Julie McManus, Senior Project Manager, Green Infrastructure Implementation at the City of Vancouver is hosting the field trip Connecting Water, Ecology and Community through Green Rainwater Infrastructure (GRI). “GRI integrates the work of civil and water resource engineers, transportation design engineers, ecologists, landscape architects, landscape designers, planners, operations crews, landscape contractors, civil contractors, ethnobotanists, First Nations and community representatives,” she says. Talk about complexity!
Participants in the Green Rainwater Infrastructure (GRI) workshop will learn it is a versatile, scalable tool that can be applied in various urban and rural ecosystems to suit water quality, peak flow control, or groundwater recharge factors. McManus plans to share “valuable and transferable lessons learned on how to reduce carbon footprint during construction of projects, and how to inspect nature-based solutions.” She is excited by the potential for technical innovation in the new field of GRI, but equally passionate about community engagement: “a specific example of deepening connections between people and ecosystems is work the City has done with Squamish Ethnobotanist and Artist Cease Wyss to incorporate traditional ways of knowing into GRI systems to help inform plant selection, soil health, and community outreach. One of the sites we will be visiting, Gibby’s Field, includes a planting plan designed by Cease.” Through the City’s 30-year Rain City Strategy, over 100 GRI assets have been implemented…and counting!