Contact: sourcetostream@trca.ca

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Be Part of Canada’s Premier Stormwater and Erosion and Sediment Control Conference

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

CONFERENCE RATES

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

DATE TIME
Pre-conference Training March 25, 2024 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Conference Day 1 March 26, 2024 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. – Presentations
8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Trade show
4:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Networking reception
Conference Day 2 March 27, 2024 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. – Presentations
8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Trade show

Conference Passes: Details

FULL CONFERENCE PASS

Full admission to days 1 and 2 of the Source to Stream Conference, including presentations, lunch, refreshments and the networking reception.
Regular Rate: $495
Public Sector, Sponsor/Exhibitor or Student Rate*: $250

ONE-DAY CONFERENCE PASS

Full admission to days 1 or 2 of the Source to Stream Conference, including presentations, lunch, and refreshments. The Conference Pass for day 1 also includes access to the networking reception.
Regular Rate: $250
Public Sector, Sponsor/Exhibitor or Student Rate*: $125

NETWORKING RECEPTION PASS

Admission to the Source to Stream Networking Reception, held on day 1, from 4:15 to 6:30 p.m.

Regular Rate: $35

*If eligible, please contact TRCA events at events@trca.ca to receive your discount code BEFORE purchasing passes.

Pre-conference Training: Details
March 25, 2024


PRE-CONFERENCE TRAINING COURSE 1
City of Toronto’s Soil Cell & Stormwater Tree Trench Construction Requirements

Date and Time: March 25, 2024 | 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Pearson Convention Centre, 2638 Steeles Ave. E, Brampton, ON

COST:
Regular Rate: $325
Public Sector Rate*: $275

Registration includes continental breakfast, lunch, and morning and afternoon break refreshments.

*If eligible, please contact TRCA events at events@trca.ca to receive your discount code BEFORE purchasing passes.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A Continuous Soil Trench (CST) is a structure designed and built to contain continuous growing media (soil) to support tree growth to maturity under a paved boulevard.

CSTs are a type of low impact development (LID) feature that includes a continuous, linear urban tree planting system, constructed using soil cells, and often located behind the curb within the road right-of-way (ROW) and feature sidewalk pavement and tree openings on top.

Soil cells are modular structural units designed to be filled with growing medium for tree rooting, stormwater management, and support the pavement structure (i.e. sidewalk).

Stormwater Tree Trenches (STTs) are configurated to include trench sections, connected hydrologically through sub-surface stormwater distribution and drainage pipes throughout the feature, which promote healthy tree growth while also helping to manage surface road runoff.

These subsurface trench systems are filled with proprietary, modular structures and growing medium. They improve tree health by providing access to soil, air, and stormwater (from the adjacent roadway) for irrigation, allowing them to survive longer in harsh urban conditions.

The tree planting pits and adjacent supported sidewalk pavements provide more soil volume for tree growth and water retention.

Topics addressed in this course will include:

  • Application and function of soil cells for tree growth and stormwater management (Why use soil cells in urban ROWs?)
  • Overview of soil cell system types (highlighting key differences)
  • Examples of how soil cells may be configured in different ways in road ROW projects (e.g. with permeable pavements, with surface drains for sidewalk runoff, as raised planters, with distribution pipes or curb cuts, etc.)
  • City of Toronto standards and requirements; green infrastructure in ROW standards; Municipal Consent Requirements (MCR) document; agreement requirements for bidding contractors, etc
  • Importance of quality control in the performance of the soil cells

This course is suitable for stormwater and hydrogeology professionals interested in expanding their knowledge related to stormwater tree trench and soil cell construction projects.

Information shared during the course will be applied through activities designed to solve challenges that can often occur on these project sites. In order to fully participate during this course participants are asked to bring their own laptop.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The course will provide an overview of the function and application of continuous soil cell tree trenches in road right-of-way (ROW) projects, with a focus on construction and inspection best practices.

Upon completion of the course participants will be able to:

  • Understand the concept, function and application of continuous tree trenches featuring soil cells in ROWs (forestry and stormwater functions)
  • Identify key differences between soil cell system types
  • Describe proper soil cell construction methods from different proprietary developers, and their associated inspection and verification tests and methods
  • Recognize common constraints and challenges encountered in the field and identify ways to address them during construction
  • Recognize City of Toronto standards, specifications and contract requirements, and identify who to contact for questions

INSTRUCTORS

Dean Young

Dean Young
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

As as a Project Manager with TRCA’s Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP), Dean focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of innovative water and soil management technologies in an Ontario context. He manages applied research projects and develops knowledge transfer tools to overcome barriers to widespread implementation. His most recent work includes guidance on the design, inspection and maintenance of low impact development stormwater and soil management best practices.

Daniel Filippi

Daniel Filippi
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

Daniel has developed several flood and climate change-related training programs/courses educating homeowners, government staff, and ICI/MUR property owners on the importance of adopting appropriate SWM BMPs and proper implementation and maintenance of LID practices. Most recently, he helped develop a new standard on flood resilient design of new residential communities (CSA W204:19) for Canada and is a primary author of the LID Stormwater Wiki.


PRE-CONFERENCE TRAINING COURSE 2
Tips and Best Practices for Planning, Designing, Constructing, and Monitoring Successful Stream Restoration Projects

Date and Time: March 25, 2024 | 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Pearson Convention Centre, 2638 Steeles Ave. E, Brampton, ON

COST:
Regular Rate: $325
Public Sector Rate*: $275

Registration includes continental breakfast, lunch, and morning and afternoon break refreshments.

*If eligible, please contact TRCA events at events@trca.ca to receive your discount code BEFORE purchasing passes.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Did you know that in stream restoration projects:

  • When flows are unpredictable or highly variable, you should consider providing a multi-stage channel?
  • You should include as much wood in the design as possible?
  • In general, the tail of the upstream riffle should be below the crest of the downstream riffle?

This one-day workshop will give a comprehensive look at stream restoration design, construction, post-construction monitoring, and more.

Focused on tips and tools for application in stream restoration projects, the workshop aims to make projects:

  • More likely to get permitted
  • Lower cost
  • More resilient and less vulnerable to failure
  • Better at restoring ecological function

Topics addressed in this course will include:

  • Sizing channels in urban areas
  • When to design a step-pool system
  • Using materials available on site to construct a stream channel
  • Using a multi-stage channel when flows are difficult to predict
  • Uses for a reference reach
  • Creative uses for the old channel when constructing a new channel
  • Importance of knowing “bankfull”
  • Different ways to incorporate wood in a channel
  • Why and how to design a threshold channel
  • Issues associated with floodplain contraction and expansion
  • Using RIVERMorph and Stream Tools software packages to assist with design
  • How a morphological table can help with design
  • Using RTK survey equipment during construction inspection
  • Using a 3D surface to guide construction
  • Tips on dealing with DFO when developing a habitat bank
  • How to ensure your design generates the maximum number of fish habitat credits
  • The uses for beaver dam analogs

The material presented during this workshop is relevant and suitable for a range of practitioners involved in stream restoration, including fluvial geomorphologists, aquatic biologists, aquatic restoration specialists, ecologists, water resources engineers, consultants, contractors, agency staff, professors, researchers, and students.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Provide designers, contractors, regulators and owners with valuable insights into how to improve their stream restoration projects
  • Delve into the relevancy of these insights and tips that can be applied to a range of projects
  • Demonstrate how these tips have been applied or not applied in specific projects and their results

INSTRUCTORS

David Bidelspach

David Bidelspach

Mr. Bidelspach is a nationally recognized river restoration specialist with a broad range of experience restoring damaged ecosystems. His academic and research background includes five years with the Stream Restoration Program at North Carolina State University (NCSU), where he provided assessment, design, and construction oversight services on many restoration projects and taught courses related to river assessment, restoration design, and construction administration.

He also worked for nine years as the river restoration technical leader for a large engineering consulting firm. He has completed more than 100 river restoration/stabilization projects in 29 states, 6 Canadian Provinces/Territories, and Costa Rica.

He specializes in using Natural Channel Design (NCD) coupled with a traditional engineering framework for river restoration designs to achieve optimal project goals and objectives. The MCDA framework has been utilized and taught by Mr. Bidelspach and incorporates NCD, three-dimensional (3-D) stream design, limiting factors analysis for fisheries, flood risk, geomorphic assessment, river resiliency, cost analysis, changing points of diversion, and stakeholder involvement into a design optimization scheme.

Brad Fairley

Brad Fairley

Brad Fairley has more than 40 years of professional experience involving both the public and private sector. With a strong background in water resources management Brad has focused on stream restoration for the last 20 years of his career. During that time, he has managed more than 100 fluvial geomorphology and stream restoration projects in Canada and the US.

Mr. Fairley has authored many reports and presented papers at stream restoration conferences across North America. He has also provided expert testimony in court. Since forming his own company in 2018, he has focused his efforts on improving the quality of stream restoration projects in Canada. To that end he has championed fish habitat banking, established the first habitat banks in Canada, developed protocols for determining the effectiveness of stream restoration projects for DFO, organized and hosted workshops and helped found RiverSHARED an organization dedicated to information sharing.

Most recently, Mr. Fairley has endowed a research chair in fluvial geomorphology at McMaster University.