Deep Dive: Protecting the Systems that Sustain Us
Point Form Summary
- Our lakes, wetlands, creeks, grasslands, forests, soils and urban trees are not simply attractive surroundings. They help provide clean water and air, reduce flooding and erosion, cool our neighbourhoods, support food production and wildlife, and improve our health and quality of life.
- Vernon has already done important work through its Climate Action Plan and Transportation Plan, protections for environmentally sensitive areas, flood mapping, FireSmart initiatives, the collection of household compostables and investments in walking and cycling.
- The new Official Community Plan strengthens that direction. The challenge now is to follow through.
- Protecting natural systems is often less expensive and more effective than trying to replace the benefits they provide with built infrastructure.
- We are already living with a changed climate. Vernon must prepare for more extreme heat, drought, wildfire and smoke, changing water supplies, intense rainfall and flooding.
- We need to do two things at once: prepare for changes that are already underway and reduce the pollution that is making the climate change more quickly.
- Vernon’s largest local sources of climate-changing pollution are transportation, energy used in buildings and organic waste. These are all areas where municipal decisions can make a meaningful difference.
- Responding to climate change should also make daily life better through lower energy bills, healthier homes, cleaner air, safer streets, more transportation choices, less waste and cooler, more comfortable neighbourhoods.
- Water deserves its own deep dive, but decisions about land, development, trees, wetlands, agriculture and climate cannot be separated from the future of our water supply.
- Progress needs to be measured. Plans matter only when they lead to sustained action and visible results.
Vernon’s natural setting is one of the reasons many of us choose to live here. We are surrounded by lakes, grasslands, forests, wetlands, agricultural land and hillsides that help define this place.
These natural systems also do important work for us.
Wetlands and healthy soils hold and filter water. Trees provide shade, cool streets and buildings, improve air quality and reduce runoff. Grasslands, forests and connected natural areas provide habitat and allow wildlife to move across the landscape. Healthy creek corridors help manage flooding and erosion. Agricultural land contributes to food production and our local economy.
We tend to think of these as free services, but they are not without value. When natural systems are damaged or removed, taxpayers may eventually be asked to fund pipes, retaining walls, drainage systems or other expensive substitutes—and those substitutes may not work as well.
Protecting nature is not separate from responsible City planning. It is part of protecting our health, infrastructure, finances, and quality of life and our ability to manage an uncertain future.
Build on work already underway
Vernon is not starting from scratch.
The City adopted a comprehensive Climate Action Plan that addresses both reducing the pollution that contributes to climate change and preparing for the changes already underway. It has established special protections for environmentally sensitive areas, supported FireSmart work, mapped flood risks, introduced the collection of household compostables and invested in walking, cycling and other transportation choices. It has also supported community and youth climate initiatives.
The new Official Community Plan goes further. It commits the City to protect and restore sensitive natural areas, maintain connections between wildlife habitats and expand the number of trees throughout the city. It also calls for updated environmental protections, better protection for the land around streams and wetlands, an Urban Forestry Strategy and a plan to recognize and care for the natural features that provide important services to the community. The OCP identifies eight specific climate and environmental actions.
That is a strong foundation. The next step is to make sure those commitments are implemented.
Council will need to set priorities, provide appropriate resources and ask regularly whether the work is advancing. Environmental commitments are not an optional “green choice.” They should not disappear when a difficult development application, budget decision or infrastructure project comes forward.
Recognize nature as part of our infrastructure
The City carefully tracks the condition of roads, pipes, buildings and other municipal assets. We should bring the same discipline to the natural systems that help protect our community.
The OCP calls for a Natural Asset Management Plan. In plain language, that means identifying important wetlands, creek corridors, forests, grasslands, soils and trees; understanding the work they do for us; assessing their condition; and planning for their protection and care.
This does not mean putting a price on everything in nature. It means recognizing that losing a wetland, mature trees or a healthy creek corridor can have real environmental, social and financial consequences.
This approach should also help us make better choices. Before replacing a natural system with built infrastructure, we should understand what will be lost, what the replacement will cost to build and maintain, and whether protecting or restoring the natural system would provide a better and more financially sustainable result.
Protect, connect and restore
Small, isolated patches of habitat typically can’t sustain most of the plants and wildlife that depend on them. Connections between wetlands, grasslands, forests, creek corridors and other natural areas matter.
The new OCP recognizes this by identifying important wildlife connections, including areas in the Commonage and Bella Vista. It also sets out a sensible order for development decisions: avoid damage first; reduce and repair damage when it cannot be completely avoided; and consider replacing or compensating for lost habitat elsewhere only as a last resort.
That approach needs to be applied consistently.
The City should also follow through on its commitments to update its environmental protection rules, better protect the land alongside streams and wetlands, and restore damaged areas around water bodies.
Restoration will not always be quick or inexpensive. But preventing damage is usually easier and cheaper than trying to recreate a functioning natural system later.
Grow and protect our urban trees
Trees are an essential part of a city preparing for a hotter climate. They shade sidewalks, homes and public spaces; reduce cooling costs; absorb rainfall; improve air quality; provide habitat; and make neighbourhoods more comfortable and attractive.
Those benefits will become more important as Vernon experiences hotter summers. Trees also need to be distributed fairly. Some neighbourhoods have mature trees and generous shade, while others have very little protection from extreme heat.
The OCP calls for an Urban Forestry Strategy. This would include an inventory of existing trees, updated rules for protecting and planting them, clear goals for increasing tree cover, and a better understanding of which neighbourhoods have the greatest need for more shade.
That work should move forward. We also need to plan for the long-term survival of trees by selecting appropriate drought-tolerant species, providing enough soil and water, protecting healthy mature trees where possible and following FireSmart practices, especially where neighbourhoods meet forests or grasslands.
Planting trees is important. Keeping them alive and allowing them to reach maturity is what produces the real benefit.
Adapt to the climate we now have
Climate change is sometimes discussed as if it were about a distant future. That future has already begun.
Vernon and the North Okanagan are experiencing more extreme heat, drought, wildfire and smoke, along with changing snowpack and stream flows. Climate projections also point to heavier rainfall events and greater pressure on infrastructure, agriculture, natural systems and human health. Vernon’s Climate Action Plan anticipated many of these changes, including an almost doubling of summer and fall days above 30°C. The plan addresses both preparing for these changes and reducing their future severity.
Preparing for a changed and still-changing climate must be part of everyday City decision-making:
- Design and replace roads, pipes and other infrastructure for the conditions they will face over their full lives, rather than the climate of the past.
- Protect wetlands, creek corridors, soils and vegetation that help manage flooding, erosion and heat.
- Expand shade along sidewalks, walking and cycling routes, playgrounds and other public spaces.
- Use drought-tolerant landscaping and designs that require less water.
- Continue FireSmart work while recognizing that wildfire preparation, habitat protection and tree planning need to work together.
- Consider extreme heat, smoke and accessibility when designing buildings, parks and public facilities.
- Make information about climate-related risks clear and available to residents, businesses and property owners.
- Pay particular attention to people who face the greatest risks and have the fewest resources to prepare.
Water supply is a central part of this work and will be addressed separately. But decisions about where and how we grow, how we landscape, which natural areas we protect and what infrastructure we build all affect how much water we need and how well the land around our water sources continues to function.
Reduce the pollution we can influence
Preparing for climate change means adjusting to changes that are already happening. We must also reduce the gases—mainly carbon dioxide and methane—that are trapping more heat in the atmosphere and driving further change.
Vernon cannot solve a worldwide problem by itself. Municipalities do, however, make important decisions about land use, transportation, buildings, waste and their own operations. Every community has a part to play.
The City has identified three main local sources: transportation, energy used in buildings and organic waste. Vernon’s targets are to reduce its climate-changing pollution by 50 per cent from 2017 levels by 2030, 75 per cent by 2040 and 100 per cent by 2050. These targets are now part of the OCP.
The question is how we turn them into practical action.
Transportation and land use
We can reduce the pollution produced by transportation by building a more compact city and making more daily trips possible without a car.
That means directing growth toward existing neighbourhoods and services, improving transit, filling gaps in walking and cycling routes, and creating safe connections between homes, schools, workplaces, shopping and recreation.
This is not about taking choices away. It is about adding choices. When walking, using a wheelchair or mobility aid, cycling or taking transit becomes safe, convenient and affordable, residents gain options.
The benefits extend well beyond climate change. They include more physical activity, safer streets, lower household transportation costs, cleaner air and less pressure to continually expand and maintain costly road infrastructure.
Buildings
New buildings will be with us for decades. They should be efficient, comfortable and able to cope with heat, smoke and other changing conditions.
At the same time, most of the homes and commercial buildings we will be using in the coming decades have already been built. Progress will therefore depend partly on improving older buildings through better insulation, fewer air leaks, efficient heating and cooling, and a shift away from energy sources that produce large amounts of carbon pollution.
The City does not control energy prices or most rebate programs. It can provide clear information, remove unnecessary municipal barriers, work with senior governments and utilities, and make responsible long-term choices for its own buildings.
More efficient buildings can reduce climate-changing pollution while also lowering operating costs, improving indoor air quality and making homes safer during extreme heat or smoke.
Organic waste and material use
Vernon’s curbside organics program was an important step. When food and yard waste decompose in a landfill, they release methane—a gas that traps far more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Keeping this material out of the landfill reduces that pollution and extends the life of regional waste facilities.
We need to continue improving participation and reducing the amount of unsuitable material placed in organics bins. We should also look beyond disposal by supporting the reuse of buildings, reducing construction waste and making it easier to salvage or relocate usable materials and structures.
Using fewer resources—and using them longer—can reduce pollution, waste and costs at the same time.
Make climate action practical and fair
Our response will not succeed if the easiest choices are available only to people with higher incomes, newer homes or greater mobility.
City decisions should consider who pays, who benefits and what barriers different residents face. A person living in an older rental unit can’t independently improve the building. Someone working late shifts may not have a realistic transit option. A resident with limited mobility needs sidewalks and public spaces designed for accessibility as well as shade.
This does not mean every program can solve every instance of unfairness. It means these effects should be considered from the beginning rather than discovered after decisions are made.
The most lasting actions will often be those that provide clear benefits now: lower bills, healthier homes, safer transportation, reduced flood and fire risk, more comfortable public spaces and infrastructure that lasts.
Track whether the plans are working
The City has established targets and made substantial commitments. It now needs a clear and accessible way to report progress.
A short annual public update could ask:
- Is the amount of climate-changing pollution produced by the community and City operations going down?
- Are more people walking, cycling, using mobility devices or taking transit?
- Are we gaining healthy trees, and are the benefits of shade reaching more neighbourhoods?
- Are wetlands, streamside areas and important wildlife connections being protected and restored?
- Are City infrastructure and facilities becoming better prepared for heat, flooding, wildfire and smoke?
- Is more food and yard waste being kept out of the landfill?
- Is this work lowering costs, reducing health risks or preventing damage to infrastructure?
- Are we meeting our environmental commitments in the OCP and Climate Action Plan?
The goal should not be an elaborate reporting system. It should provide enough reliable information for Council and the public to see where progress is being made, where we are falling behind and what needs to change.
Track whether the plans are working
I would build on the good work Vernon has already done and focus on turning adopted plans into consistent decisions and measurable results.
I would treat the natural systems that support us as essential parts of our community, consider a changing climate when making long-term investments and support practical measures that reduce pollution while improving everyday life.
Protecting the land, water and natural areas that sustain us is not a side issue. It is part of how we protect public health, manage costs, guide growth and leave a strong community for our future selves and for those who come after us.