Foreshore to Forest:
Restoring the Integrity of the Shawnigan Watershed and Securing Clean and Abundant Drinking Water to 12,000 Citizens in perpetuity.
by Bruce Fraser
Restoring the Integrity of the Shawnigan Watershed and Securing Clean and Abundant Drinking Water to 12,000 Citizens in perpetuity.
by Bruce Fraser
Shawnigan Lake, unlike nearby Sooke Lake, is extensively developed. The consequences of historic and recent developments, along with an increasingly volatile climate, have accumulated to affect the capacity of the watershed to provide for both a community water supply and a thriving economy. Scientific trends are showing a steady decline in our drinking water quality, leading many of our citizens to act and advocate for change.
The CVRD electoral area that includes Shawnigan Lake is the largest unincorporated population in the province. It has a mixed economy of forestry, agriculture, mining, tourism, recreation and commerce. The rural community is facing increased pressures and is approaching a tipping point where both the public and private values of water and economy are at risk. Diversity of land ownership and the need to accommodate many competing interests makes the task of restoring watershed functions very complex. The Shawnigan Basin Society (SBS) is committed to working with all basin interests to identify values, define problems, consider the scientific record, and decide on courses of action to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environmental and economic values that make up the basin’s natural and human ecology.
The SBS, incorporated in 2012, was formed to engage the public, industrial landowners, land developers, and First Nations in a collaborative effort to restore the watershed to a fully functional condition and to increase the community’s resilience in response to climate change. The Society’s work began with a public discussion on the “state of the basin” including informal meetings and local field trips. It proceeded to collect a base of scientific information about the character and condition of the watershed: its streams, wetlands, forests, lakes, and foreshore along with accurate maps and models of the basin geography and human footprint.
As part of the SBS effort to consult and acquire public support, our work will develop upland forested, urban-forested, and foreshore restoration projects as best practices models. Funds from Aviva will focus on foreshore restoration. Where erosion has historically been resolved with the construction of cement or rock retaining walls, such solutions are short-lived, as they do not absorb wave energy nor encourage ecological services to enhance clean water. Yet, having completed a full photographic foreshore inventory, the SBS hopes to encourage property owners to replace these human-made walls with natural barriers. By mimicking nature’s design identified in intact foreshore properties, an effective means of energy disbursement, ecological restoration, and long-term sustainability will occur. With one property already converted by several local youth and a national ecological restoration expert prescribing and educating in a voluntary capacity, the value of such work in conjunction with a full-scale community public engagement effort, solidifies our likelihood of success.
The CVRD electoral area that includes Shawnigan Lake is the largest unincorporated population in the province. It has a mixed economy of forestry, agriculture, mining, tourism, recreation and commerce. The rural community is facing increased pressures and is approaching a tipping point where both the public and private values of water and economy are at risk. Diversity of land ownership and the need to accommodate many competing interests makes the task of restoring watershed functions very complex. The Shawnigan Basin Society (SBS) is committed to working with all basin interests to identify values, define problems, consider the scientific record, and decide on courses of action to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environmental and economic values that make up the basin’s natural and human ecology.
The SBS, incorporated in 2012, was formed to engage the public, industrial landowners, land developers, and First Nations in a collaborative effort to restore the watershed to a fully functional condition and to increase the community’s resilience in response to climate change. The Society’s work began with a public discussion on the “state of the basin” including informal meetings and local field trips. It proceeded to collect a base of scientific information about the character and condition of the watershed: its streams, wetlands, forests, lakes, and foreshore along with accurate maps and models of the basin geography and human footprint.
As part of the SBS effort to consult and acquire public support, our work will develop upland forested, urban-forested, and foreshore restoration projects as best practices models. Funds from Aviva will focus on foreshore restoration. Where erosion has historically been resolved with the construction of cement or rock retaining walls, such solutions are short-lived, as they do not absorb wave energy nor encourage ecological services to enhance clean water. Yet, having completed a full photographic foreshore inventory, the SBS hopes to encourage property owners to replace these human-made walls with natural barriers. By mimicking nature’s design identified in intact foreshore properties, an effective means of energy disbursement, ecological restoration, and long-term sustainability will occur. With one property already converted by several local youth and a national ecological restoration expert prescribing and educating in a voluntary capacity, the value of such work in conjunction with a full-scale community public engagement effort, solidifies our likelihood of success.
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