The Stewardship Centre for British Columbia is an organization devoted to strengthening ecological stewardship in BC by providing technical, educational, and capacity building resources, as well as by fostering partnerships among organizations, groups, governments, and the private sector.
Ecological stewardship is defined here as a code of ethics that recognizes the need to conserve and restore ecosystems for current and future generations of all species. The term places the human species in a role of great responsibility as a guardian of the natural environment and its inhabitants; it encompasses more than a legal obligation, it implies moral considerations that are represented in the actions and activities of individuals, communities, groups, and organizations.
The Stewardship Centre for British Columbia manages several programs related to the creation and preservation of natural spaces; one of these programs is the Green Shores program, which promotes sustainable use of shoreline ecosystems through planning and design that recognizes the ecological features and functions at work in shoreline systems.
Every year the Green Shores program awards a Gold award to the public shoreline that best embodies the term “stewardship”. Each entrant for the award is assessed based on the following principles:
1. Preservation of the integrity or connectivity of shoreline processes
2. Maintenance or enhancement of habitat diversity and function
3. Minimization or reduction of pollutants to the environment
4. Reduction of cumulative impacts to the shoreline environment
This year Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture Inc. is proud to announce that the Jericho Marginal Wharf restoration project has been awarded the Green Shores Gold award.
The project involved the demolition of the existing Jericho Marginal Wharf for reasons of public safety and ecological restoration. The iconic wharf was built over 60 years ago to serve the needs of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s amphibious aircraft operations. However, the wooden pilings and wharf deck were beginning to show signs of deterioration; additionally, the pilings were known to contain creosote-derived contaminants harmful to the site’s extensive invertebrate habitat, population of spawning fish, and foraging shoreline birds.
In a large-scale project that saw one of Vancouver’s iconic shoreline parks undergo major reconstruction, Sharp & Diamond worked alongside shoreline engineers Moffat & Nichol and biologists Raincoast Environmental to ensure the transformation was accomplished with a view to ecological sustainability, design excellence, and environmental performance.
Other considerations pertained more to the creation and maintenance of placemaking or contribution to the public realm within the Vancouver community. The importance of enjoyable roads, parks, sidewalks, lanes, and pedestrian amenities was highlighted and played a strong role in the influence of the park’s design, and every effort was made to strengthen the connection between people and the places they share. In this vein, Sharp & Diamond felt it important to address Jericho Marginal Wharf’s history by installing historical panels depicting the Marginal Wharf of the past; the panels include a timeline of the various transformations the Wharf has undergone before finally becoming the valued shoreline park it is today.
Alongside the historical panels site visitors will discover our “Return to Nature” panels, which illustrate the project’s goals of habitat and environmental restoration. The panels provide a view into the value inherent in these natural spaces turned environmentally sustainable parks.
We are delighted to be recognized by an ecologically conscious program such as Green Shores and, as a landscape architecture company that relies heavily on the natural beauty and ecological value of our environment, we will continue to strive to achieve design excellence with a view to environmental sustainability in all our future projects.
Thank you Green Shores for this thoughtful and important recognition.