Project Rivershed Brunette
The Brunette Rivershed is one of 34 riversheds in the Fraser River Basin – the greatest salmon system on Earth. Healthy riversheds are key to sustainability and the vitality of salmon runs. Human activity is now a major contributing factor to the loss of biodiversity within these ecosystems. Project Rivershed Brunette is our response to this problem. Under Integrated Planning and Governance, Project Rivershed Brunette aims to engage people in behaviours that result in a reduction of negative impacts to rivershed ecology. In 2008, we employed four strategies to achieve this objective: update the Brunette Rivershed profile, vision and See-it site, implement the Brunette Rivershed action plan (e.g. 20 stewardship actions), implement a Brunette Rivershed communication plan (i.e. Keep it Cool / Save a Salmon), and engage in a series of community events and activities (e.g. Jane’s Walk & BCIT Open House). We re-vamped our See-it system and used it to measure actions, record progress and engage the community. We attended seven community events, including World Rivers Day (at BCIT in Burnaby and Still Creek in Vancouver) and held or participated in six community watershed tours. We engaged those living and working in the Brunette Rivershed in the “Keep it Cool / Save a Salmon” promotional campaign, which encouraged people to reduce their impact on salmon and water; and the five municipalities and the seventeen individuals of conservation organizations remained actively involved in Project Rivershed Brunette.