Apr 24, 2009: Community Engagement and Watershed Planning in the Comox Valley at Riding Fool Hostel
The March 2009 workshop Community Engagement in Watershed Planning will focus specifically on watershed planning in the Comox Valley, British Columbia. Perched on the eastern edge of Vancouver Island under snow-capped mountains, the Comox Valley is home to nearly 70,000 British Columbians as well as the K’ómoks First Nation. The region is one of the fastest growing in British Columbia with growth mostly due to a building boom in the City of Courtenay, with other parts of the Valley also undergoing significant development.
The region’s local government, the Comox Valley Regional District, is currently developing a suite of critical water-related plans, including a regional water strategy with Comox Lake as the main source to address the region’s heavy growth, a water management plan (under the Water Act) and a drinking water protection plan (under the Drinking Water Protection Act). Add to this an ongoing Regional Sustainability Strategy, Sewer Master Plan, a new relationship with the K’ómoks First Nation that shares the area and implications of climate change (including a shrinking glacier at the headwaters of Lake Comox) and it quickly becomes apparent how complex the issues are in this region.
