Environmental Management Challenges

The Browne Creek Wetlands Site

The assignment based on Environmental management challenges which are often diverse, intersecting, dynamically changing and evolving, and have a variety of impacts on socio-cultural values, environmental health, and/or economic costs. The Browne Creek wetlands site has been chosen to help you better visualize these challenges. Natashia Cox (Project Manager with the Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition (FVWC)) and her team have worked extensively on this site over recent years. She has kindly offered to work with our class to showcase examples of environmental management, discuss ongoing concerns, identify opportunities, and outline current and future strategies for holistic environmental management along this heavily utilised waterway.

1. In the virtual fieldtrip video, you will be guided through several environmental challenges in the Browne Creek wetland site. This virtual field trip is designed to accommodate everyone in the class – regardless of whether or not you are able to physically visit the site. You are not required to physically visit the site for this assignment, but of course you are welcome to do so if you can safely travel to the wetlands. There are five main environmental management challenges at the Browne Creek wetland site:

1. Protecting industry infrastructure

2. Preventing spread of invasive species

3. Managing agriculture

4. Ensuring salmon health

5. Protecting urban development You are tasked with reviewing the virtual fieldtrip video and supporting documents to learn information associated with these five environmental management challenges. Be sure you can identify issues and conflicts regarding each of the five challenges. The video will be supplemented by two guest lectures from Natashia Cox to review and answer any questions you might have. Each of you will be assigned one of the five environmental management challenges to research further. These challenges are not unique to the Browne Creek wetland site; indeed, the challenges occur across regions, countries, and continents.

Therefore, the purpose of your video is to 1) explain your challenge using a broad context,

2) explain your challenge as it applies to the Browne Creek wetland site,

3) explain the importance of environmental management for your challenge

4) briefly outline a potential strategy for the management of your challenge 

Below are some questions to help guide your sections:

• In a broader context (not specific to the Browne Creek wetland site), you will describe the reasons why your assigned challenge is important to consider.

o Describe the challenge. How is your challenge connected to societies, cultures, economies, and environments?

Note: some challenges may be more closely connected to cultural and environmental values, while other challenges may be more connected to societal and economic values. It is reasonable to prioritize and discuss the values most closely connected to your challenge.

• What are some trends? Is your challenge expanding or being threatened?

• Does your challenge have a positive, negative (or both) impacts on surrounding environments?

• What are your challenge’s potential trade-offs and conflicts regarding environmental health?

• Next, speak about your challenge within the context of the Browne Creek wetland site. What information can you provide?

Does your challenge pose a risk for E.g. what can you say about what types of industry infrastructure are present at the Browne Creek wetlands site?

• Why is it important to develop environmental management strategies for your challenge at the Browne Creek wetland site?

• Without environmental management, what could some effects be on your challenge?

• From your broader research, what are some possible environmental management strategies for your challenge and could they be applied at the Browne Creek wetland site?

• Final thoughts and impressions of your challenge within the context of the Browne Creek wetland site?