Draft Kettle River Watershed Mgmt Plan Ready for Review
By Graham Watt
A draft action plan for taking care of the Kettle River watershed is now available for public comment and review. After a year of technical assessment and another two years of studies and planning, the Advisory Group is very keen to bring the draft plan before the public.
Why this is significant? According to Roly Russell, Rural Grand Forks director and chair of the Advisory Group, “As a decision maker, we often make piecemeal decisions based on limited information. So what is exciting about this plan is how it brings together information on all the influences on the watershed and provides a basis for smarter decisions.”
A large focus of the planning process has been bringing a broad variety of perspectives from across the Boundary region and beyond. The thirty-member Advisory Group has met regularly since 2012 and has had several meetings to discuss watershed issues with the public.
“It’s been in front of a lot of eyes, and pretty much everybody with a stake in the watershed has been given the chance to learn about it and contribute,” said Russell.
This draft plan presents four strategies containing twenty directions and over fifty actions to be undertaken by stakeholders in collaboration over the coming years. The draft builds on the analysis and discussions in the Phase 1 Technical Report and five issue-specific papers developed and shared over the last year.
So what’s next for the watershed plan as the RDKB prepares for implementation? After the Advisory Group hears back from the public and stakeholder groups about the plan and their priorities for the next few years, the plan will shift into implementation mode for three years, conducting further studies, coordinating restoration projects, and working with water suppliers and the Province to improve water conservation.
According to Russell, implementation can be the most challenging and rewarding phase of work yet, “It will be fun to see what kind of projects we can achieve in terms of capacity and resources – water conservation programs, restoration projects, resource management and land use policies – there are many priorities in this draft plan to keep us busy in the coming years.”
This draft Kettle River Watershed Management Plan is presented for consideration by all interested parties before it is finalized and presented to the RDKB Board of Directors. Feedback is requested by Tuesday, October 14 and can be sent to the Project Coordinator at plan@kettleriver.ca/ Box 1965, 2140 Central Avenue, Grand Forks BC V0H 1H0. A response form will be available on the website at (http://kettleriver.ca/what-we-are-planning/) if you are interested in providing detailed responses or if you or your organization will be involved in some aspect of implementing the plan.
West Boundary Director Bill Baird chairs the Steering Committee has been part of the plan since the plan got underway. “Your ideas and your priorities truly have and will continue to make a difference in this plan for the fate of our watershed and the river we all love and depend on,” said Baird.
Graham Watt
Coordinator, Kettle River Watershed Management Plan
250.442.4111
250.444.0550 (cell)
plan@kettleriver.ca
Bill Baird
Kettle River Steering Committee Chair; RDKB West Boundary Director
250.445.6578
Roly Russell
Stakeholder Advisory Group Chair;
RDKB Rural Grand Forks Director
250.584.4677
Donna Dean
RDKB Manager of Planning and Development
1.800.355.7352
ddean@rdkb.com
