Making Vancouver Development Salmon Safe

Robb Lukes & Theresa Fresco

This session will feature presentations from representatives of the City of Vancouver’s Green Infrastructure Team and Salmon-Safe BC to provide an overview of the Rain City Strategy and the Salmon-Safe certification program for urban development.

To become the Greenest City, Vancouver has been taking leading actions over the past decade and beyond to become more sustainable in the areas from energy to waste to water. With the adoption of the Vancouver Citywide Rainwater Management Plan in 2016 and upcoming Rain City Strategy, huge strides are now being made to make Vancouver more sustainable in managing rainwater.

For projects within the public realm there is a commitment to incorporate green infrastructure into all new major transportation projects. As Vancouver continues to grow and densify, the City is innovating with new green infrastructure design to work within a dense urban context.

New policies are being phased in for rainwater management on private development in the City of Vancouver. Rezoning developments are now required to reduce runoff volumes and treat the stormwater leaving their sites. Policy is in development to expand rainwater management to all development types, increase the use of green roofs in the city, and encourage rainwater management retrofits.

Salmon-Safe BC is Canada's first and only eco-certification program linking land management practices and the protection of watersheds and salmon. Given the interdisciplinary nature of urban site development and environmental sustainability, Salmon-Safe enables an assessment process that brings together practitioners and experts in order to meet Salmon-Safe standards for stormwater management, water quality and use, ecological function and sediment management on site. Salmon-Safe’s urban development certification program is intended to promote ecologically sustainable land management that protects water quality, salmon and aquatic biodiversity. Building on its success in Oregon and Washington, Salmon-Safe Communities was launched in 2013 by the Fraser Basin Council and has successfully certified 2 urban sites in the Lower Mainland including Mountain Equipment Co-op’s Head Office in Vancouver and YVR Airport in Richmond, the first Salmon-Safe certified airport in the world.

Robb Lukes


Theresa Fresco
 

Co-Presented by Robb Lukes and Theresa Fresco

Robb Lukes, P. Eng.
Robb Lukes is a senior engineer in the City of Vancouver Green Infrastructure Implementation Branch where he has led the development of green infrastructure standards, design guidance, asset management and monitoring program. He has 15 years of experience in stormwater management policy, planning, design, and construction in both the US and Canada. Robb has a Masters in Water Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin and Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Portland.

Theresa Fresco is Manager of the Greater Vancouver – Sea to Sky Region of the Fraser Basin Council and the Program Manager of Salmon-Safe BC. Theresa’s background includes 7 years of work in the areas of watershed sustainability, collaborative watershed governance, facilitation and process design. Theresa has a Masters degree from the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning and a Bachelors degree in Geography and English Literature from the University of the Fraser Valley.