Creating Climate-Resilient Landscapes

Anna Warwick Sears is the Executive Director of the Okanagan Basin Water Board, focusing on water management and sustainability. She holds a PhD in population biology from UC Davis and serves on several environmental commissions, including the International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control and the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission. Based in Kelowna, she enjoys outdoor activities throughout the Okanagan region.

Mario has been working in the horticulture industry all his life. His company, CropHealth Advising & Research, offers consulting services related to Plant Health Care to public agencies, landscape companies and nurseries in British Columbia and Alberta. For many years, Mario has joined on-going research to improve nursery production practices in order to deliver better root systems.

Dennis Craig is the Assistant Fire Chief of Mitigation & Prevention for the City of Kelowna, with over 8 years leading community FireSmart initiatives. He has been deployed to multiple large wildfires with BC Wildfire Service supporting structure protection and defense programs. Prior to joining Kelowna Fire Department in 2024, Dennis was Fire Chief in Peachland for 11 years where he led a movement to get the Districts Leadership team on board with making changes to multiple bylaws and entrenching FireSmart principles into the common practices of the municipality.

Gord Hiebert is a land designer and environmental manager at Cabin Operations and has over 20 years of experience working in the environmental, regenerative agriculture, and construction sectors. He has designed and implemented regenerative and ecological systems for Indigenous Peoples, agricultural, residential, commercial, institutional, non-profit, and government organizations. With a focus on sustainable water management, Gord’s experience has allowed him to work in natural environments throughout British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon.

With a background in residential and commercial landscape maintenance in the interior and the coast, Ashlee’s passion has been promoting the right plant for the right place, with an emphasis on native and drought-tolerant plant and tree selections. When not managing operations at Foxglove Nursery, Ashlee can be found enjoying the outdoors with her family, or with her nose stuck in a book.

Stephanie co-owned and operated a local landscape design-build company (Seed and Sparrow Design) for the past six years. The company focused on developing and implementing climate-resilient strategies throughout the Okanagan. With a focus on helping communities increase their resiliency and respond to a changing climate, she recently joined Urban Systems as a Landscape Consultant. She is looking forward to scaling up her work and impact with the support of a larger team.