Did you miss this event on April 21, 2021? Good news! Below is the complete list of links offered along with the video recording.
We all know that our island home routinely faces severe drought and fire risk conditions in the summer months, and these risks are increasing.
But there’s a lot we can do to reduce fire risks while addressing water quality and supply issues. Salt Spring’s own Climate Action Plan contains scores of recommendations on what we need to do to ensure we have enough fresh water for our community and protect our freshwater ecosystems.
In this video you will hear about exciting real-world solutions to these big picture problems from:
Robin Annschild, B.Sc. Biology, Wetland Restoration specialist, Species At-Risk specialist, SSIWPA Technical Working Group. Robin is spearheading efforts to restore marshlands at Xwaaqw’um (“Burgoyne Bay”)
Shannon Cowan, PhD Biology, SSI Watershed Protection Alliance Coordinator, and Bryan Young, Chair of Transition Salt Spring. Shannon and Bryan will discuss the most critical recommendations related to freshwater in the Climate Action Plan and share the many things we can do in our own lives to conserve water.
Julie Pisani, Drinking Water & Watershed Protection Program Coordinator, Regional District of Nanaimo, and Laura Patrick, SSI Watershed Protection Alliance Chair, Islands Trust Local Trustee. Julie and Laura will discuss local government priorities related to freshwater stewardship in the face of increasing pressures from climate change and development.
Resources:
Julie Pasani, Drinking Water & Watershed Protection Program Coordinator, Regional District of Nanaimo provides these links;
- Our general website is here:https://www.rdn.bc.ca/drinking-water-and-watershed-protection
- Our Action Plan 2.0 can be found Here.
- Our outreach initiative Team WaterSmart has lots of resources to share here:https://www.getinvolved.rdn.ca/team-watersmart
- Our water stewardship rebate programs: https://rdn.bc.ca/rdn-rebates(in particular for rainwater harvesting, irrigation and soil improvements)
- Our Stewardship Seedfunding https://rdn.bc.ca/stewardship-seed-funding(for community-led watercourse restoration projects)
- Our Projects Listhttps://rdn.bc.ca/dwwp-projects
Shannon Cowan, SSI Watershed Protection Alliance Coordinator provides these links;
- A blog about rainwater harvesting and resources about water conservation for all islandersHere.
- Salt Spring Island Non-Potable Rainwater Harvesting Best Practices Guide Here.
- Take a Virtual Tour of Salt Spring Island Rainwater Harvesting Systems Here.
- Attend the recorded Rainwater Harvesting Webinar in the Islands Trust Climate Change Speaker Series Here.
This Islands Trust video can give you some more ideas about the importance of freshwater to these special Salish Sea islands. The way that freshwater behaves on our island where the only input is precipitation is different than everywhere else on the mainland.
The Climate Action Plan can be found here, chapter 8 is on Freshwater Ecosystem Recommendations.
The Watershed Map for SSI can be found here.
CAP Freshwater and Forests graphic can be found here.