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Connected Waters: Fixing Floodplains for People and Salmon

Date & Time
Friday, November 5, 2021, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Description

It’s one of the great conundrums of Salmon Nation. We’ve built our communities and grown our food in river floodplains that have been powerhouses of salmon production for thousands of years. But to protect our homes and farmland from natural flooding, we’ve diked and blocked off vast areas of vital salmon habitat, and use massive flood pumps that kill fish as they drain the land. As flooding gets worse due to climate change, communities are turning to nature-based flood control solutions that reconnect and revitalize our sloughs, side channels and creeks, all while making our built environments even safer from flooding. In the lower Fraser, Washington State and elsewhere, First Nations, engineers and conservationists are implementing these solutions and scoping out new prospects. Join us for a multi-disciplinary panel discussion and learn about inspiring solutions being implemented in the lower Fraser and across the border in Washington State. 

Session Type
Panel
Session Tags
Restoration/Conservation, Salmon, Resources, Climate Justice, Science
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Featuring: 

Lina is the Connected Water’s Campaign Manager with Watershed Watch Salmon Society, a science based charity that advocates for B.C.'s wild salmon and the waters in which they live. She works to build relationships between people and their local watersheds in an effort to encourage change and a shared appreciation for the waters around us. She enjoys collaborating across diverse interest groups, bringing the concept of ‘water for life’ to the forefront of decision-making in the lower mainland. Through this campaign Lina works to ensure we are pushing for fish-friendly flood infrastructure and changing the way we think about floods and floodplain management in the lower mainland to ensure salmon have access to necessary habitats as our climate changes and the waters rise.
Lina Azeez
Bob Carey is the Strategic Partnerships Director for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Washington. He has over 20 years’ experience in the field of conservation, with a particular focus on empowering communities, building partnerships, and crafting innovative solutions to address environmental challenges. He is a founder and leader of the Floodplains by Design initiative – an ambitious public-private partnership focused on building resilient river communities and ecosystems across Washington. Bob is humbled daily by his amazing partner and kids, and happiest with a pack on his back, skis on his feet or a paddle in his hand.
Bob Carey
Dan Straker is the Manager of the Resilient Waters project on MakeWay’s shared platform. Dan has been working on social ecological systems for 10 years in coast salish territories / lower mainland. Most recently he worked with SFU’s Adaptation to Climate Change team looking at a regional scale approach to biodiversity focused green infrastructure planning for Metro Vancouver.
Dan Straker
Carrielynn is fueled by the passion to leave positive footprints on the earth. She is a descendant of Coast Salish ancestors that have been sustained by S’olh Temexw (our land) since time immemorial & Western European ancestors that settled in what is now Canada. Carrielynn was born and raised in S’olh Temexw and nurtured by many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Along with owning and operating a thriving art practice, Carrielynn maintains a communal role as a plant practitioner, the philosophy and responsibilities for traditional plant practitioners range from protection and preservation of lands, to networking and trade, along with harvest and preparation methods, and more. The art work and advisory Carrielynn contributes to the circles and communities she is a part of reflect these understandings.

It is the foundation of an intrinsic connection to the land that provides Carrielynn her understandings and perspectives for design. With ancient and modern practices combined, Carrielynn’s professional artistic practice takes the form of murals, canvas paintings, drums, paddles and in recent years, illustrations for scientific reports and children’s books.
Carrielynn Victor – Xémontalot