Local governments are continuously faced with the challenge to sustain healthy, natural environments while also meeting the immediate needs of their communities. However urban growth and functioning natural resources do not have to compete against each other; many of these challenges can be overcome through creative partnerships, collaboration, and the identification of multi-benefit opportunities.  The practice of collaborative planning and “governance” has emerged amid growing evidence that where public polices that incorporate diverse community perspectives, results are more achievable and sustainable than top-down, centralized decision-making models.

This workshop will introduce concepts for collaborative multi-benefit strategic planning. Participants will be introduced to the five-step adaptive management framework referred to as “Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation”.

Conservation practitioners have only recently begun using rigorous approaches to their work.  In contrast, other industries, from accounting to medicine to manufacturing, have developed streamlined processes, standard practices, and knowledge banks that allow those industries to work efficiently, leverage prior knowledge, interact with each other, and prove the value of their products and services to customers and investors.

Biographies

Abby Hook leads efforts to use conservation action planning and the Open Standards for Conservation as frameworks to design local ecosystem recovery programs. She holds a B.S. in forest engineering, an M.S. in hydrology, and an M.P.A. from the University of Washington.

Dr. Craig Orr is the former Executive Director and continuing Conservation Advisor of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society. Craig holds postgraduate degrees in wildlife ecology (M.Sc., Acadia University) and behavioural ecology (Ph.D., Simon Fraser University), and as Executive Director, helped lead Watershed Watch over 16 years in a BC-wide involvement in water use issues, run-of-river planning, groundwater and salmon interactions, aquaculture impacts, the sustainability of salmon fisheries, and engagement organizing. Craig also continues to be active on the Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable Coquitlam watershed, and advising Kwikwetlem First Nation on various conservation issues, including the fight to restore Coquitlam sockeye.