Our project explores whether stewardship improves the performance of Vancouver’s rain gardens, which play an essential role in managing rainwater, supporting biodiversity, and strengthening climate resilience. We analyzed the City of Vancouver’s 2024 Bioretention Condition Assessment and Routine Maintenance datasets to compare three groups: Green Streets (community-maintained), Seeding Stewardship (new volunteer sites), and Non-Stewardship (city-maintained). The core problem we aimed to solve was understanding whether volunteer programs lead to measurable improvements in inlet, planting bed, vegetation, and soil conditions—and what factors may be influencing performance differences.

By cleaning, standardizing, and merging the data, we calculated functional scores across all stewardship types and used regression analysis and spatial mapping to uncover patterns. Our results showed that stewardship alone does not guarantee higher performance. Green Streets sites performed the strongest overall, likely due to program maturity, long-term support, and established maintenance practices. Seeding Stewardship sites had the lowest scores, suggesting that new volunteer groups may need more training, clearer guidance, and accessible resources. Non-stewardship sites performed moderately well, indicating that city-led maintenance remains consistent across many areas.

Mapping revealed that location matters, as performance varied widely across neighborhoods due to design context, environmental conditions, and resource availability. This finding aligns with the City’s broader strategies related to green infrastructure, climate adaptation, and community engagement.

From this project, we learned how essential program structure, training, and site context are to long-term performance. We recommend strengthening Seeding Stewardship through updated guides, visual tutorials, and volunteer support tools such as QR-linked resources. We also suggest sharing Green Streets’ best practices across programs and maintaining consistent maintenance for non-stewardship sites to ensure long-term site health.

NEXT STEPS

Now that the term is over, our project will not be implemented directly in the community, but it has been shared with our City staff partners to support their ongoing work with rain garden stewardship programs. Our goal was to provide a clear, data-driven analysis that could help inform future decisions about volunteer training, program development, and maintenance planning.

By examining how different stewardship types perform across key functional dimensions, our findings may serve as an additional reference for City staff as they evaluate program effectiveness and identify areas where more support or resources could be beneficial—especially for newer Seeding Stewardship sites.

While our team will not be continuing the project beyond this course, we hope the insights we uncovered contribute to the City’s understanding of how stewardship, site context, and program maturity shape rain garden performance. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with CityStudio and share our work with partners who help make Vancouver’s green infrastructure more sustainable and resilient.