Riversheds Forum

The 2009 Riversheds Forum was held over 1-1/2 days starting Sunday, May 17 and ending May 18th. The Forum was held in conjunction with the bi-annual DFO Stewardship Conference in Maple Ridge.

1. A guided paddle (i.e. field trip on the Fraser River) from Mission to Kanaka.

2. Documenting six – ten “Rivershed Stories” by conference participants (i.e. videotaping and web posting).

3. Sponsoring an element or portion of the conference (i.e. keynote speaker, entertainment or gift mugs).

The objectives were:

to provide Fraser River Basin stewards with a direct experience in nature through a guided field trip of the local Rivershed;

to identify opportunities for Fraser River Basin stewards to strategize on how to work more effectively together to address Basin-wide stewardship and sustainability issues;

to provide Fraser River Basin stewards the opportunity to share successes, challenges and best practices on stewardship & sustainability activities and initiatives; and

to provide Fraser River Basin stewards the opportunity to learn from each other and speakers about stewardship and sustainability issues.

Almost 70 people paddled the Lower Fraser River. We stopped at the mouth of the Stave Rivershed and finished at Kanak Creek. It was a glorious day and everyone enjoyed themselves. A group of 20 then headed off to Loon Lake Resort in the UBC Research Forest in Maple Ridge for part two of the Forum. That night Louise Towell presented her Salmon Scroll and Jeremy Williams showed his latest video on BC’s Old Growth. On Monday May 18th we listened to almost a dozen “Riversheds Stories” had lunch and headed home. People enjoyed the Forum and gave good input/feedback, including answering our questionnaire about interest in a future rafting-style forum.