Toward a Shared Strategic Environmental Stewardship Agenda for Burrard Inlet
Presentation Abstract
Over the last 150 years, urban, industrial, and port development, pollution, and resource exploitation has impaired the health of Burrard Inlet and reduced the opportunity for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) and other local First Nations to utilize its waters and beaches for traditional food harvesting and other cultural practices. To raise the profile of marine environmental quality issues in Burrard Inlet, TWN commissioned the development of the Burrard Inlet Action Plan: A Tsleil-Waututh Perspective, a founding guidance document for a new science-based, First Nations-led initiative to improve the health of Burrard Inlet by 2025. The plan updates older environmental reviews of the inlet and will aid in development of a wider consensus on environmental stewardship actions to implement in the near term. Key findings from an assessment of environmental conditions and trends in Burrard Inlet revealed several areas of concern: long-term changes in physical water quality, ongoing unsafe levels of contamination at some locations, continuing declines in some key species populations, localized losses of important nearshore habitat types, and significant predicted detrimental effects from climate change. Furthermore, there is insufficient, up-to-date data to inform strategic environmental stewardship planning, existing research and monitoring efforts are also not coordinated, and information is not widely shared. Based on TWN’s vision for a healthy Burrard Inlet, six priority actions have been identified to improve the health and integrity of the inlet: updating site-specific water quality objectives, installing scientific instruments to monitor water quality, characterizing and reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, mapping nearshore habitats and forage fish spawning beaches, conserving critical nearshore habitat complexes, and recovering shellfish beds. It is hoped that the plan and these priority actions will serve as a starting point for wider discussion and collaboration on a shared strategic environmental stewardship agenda for Burrard Inlet.
Session Title
Marine Ecosystem Restoration in the Urban Environment
Conference Track
Protection, Remediation and Restoration
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Protected areas--British Columbia--Burrard Inlet--Citizen participation; Ecosystem management--British Columbia--Burrard Inlet--Citizen participation; Indians of North America--British Columbia--Burrard Inlet
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Burrard Inlet (B.C.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Toward a Shared Strategic Environmental Stewardship Agenda for Burrard Inlet
2016SSEC
Over the last 150 years, urban, industrial, and port development, pollution, and resource exploitation has impaired the health of Burrard Inlet and reduced the opportunity for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) and other local First Nations to utilize its waters and beaches for traditional food harvesting and other cultural practices. To raise the profile of marine environmental quality issues in Burrard Inlet, TWN commissioned the development of the Burrard Inlet Action Plan: A Tsleil-Waututh Perspective, a founding guidance document for a new science-based, First Nations-led initiative to improve the health of Burrard Inlet by 2025. The plan updates older environmental reviews of the inlet and will aid in development of a wider consensus on environmental stewardship actions to implement in the near term. Key findings from an assessment of environmental conditions and trends in Burrard Inlet revealed several areas of concern: long-term changes in physical water quality, ongoing unsafe levels of contamination at some locations, continuing declines in some key species populations, localized losses of important nearshore habitat types, and significant predicted detrimental effects from climate change. Furthermore, there is insufficient, up-to-date data to inform strategic environmental stewardship planning, existing research and monitoring efforts are also not coordinated, and information is not widely shared. Based on TWN’s vision for a healthy Burrard Inlet, six priority actions have been identified to improve the health and integrity of the inlet: updating site-specific water quality objectives, installing scientific instruments to monitor water quality, characterizing and reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, mapping nearshore habitats and forage fish spawning beaches, conserving critical nearshore habitat complexes, and recovering shellfish beds. It is hoped that the plan and these priority actions will serve as a starting point for wider discussion and collaboration on a shared strategic environmental stewardship agenda for Burrard Inlet.
