File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development Roly Russell

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Preparing now for future impacts of climate change

Jul 19, 2023 | 10:09 AM

THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE are becoming more frequent and more serious here in B.C. and around the globe. Everyone has seen how devastating it has been for our ecosystems, our people, our homes, our business and our livelihoods.

That’s why our provincial government is committed to helping communities become more resilient – so we can reduce the impacts of disasters and recover more quickly. Reducing disaster risk makes good economic sense: investing a dollar in preparedness saves ten times that on recovery.

Last week, we invested $44 million into community-led projects that will help them to better protect themselves – covering everything from hazard risk mapping and planning to structural projects like dikes and slope stability. Through these partnerships, we’re reducing risk from a variety of hazards, from landslides to wildfire, and from flooding to drought.

As many regions of the province experience a hot, dry summer and early drought, flooding may be far from our minds. But it’s crucial that we act now so that homes and communities can be better protected for the coming winter and spring.

In Kamloops, for example, $1.87 million is going towards stabilizing the banks of Lower Springhill Creek (which flows through several neighbourhoods before crossing Highway 1 and joining Peterson Creek which flows toward downtown).

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The project will reduce erosion of the creek banks and protect the nearby Xget’tem’ Trail, while helping mitigate the risk of flooding. It will also help protect natural assets, such as plant and fish habitat, which helps to keep the entire ecosystem healthy and resilient.

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc is also receiving $1.73 million to upgrade the spillway at the Paul Lake Dam, helping to make sure the infrastructure is ready to withstand future flooding conditions and help protect people and place.

Elsewhere across the region, local governments and First Nations are undertaking projects to address the unique needs of their communities.

For example, Cache Creek is working on design improvements to their sanitary system to protect it from flooding, while Kanaka Bar Indian Band is building a waterline and reservoir to reduce the impacts of drought and reduce fire risk, as well as stress on social, health ecosystem and food systems.

In my own riding of Boundary-Similkameen, Grand Forks received $1.76 million for a flood mitigation project that will include installing fish habitats and planting thousands of trees and shrubs to recreate and restore riparian natural space. Restoring floodplain ecosystems helps create room for the river to flood, acts as a huge natural sponge to buffer impacts, and reduces the impacts of flooding on the surrounding community.

This, of course, builds on an enormous restoration and mitigation effort that Grand Forks has been implementing since the heartbreaking floods of 2018. And we saw the positive results this freshet, with the community staying dry and stress levels staying significantly lower than they could have been.

As people across B.C. see and experience regularly escalating impacts of climate change, they count on their provincial and local governments to help keep them and their families safe, as they should, given the shared responsibility of disaster risk reduction. We’re committed to being there to help communities deliver the solutions they need and want.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.