPIC ONE: A short history of stream setback regulation provides context for development of the EAP methodology for budget purposes
“The Fish Protection Act, a transformational piece of legislation which flowed from the Georgia Basin Initiative, was proclaimed in 1997. This established the authority for streamside setback regulation.”
“The Streamside Protection Regulation (SPR) operationalized the Fish Protection Act. The consultation process was then a work-in-progress from 1997 through 2000. After that, the provincial cabinet passed an Order-in-Council in January 2001 to enact SPR.”
“But in May 2001 a new provincial government was elected. Cabinet rescinded SPR as one of its early actions via an Order-in-Council, and replaced the SPR with the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation (RAPR) which became law in 2004.”
Systemic failure results in Riparian Deficits
“In Striking a Balance, an investigative series of reports published in 2014 through 2022, the Office of the Ombudsperson analyzed the impact of RAPR after a decade of the regulation being enforced.”
“The Ombudsperson’s report was a catalyst for the Partnership for Water Sustainability to undertake the program of applied research which culminated in the EAP methodology and metrics for establishing maintenance and management annual budgets for streams.”
“This finding by the Ombudsperson has financial consequences for local governments and EAP addresses those consequences. This is why we focus on the Riparian Deficit. It is a measurable consequence of the disconnect between land use oversight and direct responsibility for maintenance and management of stream condition.”
“The requirement that local governments have an Asset Management Plan addresses the disconnect. The financial focus of EAP is like a household budget; there are certain expenditures required – how much are they and where does the money come from to meet them?”
“Affordable, effective, pragmatic. EAP grounds Natural Asset Management in the real world of municipal infrastructure budgets. The EAP methodology and metrics use real numbers to make the financial case for annual investments in stream systems.”
TOPIC TWO: Why an interagency task group developed the Riparian Forest Integrity relationship to land use for the Metro region
When the Metro Vancouver region’s first Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) was adopted in 2001, it established a precedent with a “streams and trees” component that was informed by science.
Streams were degrading
“This component was the work of the Stormwater Management Technical Advisory Task Group. Established in 1997, the Task Group was interagency in scope and had federal, provincial and local representation,” states Robert Hicks, former senior engineer with Metro Vancouver who was staff support for the group.
“It was clear to the Task Group that engineering solutions alone would not result in good stormwater management and environmental protection, nor address regulatory infraction risk.”
“At the time, the 1992 Land Development Guidelines were in effect. Produced by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), they were about doing business differently. It was a best attempt at the time.”
Riparian forest integrity is a pillar of stream protection
“The federal and provincial representatives advocated for a new business as usual regarding downstream flooding of agricultural lands and fish habitat preservation.”
“The priorities were hydrology and riparian forest canopy which is why we involved Rich Horner of the University of Washington in our watershed assessment and classification work in the late 1990s.”
“The research team developed and tested the RFI classification system using 19 streams that were representative of physiography and land development patterns in the Metro Vancouver region. In 1999, the majority of streams were in the FAIR and POOR categories.”
TOPIC THREE: Watershed Health Rating System applied the lessons from Puget Sound research and did projections to the Year 2036
“We worked with Rich Horner and an expert team to build on Puget Sound research and develop a watershed health rating system for our region. A trend projection from 1996 to 2036 demonstrated how the status quo would lead to a further region-wide decline in stream health,” explains Robert Hicks.
“The classification system relied on two parameters, total impervious area (TIA) and percentage of riparian forest integrity (RFI). We had our GIS techs count the trees within riparian corridors from air photos. We found a correlation between population density and TIA.”
“When we showed the picture of the RFI versus TIA relationship to the Board members, they agreed that things had to change. Things will get worse if we do not change our ways.”
The picture tells a story. REDdenotes POOR andORANGEdenotes FAIR.
A missed opportunity
“The Metro research team anticipated that local governments would incorporate these assessment measures into planning strategies, development approval processes, and engineering standards with the goal of avoiding degradation of small watersheds and streams,” observes Tim Pringle.
TOPIC FOUR: Predictive tool for making the financial case at a regional scale for investing in annual maintenance of stream systems
“In the late 1990s, the science which connected land use alterations of water pathways and riparian environments opened the eyes of levels of government and stewardship interests,” continues Tim Pringle.
“The region can move to a restored and renewed leadership position by revisiting the 1999 research and updating the analyses. This would be achieved through Metro participation in the next evolution of the EAP Partnership in 2025.”
The spatial approach using land parcels makes sense to local governments
“We are taking a spatial approach. We deal with parcels which is as spatial as you can get. We need readers to understand that in order for EAP to be real to them. Both the Metro research in the late 1990s and the current EAP research are spatial analyses and they look at several variables.”
“We have a two-step plan. Step One is an update that would add the EAP dimension to the analyses. This would demonstrate how to make the financial case for action in at-risk watersheds. This would provide Metro municipalities with a starting point that is science-based and pragmatic, affordable and effective, and is easy to grasp.”
“The predictive tool would make it possible for municipalities to quantify the financial implications of increased development density, including provincial housing policies, for the RIPARIAN DEFICIT.”
Sam Gerrand completed the first master’s EAP thesis
“In my thesis, I looked at ways to simplify the process for moving EAP to the regional scale and lower the boundaries to entry on different types of projects,” states Sam Gerrand, a graduate in the Master of Community Planning program at Vancouver Island University.
“In his thesis, Sam took advantage of the spatial approach to analysis. He saw the potential to extract rules of thumb about the spatial analysis that tell us why we get a certain EAP value when we do a stream valuation,” adds Tim Pringle.
“Once the EAP Partnership completes additional case studies in the Metro region to supplement the 14 already completed or underway, then we will have enough information about the metrics and measures to to glean helpful rules of thumb. This shorthand would be most helpful to community planners,” concludes Tim Pringle.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on UNDERSTAND WHY THE LIVABLE REGION STRATEGIC PLAN MATTERS: “We have one system of local government in BC, not two like in other provinces. Some things in a regional district are done by agreement at a regional level. And some are done by agreement at a local level,” stated Ken Cameron, co-architect of Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan in the 1990s
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on October 29 2024 features Ken Cameron, a co-author of Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan. Through his telling of firsthand historical vignettes, he provides insight into why the plan matters, and why we need people who understand the state of mind that lay behind its success.
Understand why the Livable Region Strategic Plan matters
With this edition, we swing our spotlight from Vancouver Island back to Metro Vancouver. Experience in the Metro Vancouver region over the past three decades illustrates WHY AND HOW a set of cascading factors must ALL be in alignment to sustain the livability of a region,
“In 1990, the Metro Vancouver region initiated a growth strategy embodying many Smart Growth principles. The Plan had four pillars: a Green Zone, complete communities, a compact region, and increased transportation choice,” explains Ken Cameron.
“A year ago, a group of us…me, Susan Haid, Hugh Kellas, Christina DeMarco, Nancy Knight, Richard White…had meetings with Metro Vancouver planning staff to pass on our knowledge and experience. Our message was, use the strengths of the unique regional planning system you have.”
“We did this in the interest of providing current and future Metro planning staff with some personal background on the people and, in some cases, organizations, that influenced the preparation and adoption of the Livable Region Strategic Plan in 1996 and the subsequent evolution of the planning function.
In the story behind the story that follows the Editor’s Perspective, Ken Cameron concludes by connecting the dots between the provincial housing policy and the impact on the Metro 2050 Regional Growth Strategy.
Planning influencers in Metro Vancouver history:
“As part of this knowledge transfer process with current regional planning staff, we cited the views of elected leaders and municipal planners who were planning influencers. This group included two former premiers, Mike Harcourt and Gordon Campbell, and two former Metro Vancouver Board chairs, Greg Halsey-Brandt and George Puil.”
What the reader should know about Ken Cameron:
He is a former manager of policy and planning for the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver), as well as a former adjunct professor of Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University.
Ken Cameron’s responsibilities at the regional district encompassed both the Livable Region Strategic Plan and the region’s first Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP). In 2001, the latter established a precedent with a “streams and trees” component that was informed by science.
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“In the story behind the story that follows, Ken Cameron’s vignettes about the history of regional planning from the 1960s through the 2000s give meaning to the contributions of past leaders, both elected and staff. In sum, their contributions were game-changing,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“Ken Cameron’s reflections paint a picture of how those leaders were guided by the principles of cooperation and collaboration and the concept of livability. They had vision and passion. They influenced evolution of the Metro Vancouver region for the better.”
Integrated planning and the vision for integration of engineering, planning and environmental perspectives
“In a system, everything is connected. Consider that the trajectory of my career path is defined by the science that informed the Fish Protection Act in 1997. The Act itself was an outcome of the Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. The Growth Strategies Act proceeded in parallel. These two merged in 1997.”
“For Metro Vancouver, these initiatives are all rooted in the Livable Region Strategic Plan. The mantra in the 1990s was integrated planning and implementation. This is where Ken Cameron’s and my professional histories intersected.”
“Metro Vancouver’s 2001 and 2011 LWMPs shaped my lived experience. It was Ken Cameron who got the 2001 plan across the finish line. The vision was that the LWMP would be the catalyst for integration of engineering, planning and environmental perspectives to restore the water balance, improve stream health, and protect riparian integrity. A quarter century later, those interconnected outcomes have yet to be delivered region-wide.”
Table of Cascading Factors – a lesson learned is that all must be in alignment for success
“The Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation from 1994 through 2024 is a 500-page tome. Distil, distil, distil. The essence of the past three decades boils down to a table for the purposes of telling a story,” explains Kim Stephens.
“Four distinct eras define the past three decades, with the period of time for each varying between 6 and 9 years. In the image below the table, a defining statement characterizes each era.”
Installments in the 7-part series that previews the Green Infrastructure Chronicle
“This edition is the fourth installment in a series of previews leading to release of the Synopsis for Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in the Metro Vancouver Region from 1994 through 2024. The tag-line for the Chronicle is…create livable communities and protect stream health,” continues Kim Stephens.
“In the first installment, the theme was:Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge. former cabinet minister Joan Sawicki and former city engineer Ray Fung reflected on their lived experience at the provincial and local scales, respectively.”
In this fourth installment, Ken Cameron concludes on an optimistic note with this statement:“There is no question that we have come a long way in overcoming memory loss in regional growth management and the future looks promising.”
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Think about this because it helps to understand why the Livable Region Strategic Plan matters – extracts from a conversation with Ken Cameron
Ken Cameron is a native of Vancouver whose professional career began in Ontario, There, he worked for the provincial government for seven years. “At that time Ontario had a lot of interest in planning and management of watersheds and water resources,” recalls Ken Cameron.
In 1978, Ken Cameron had a chance to come back to BC after the retirement of Harry Lash, the legendary and brilliant planner opened up the Senior Associate Planner position at the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD).
Through the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s, Ken Cameron was at the epicentre of the people and successive processes that built on Harry Lash’s early innovation and legacy and thus made possible Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan.
Asking the question, what is bothering you?, resulted in the Livable Region Proposals (1976)
“When the GVRD was established in 1967, they inherited an official regional plan from the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board. But they did not quite know what to do with it,” explains Ken Cameron in providing historical context.
“And they found it really did not fit with a lot of things on people’s minds which they learned about when Harry Lash went out and said, what is bothering you?. He undertook a comprehensive, citizen-based planning consultation and worked the answers into what became the Livable Region Proposals.”
“After I joined the GVRD, I began to realize that some of the qualities of the region that I had grown up with and taken for granted were pretty special. Protection and enhancement of these qualities was incorporated into the Livable Region Proposals and the updated the Official Regional Plan for the Lower Mainland.”
In 1983, the Province of BC cancelled all Official Regional Plans but could not cancel what was un-cancellable
“In the early 1980s, controversy erupted after the provincial government removed the Spetifore lands in Delta from the Agricultural Land Reserve and the GVRD Board refused to amend the Official Regional Plan to reflect that, in effect overruling the Cabinet. In response, the provincial government removed the regional planning function from all regional districts.”
“One of the things that was un-cancellable was the Livable Region Proposals because they never had an official existence and were never the subject of a board motion. They could not be cancelled by a provincial action. With reduced funding and staff, we tried to salvage what was important from the corpse of the regional planning mandate.”
Livable Region Proposals were founded on sophisticated knowledge of the region:
“What was important when you took away all the legal stuff was a plan that was based on shard knowledge and public participation. It depended on voluntary cooperation among and between the municipalities, and between the municipalities and the region.”
“It had that spirit to it that had been internalized in the guts of the municipal planners at the time. It was based on knowledge and on what Harry Lash had put together. This was a very sophisticated basis of knowledge of what was going on in the region.”
“It is people. It is economy. All that stuff was still there because it could not be cancelled…provided we could find a way of paying for it. That was the key part. When the GVRD board representatives met with Rita Johnston, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, and said there is still a need for regional planning in Metro Vancouver, her response showed us the only feasible path forward.”
The region found a bottom-up way to carry on with voluntary regional planning
“It was a challenge but we were able to do that. We set up a 16-party agreement under which most of the work of the regional district could be carried on and paid for by municipalities out of their own budgets.”
“Until then, the regional planning function had been paid out of a regional levy. So councils and municipal planners did not see it as a takeaway from their budgets. It was just a bill that came in and they included it in the levy for regional services that they sent to taxpayers.”
“It was an uphill battle. The city managers were money conscious people and were all over it. It was not a positive environment in which to do innovative planning. It was a fundamentally unstable arrangement, but it did keep the doors open and lights on for five years.”
In 1987, a renewed commitment to rebuild the regional planning function from the ground up led to Creating Our Future
“In the middle of that period of instability, I left the GVRD and joined the City of New Westminster as their city planner.”
“Michael O’Connor asked Gordon Campbell who was then Mayor of Vancouver to chair the Strategic Planning Committee even though we had no authority to bring politicians to meetings pr to pay them for being there. IT WAS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY.”
“It was an opportunity to rebuild a regional planning function from the ground up. It was based on principles that were established in the 1960s…of cooperation, of participation, of progress through agreement rather than through legislation, of planning as a tool of the people rather than as a tool of the government.”
“There was a whole group of people in Vancouver City Hall…Gordon Campbell, Walter Hardwick, Darlene Marzari, Gordon Price…who thought that the City of Vancouver’s future and interest were inextricably bound up with the future of the region. That was just another way of thinking about the future of the city that they loved and led.”
“That regional view led to a process called Choosing Our Future. This was a broad consultation process that led to a document called Creating Our Future. It had Gordon Campbell’s fingerprints all over it.”
In 1990, an action plan provided a regional framework for maintaining and enhancing the livability of Metro Vancouver
“Between January and June 1990, Creating Our Future produced some really important basic ideas, like environmental management and stewardship of water – defined by this statement: “The purpose of Greater Vancouver’s watersheds is to produce, clean, safe water”.”
“And also a transportation system that put walking, cycling, goods movement and transit ahead of the private use of the private automobile.”
A process of voluntary cooperation
“Creating Our Future was a very good overall vision. I went to the municipalities with it. And the municipal planners said…Ken, this is a great vision, a wonderful statement, and we are all in agreement with it…BUT IT IS NOT A PLAN.”
“So, we started on a process of voluntary cooperation to create this plan. We had no authority for it. And it was driven by the municipalities. That led to the Livable Region Strategic Plan ultimately. The basic principles were adopted by consensus…which I define as the absence of expressed dissent.”
In 1996, the Minister of Municipal Affairs’ approval of the regional growth strategy was a defining moment in the history of the region
“A Helijet flight to Victoria is the story behind the story of how BC’s Growth Strategies Act came to be. (Municipal Affairs Minister) Darlene Marzari sat next to me in the only vacant seat. She said, Ken, we have to talk. I have a staff and you have a board. We have to find a way of working around that.”
“So, I met with her on a Saturday morning and made a presentation about the draft Livable Region Strategic Plan to an audience of one. No advisors. At the end of the presentation, she said “I want to do that. I want to make that possible”. About that time, the provincial government was beginning to talk about growth strategies and Erik Karlsen was beginning to get involved.”
Erik Karlsen led a province-wide consultation process
“Darlene Marzari realized that she needed a champion within the Ministry for this initiative. And that person was Erik Karlsen. She had strong, very strong opinions about what kind of legislation this should be.”
“It was fortunate that Metro Vancouver had a plan that was ready to go just at the time Darlene Marzari was inventing the mandate for it. So the Livable Region Strategic Plan was the first regional growth strategy adopted under the Growth Strategies Act. Darlene Marzari signed the plan as minister, deeming it to have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Growth Strategies Act.”
“In summary, it was a reconstruction from first principles, leaving behind the stuff that was getting in the way, bringing in the stuff that was new…including the comprehensive approach and the idea that the resources of the region should be managed in accordance with regional and municipal planning objectives. All of that was put in place in a brand-new form.”
Ben Marr believed that integrated planning is the key to managing BC’s settlements and their resources
“During that entire period from 1990 through 1996, Ben Marr was a terrific supporter of us behind the scenes. He never had to be out front. I think he believed in his soul that integrated planning is the key to managing BC’s settlements and their resources.”
“His contribution to the Livable Region Strategic Plan process was to follow his management philosophy….which is…if you have managers, let them manage and do what they have to do. Let them know if there is anything that is bothering you. But until that happens, let them do what they do best.”
“That in turn set the stage for the negotiation of ground-breaking new transportation governance and funding relationships that we now know as TransLink.”
Adopted by the Regional District Board in January and approved by the Minister in February
When Johnny Carline succeeded Ben Marr as CAO, he discovered sustainability as the focus for government and the region
“Johnny Carline took over as CAO in 1996. He developed a concept for how to provide integrated planning for the region and its functions and restructured the regional planning, the water, sewage and solid waste utilities and the air quality function into three divisions: Policy and Planning; Engineering and Construction; Operations and Maintenance.”
“The first question to be answered was does the board want or have to do in each of these areas. That meant production of plans which had to consider whether there was a way to meet needs by managing demand rather than building new facilities.”
“That is how I came to have responsibility as manager of policy and planning for plans for liquid waste management including the requirement that the municipalities develop Integrated Stormwater Management Plans under the LWMP. There were other plans for water supply, watershed management, solid waste management and air quality management.”
Dr. Louise Comeau of FCM opened eyes and minds to climate change
“Johnny Carline’s next epiphany occurred when we were at a Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference about sustainable development. He got religion, as they say, He had discovered sustainability as the focus for government for managing not only the environment but also the social and economic future. Johnny Carline got it.”
“This evolution reflected the influence of Louise Comeau, the FCM policy and program director responsible for the Partners for Climate Protection program and for establishing the Green Municipal Fund.”
It is about the life support system for the region
Closing thoughts on why the Metro Vancouver Regional Livability Strategic Plan still matters
“When I was manager of policy and planning, I would tell my staff that we have been put in charge of the planning for the life support system for this region. We cannot own it but we can leave it to our children. And to build a better place, we need people who understand the state of mind that lay behind the success of the Livable Region Strategic Plan.”
“In this integrated role which included both regional planning and engineering planning, I developed a new appreciation for engineers who are people of responsibility and vision, have incredible technical skill, and very good people skills. People who I worked with in Metro Vancouver were incredibly inspiring to work with.”
Metro 2050 – Regional Growth Strategy
“In February 2023, the Metro Vancouver Board adopted Metro 2050, which has all the components of an effective regional growth strategy:
Integration of regional and municipal land-use plans.
Integration with regional utility and environmental management plans.
Formal transportation policy direction for TransLink.”
Implications of provincial housing policy for livability
“Metro 2050 also provides a clear framework for federal and provincial policies to plug into and support broadly held regional objectives. Metro 2050 offered a golden opportunity for new federal and provincial housing programs and funding to be delivered in a well-established regional context.”
“Unfortunately, the provincial government bypassed that opportunity to use their own legislation and instead went with a series of arbitrary overrides of local government planning authority, which has created chaos and disruption,” concludes Ken Cameron.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.
Comments Off on AN ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE GROUNDS NATURAL ASSET MANAGEMENT: “Our focus in moving forward with EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, is on land that we own,” stated Murray Walters, Manager of Water Services with the Regional District of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNewscelebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series.
The edition published on October 22, 2024 is the second installment in a 4-part series that showcases a successful precedent to pass the intergenerational baton and build long-term capacity within local government to implement Natural Asset Management. Anna Lawrence, project coordinator for the EAP Transition Strategy Partnership is the guest editor for a conversation with Murray Walters, Manager of Water Services, about the Regional District of Nanaimo’s experience in advancing EAP.
An engineering perspective grounds Natural Asset Management
This edition is the second installment in a 4-part series that celebrates a unique partnership, one that is powering a pragmatic path forward for Natural Asset Management within the local government setting.
Supported financially by UBCM, three Vancouver Island local governments are founding members of the EAP Partnership which also includes the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI), Vancouver Island University and the Partnership for Water Sustainability.
The vision is that the partnership will evolve into an EAP centre-of-excellence at VIU. In 2022, the partners committed to a 3-year transition strategy to embed EAP in MABRRI by doing three EAP projects each per year.
Watershed protection context
“The Regional District of Nanaimo is all-in with our participation,” explains Murray Walters. “We see EAP as a closely aligned initiative with the things that we promised to do in the 10-year work plan for the region’s Drinking Water & Watershed Protection Program. If not for the DWWP, in fact, that linkage would have been less likely to have happened in the first place.”
“As an organization, we need to get wiser about natural asset management. We need to be able to open people’s eyes about natural asset management in general and as an element of municipal infrastructure services.”
“We also need to open eyes more so to the financial side of what these natural assets contribute. And vice versa. How much financial aid we need to put into these assets to allow them to do that.”
GUEST EDITOR PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER
“The Regional District of Nanaimo had an early interest in EAP. So much so, the Millstone River was one of five Stage 3 projects in the 6-year program of applied research that tested, refined and mainstreamed the EAP methodology and metrics,” states Anna Lawrence of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) at Vancouver Island University. Anna is the Project Coordinator for the EAP Transition Strategy Partnership.
“During that 6-year period, the Partnership for Water Sustainability relied on MABRRI staff and VIU students to do data analysis and GIS work. Now, with the EAP Transition Strategy Partnership, MABRRI is the program lead and the Partnership for Water Sustainability has an oversight and mentoring role.”
With French Creek, the RDN will take its Millstone River experience to another level
“The RDN selected French Creek as its first project under the EAP Partnership umbrella because it will feed into the needs analysis for the ongoing provincially community issues study in the French Creek electoral area. EAP is especially relevant to a drainage and riparian corridor protection strategy.”
“In Year One of the 3-year transition, we were learning the EAP methodology. When we began Year Two, the plan was to gather community member input and develop a research question to explore in Year Two…which is what we have done.”
“EAP has seven steps. So, in Year One we focused on the first three to start out because they are basic for any EAP analysis. In Year Two, we are building on this base of information and data that we now have for French Creek.”
Overview of the two-year program to date
“Tim Pringle explains EAP in these terms: EAP recognizes steams as ecological systems providing drainage, services for intrinsic nature, recreation, and enjoyment of property uses. A stream is a natural asset. A stream is a Natural Commons and a Social Commons. A stream is a land use.“
Context for implementing natural asset management
Local governments apply regulation, planning, zoning and taxation based on parcels. EAP methodology aggregates and analyzes information based on parcels and uses only the assessed values of parcels for financial analysis.
Asset Management Plans need a financial value in order to include budgets for stream maintenance and management (M&M). In our Year One report, we presented the Natural Commons Asset (NCA) financial value and the M&M budgets for the entirety of the creek, as well as for individual land use categories.
Year Two Program:
We have since progressed into Year Two. Over the summer, we held an engagement session with community members, including representatives from Friends of French Creek Conservation Society, Hamilton Wetlands and Forest Preservation Society, Mosaic Forest Management, and the RDN.
The intention of this meeting was to talk about previous expenditures that had gone into French Creek over the past 10 years and to identify, on a map, future sites for conservation and restoration.
The calculations for the sites within RDN jurisdiction will be the most significant. And hopefully that information will be useful to RDN to push things forward and prove to other local governments as to how Natural Asset Management can be advanced and utilized.
Illustration of spatial parameters for calculation of the NCA financial value
The NCA value is the Inner Stream Setback Zone. Because it is defined in regulation, the NCA is a Land Use in urban and rural areas where there is land development. If the stream did not exist, the land occupied by the stream corridor would be used for residential or other development.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Reflections on the 3-year transition strategy for embedding EAP at Vancouver Island University – extracts from a conversation with Murray Walters about the Regional District of Nanaimo experience
At the midway mark in the 3-year transition strategy for embedding EAP at Vancouver Island University, Anna Lawrence and Murray Walters had a conversation to take stock of the journey. A set of four questions provided a framework for reflections by Murray Walters.
Why is the Regional District of Nanaimo all-in with its 3-year commitment to the EAP Partnership? Midway through, how does Murray Walters describe his view of the journey to date?
THREAD ONE: Why the RDN is all-in with its commitment to the EAP Partnership
“The RDN is all-in for three reasons,” stated Murray Walters. “Obviously our Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program is really interested in initiatives like EAP as it pertains to watershed protection. That is the first link.”
“Secondly, beyond that is how the EAP initiative relates to MABRRI and Vancouver Island University. Anytime within the context of the DWWP program that we have an opportunity to help promote moving something like this from a volunteer group into an academic world is a good thing. And doing this also supports the goals of DWWP.”
“So, not only is it what the Partnership and MABRRI are trying to do, the way you are doing it is a good fit. Then EAP can be seen and developed by a lot more people…and potentially get more profile.”
“The third reason is that we really are in the early days of trying to understand what Natural Asset Management looks like. We learned a whole bunch from the Millstone River EAP study that was a joint effort with the City of Nanaimo in 2020.”
“The EAP project opened our eyes to how much money is being spent on the Millstone system, particularly within the city and less so in the RDN reaches.”
A way forward is starting to crystallize
“As an organization we are moving forward with trying to identify where we have natural assets that provide…shall we say infrastructure service. That is what DWWP and the Long Range Planning folks have agreed to do through a collaborative approach.”
“We will identify a few areas where we could potentially do something on land we own, most likely in a park. We are going to try and establish what the contribution is…as an asset. Then we can connect the dots to the financial requirements for managing that asset.”
THREAD TWO: Why the RDN selected French Creek as its 2nd EAP project
“The RDN has completed a natural assets inventory which identifies where we think all the natural assets are within the region. But we have not identified which of them have a definable service.”
“What we are hoping with French Creek is that we can identify some of those peripheral areas within French Creek, generate some M&M figures, and merge the inventory and asset management approaches. A measure of convergence is when you have a real number that you can use for pragmatic planning.”
“Mosaic owns it. And we cannot ask Mosaic to do this or that because their mandate is not to provide infrastructure services for the public good. Their mandate is to make money off forestry. This example illustrates some of the challenges that we face.”
Governance in an electoral area of a regional district
“Another good reason why we chose French Creek is to shine another light on some of the difficulties surrounding governance in electoral areas outside the municipal boundaries.”
“French Creek is such a mess because there are large unincorporated areas of development and private ownership in the middle and upper watershed that converge on the very densely populated Oceanside. Road drainage is a major contributor to problems that are being experienced.”
“Governance is not the primary goal of the EAP study. But when you look at what we are going to get with EAP…and consider how it fits into the ongoing governance studies that are happening in that electoral area…well, I anticipate it is going to be a really helpful piece of information.”
THREAD THREE: How the RDN will use what they have learned from French Creek
“Natural asset management is in its infancy. SO WE ARE REALLY FOCUSING ON LAND THAT WE OWN. You look at something like Hamilton Marsh and it is very visible and it is very obvious that it provides a service. But we lack the ability to influence what goes on there.”
“As an organization we need to focus on land that we own to prove the concept more than anything. Maybe there is an element of timing in there where we can identify an asset that we do own…and that will allow the natural asset inventory and asset management to come together a little bit better.”
“If we can do something on our land to prove the concept, get it accepted by our board of directors, then maybe that is the trigger to try and influence other people who also have land to behave in a similar fashion. That is the direction where I see natural asset management going.”
The DWWP function made it possible to advance EAP
“The fact that we have the DWWP function here at the RDN is what allows us to participate so wholesomely in this kind of innovative partnership with other organizations and move the whole idea of Natural Asset Management forward.”
“It is really a function of having a group of funded, enthusiastic, creative thinking people who can see where this is going in the long term. A couple of years ago, when we were doing the Millstone EAP project, it was a bit of a hobby and we were not quite sure what we were going to use it for. Well, it is four years later and we are significantly advanced from those early days.”
Collaboration leverages science to inform policy
“To move away from the science, data and community outreach stuff…and into policy and planning…the two groups have to work really closely together. Many of the long-range planning initiatives refer to partnerships with DWMP and moving our collaboration forward.”
“You have to de-silo. You cannot operate in silos where everyone is trying to grab more turf all the time. You need to operate in an environment where people are not afraid to go talk and tell you what they are doing and what they want to help with.”
“We cannot always help them and they cannot always help us either. But we are talking about it these days. Internal collaboration does not happen overnight. You must have initial successes to build relationships. That is what the French Creek EAP project represents. It will feed into other studies,” concludes Murray Walters.
About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC
Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.
The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.