Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Researchers on B.C.'s Salt Spring Island are working on a plan to protect an important freshwater reserve as risks mount amid a growing climate emergency. Maxwell Lake provides water for about half of Salt Spring Island, just off the east coast of Vancouver Island. Ecologists say agriculture and forestry in the area over the past century have left the forest overgrown, blocking out light and limiting the growth of understory, the low layer of vegetation in the forest that helps absorb water.
As climate change persists, researchers and stakeholders are working together to come up with nature based solutions to damage in urban communities caused by extreme weather. Nature Force, a project led by Ducks Unlimited in partnership with 15 property and casualty insurance companies, aims to use natural infrastructure, such as wetlands, to restore and protect high-risk areas from flooding.
