Columbia Basin Trust celebrates 30 years
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
This July marked the 30-year anniversary of the founding of Columbia Basin Trust, an institution that operates hydroelectric plants throughout the Columbia River and funds projects throughout the basin.
The Trust was created in response to concerns Basin residents had after the Columbia River Treaty was established in the ‘70s, said Trust CEO Johnny Strilaeff.
“We were created so residents could share in some of the benefits that arise from the Columbia River Treaty to help mitigate all the negative impacts [of the Treaty],” said Strilaeff. “In Valemount, there’s the Kinbasket’s drawdown… the negative impacts, depending where you’re at in the region, are different but are really significant.”
With that in mind, the Province passed the Columbia Basin Trust Act, and the organization began with around $321 million dollars total from the Province, according to Strilaeff.
While most trusts make money by reaping returns on their investment portfolios, the Columbia Basin Trust gets most of its funds from its three hydroelectricity plants, said Strilaeff. This makes the Trust nearly one-of-a-kind – Strilaeff says he only knows of one similar organization, a non-profit based in New Zealand.
It also means the Trust was in uncharted waters when it began in 1995, Strilaeff said.
“When the Trust was created, there was no other organizational model that we could look at to help create an organization with this mandate,” he said. “Our mandate is to support the social, economic and environmental well-being of the region. There was years of effort to transform this endowment and our mandate… into an actual action plan.”
Early on, the Trust’s team had to figure out how to collect and incorporate feedback from Basin residents, since the organization is meant to develop its priorities by consulting Basin residents. Strilaeff said this is always a challenge, but it has resulted in one of the Trust’s hallmark programs: Resident-Directed Grants, often called ReDi grants.
In Valemount, ReDi grants have funded trail maintenance initiatives, equipment purchases for the community TV station, and a new trailer for the volunteer fire department, among other projects.
While the Trust’s grant programs and community investments are a point of pride for the organization, managing billions of dollars in funds to make wise investments in the Basin does not come without its challenges, Strilaeff said.
“At times in our past, we have made investment decisions with very good intentions, but without the proper diligence or the rationale for making investments,” he said. “When it comes to investments, we have to be strict and remember that, in effect, we’re investing residents’ money.”
Today, the Trust invests in businesses that are less risky – a high return on investment means more money that can go to programs that benefit the entire basin, Strilaeff said. And aside from giving grants, Trust staff are taking a more hands-on approach to meeting community needs, he added. For example, the Trust is working with different communities to bring broadband internet access to rural areas.
“We could just very easily have continued to be a granting organization,” Strilaeff said. “I’m particularly proud of how we’ve evolved to support work in this region to make sure we’re doing it in the way that’s most effective for any particular challenge.”
In that vein, Strilaeff said the Trust works with different communities to meet their specific needs – while appreciating the river that works as a connecting thread through the entire basin.
“Each community has its own… set of values, priorities, interests [and] natural attributes,” Strilaeff said. “The one unifying commonality is our collective connection to the place we live, the environment we get to live in, and the river system that connects us all.”
