Guidance and Capacity-Building for Water and Watershed Planning

This project delivered a completed water and watershed planning guide – Rethinking our Water Ways – to BC communities, through 5 regional workshops throughout the Fraser Basin. The workshop objectives were to:

· Discuss key water and watershed issues

· Raise awareness and capacity for water planning

· Raise awareness and understanding of climate impacts on water and how to adapt through planning

· Learn about local and regional perspectives, initiatives and success stories

The five workshops were held in diverse regions of the Fraser Basin including the Upper Fraser (Prince George), Cariboo-Chilcotin (100 Mile House), Thompson (Salmon Arm), Fraser Valley (Chilliwack) and Greater Vancouver- Sea to Sky (New Westminster) regions. These took place from September 2011 to January 2012. The workshops were attended by 178 participants from local governments, community stewardship organizations and other nongovernmental organizations, interested citizens, academic institutions, provincial and federal agencies, and First Nations. In addition to the keynote presentation on the Fraser Basin Council’s watershed planning guide, participants learned from a variety of speakers about local and regional perspectives, issues and initiatives related to water and watershed planning. Of similar importance was the opportunity for all participants to learn from one another during facilitated small group and plenary dialogue sessions. A workshop report was prepared to summarize the key findings from the workshop dialogue sessions.