Episode Details

In this episode, Jenny and Bob are joined by Mike Murray, Susan Ellis, and Tim Romanow, who are experts in watershed stewardship. The discussion centers on the importance of public investment in water decision-making and the challenges faced in managing, protecting, and restoring water resources. The guests share insights from their respective organizations, highlighting the need for collaboration, education, and data-driven approaches to address water concerns. They emphasize the significance of building trust among stakeholders and the role of watershed management plans in guiding sustainable practices. The conversation also touches on the unique challenges of transboundary water management and the importance of building relationships with indigenous communities. The episode underscores the critical need for informed and inclusive dialogue to ensure the health of water systems for future generations.

Introductions to Mike Murray, Susan Ellis, and Tim Romanow

Jenny:

Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. I am your host, Jenny Ami. Here you break down heavy ideas with me to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through dilemmas together in conversation and process. I acknowledge that I live on the traditional territory of Treaty 7 and Metis districts 5 and 6. The treaties and self-governance agreements established by indigenous peoples were created to honour the laws of the land, maintain balance with nature by giving back and uphold reciprocal relationships. This knowledge and intention are what guide The Gravity Well conversation. I ask for genuine dialogue, real hearts, and openness to different perspectives. This is your invitation to find common ground with me.

This podcast is dedicated to the natural world, our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The gravity well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join us at thegravitywell.net.

Okay, thank you. I’m very excited to have some very familiar faces here today. I’ll get into introductions in a second, but we are in the first half of season two if you’re a subscriber. This is season 2, episode 13. It’s also episode 5 of a “Water in Southern Alberta” course that Bob Morrison and myself have been leading. Today we have three guests with us. We have Mike Murray, who is the executive director of the Bow River Basin Council. Susan Ellis, who is a social scientist. She’s in a group that we call the Concerned Calgarians on Climate Change with Bob Morrison and myself. We get to work with Susan regularly, which is wonderful. And then Tim Romano, who is also the executive director at the Milk River Watershed Council, thank you all very much for being here.

Why are we talking about Water and Southern Alberta? This series is dedicated to the general public. We want people involved in water such as yourselves to be able to feel empowered by the public in these water concerns. As I am a concerned citizen, that’s the third concerned citizen who feels empowered to get involved and get engaged in water decision making. We’ve talked about the history of irrigation. We then went into some conversations around the environment, had some conversations around the impacts of resource extraction around water laws and licensing and around the water cycle. That was our last conversation with Tricia Stadnyk and now we’re doing stewardships. Today we’re meeting with the three of you to talk about your work in both Lake and watershed stewardship. I’m going to stop there. I’m going to let everybody do a little bit of introductions and then we’ll get into some questions specifically for this group. And I will mention we’re going to do some future conversations in the fall. If you guys like this experience, we’d welcome you back and perhaps maybe Shannon Frank might be able to join us. Then we hope to have Shan