In 1998 the Real Estate Foundation approved a $25,000 grant in support of the Millard/Piercy Watershed Stewards' initiative to develop a management plan for the Millard/Piercy Watershed near Courtenay.

The three-year process was guided by an advisory committee, and involved extensive input from local and senior governments, local non-profit organizations, individual landowners, and other interested parties.

Now that the plan is complete, implementation has begun. Baseline information provided by previous inventory and mapping activities provides objective measures for evaluating the success of the plan. The Stewards are continuing to work with their partners to meet plan goals.

This project is aligned with the purpose of the Real Estate Foundation's former Environment & Land Use theme: to address society's collective responsibility for natural and settlement assets in British Columbia. We hope that the information provided via this web page will be useful to other non-profit organizations undertaking watershed management planning projects in their local areas.

Watershed Management Plan Overview:

The Millard/Piercy Watershed Management Plan was completed in the spring of 2001. It is a document that was created through a community-based planning process and has nine main goals:

1. Protect sensitive areas.
2. Improve and maintain water flows in streams.
3. Restore degraded areas.
4. Incorporate management plan goals and objectives into local OCP's [official community plans] and secure long term funding for watershed management.
5. Restore and maintain water quality.
6. Conduct education on watershed ecosystems.
7. Research and promote sensitive farming and forestry methods.
8. Provide sensitive access to public land in the watershed.
9. Organize community involvement in local planning processes for sustainable economy, settlement and environmental protection.

(from Millard/Piercy Watershed Management Plan Implementation Update, June 2001)