Panel Description
Join us immediately following Tuesday’s lunch for a thought-provoking Plenary Panel: Three Decades of River Restoration: Lessons, Shifts, and the Future.
What does it mean to “restore” a river in 2026 compared to 1996? This plenary brings together representatives from diverse sectors—including design, construction, regulation, and academia— for a look back at 30 years of natural system restoration. This plenary panel will trace the evolution of the field, from early, structure-focused protection to modern, process-based, and Nature-based Solutions with consideration for land use and climate change. By exploring both successes and failures, this session will provide insights and challenges for the next generation of river corridor restoration.
List of Panelists
Bill Snodgrass
City of Toronto (Retired)
Bio coming soon
Bruce MacVicar
University of Waterloo
Bruce MacVicar is a Professional Engineer, Associate Professor and Director of Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He has a PhD in fluvial geomorphology and has tried throughout his career to bring more understanding of the importance of sedimentary processes into river engineering education and practice. He has led multiple research projects on river restoration design and has published over 50 research papers in subjects related to stormwater management, sediment transport, river engineering, and the role of wood in rivers.
Cam Portt
C. Portt and Associates
Cam Portt is an aquatic biologist with over 50 years of experience who has worked on Canadian streams from southern Ontario to Nunavut and from Alberta to Newfoundland. His M.Sc. research, conducted in the late 1970’s, compared fish biomass and production in natural and straightened stream reaches in southern Ontario. Cam drank the Kool-Aid (as mix) while taking the Rosgen course in 1992. Since then, he has been involved as a biologist on behalf of proponents, reviewers, and the occasional legal team. in stream realignments ranging from a few meters to over seven kilometers in length.
Harry Reinders
R & M Construction
Harry Reinders has previously been co-owner of R & M Construction for 45 years. R & M Construction has completed thousands of waterway projects over the years as well as constructed many wetlands. They also completed significant erosion control works along the shorelines of Ontario’s lakes.
Heather Amirault
Stantec Consulting Ltd.
Heather is a water resources engineer at Stantec Consulting Ltd. For the past 20 years, she has been practicing in the field of stream rehabilitation and natural channel design. Heather enjoys working on multi-disciplinary projects across Canada, participating in all aspects of stream projects, from assessment to design, through permitting, tendering, and construction
Sally Betts
Credit Valley Conservation
Sally is the manager of River System Science at Credit Valley Conservation. She manages the geomorphology, aquatic and wetland restoration and restoration performance monitoring programs at CVC. A current focus of her work is using her technical background in geomorphology to implement Nature-based Solutions for erosion and flood risk management.
Mariëtte Pushkar (Moderator)
Montrose Environmental
Mariëtte is a Principal Geomorphologist and Service Lead of the Restoration and Geomorphology team at Montrose Environmental Services. She has been applying the art and science of fluvial geomorphology to a wide range of projects for over 25 years across Canada. She has completed, or supported, well over a 100 channel restoration and realignment projects for a cumulative distance of over 25 km!