Three Indigenous men stand in a canoe poling their craft along a shoreline while one man sits and steers. An unidentified village is visible along the opposite shore.

Annotation on recto: "I-57370" which denotes the same photograph in the collection of the BC Archives.

This fonds illustrates the life and work of G. Gary Runka and his contributions to the province of British Columbia. Gary Runka was the first General Manager of British Columbia's Agricultural Land Commission and helped establish the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve. After transitioning from a government career to private consulting, Runka provided comprehensive professional services through his land consultancy business, G.G. Runka Land Sense Ltd., offering land capability and environmental assessments, integrated resource management, land and water use conflict resolution, and interdisciplinary land use planning. Described by colleagues as one of BC's most highly respected agrologists and influential land use planners, Runka had a 52-year career working on (or against) an incredible number of landmark projects in British Columbia, such as the Site C Project. Gary Runka’s partner in life and vocation, Joan M. Sawicki, worked with Gary on many of these projects—as well as her own; her contributions are also represented throughout the records of this fonds.

Gary Runka's deep connection to the land is evident from his earliest papers on aerial photo interpretation, his work with the Canada Land Inventory, through his speeches and his work establishing the BC Agricultural Land Reserve and in his subsequent consulting career through G.G. Runka Land Sense Ltd. Gary Runka's influence and legacy was recognized in the tributes paid after his death, including the post-humus award as the Real Estate Foundation's "Land Champion" for 2014.

The G. Gary Runka fonds has been divided into the following nine series:
1) Personal Records
2) Speeches & Publications
3) Professional Records
4) Agricultural Land Commission
5) Land Sense Ltd.
6) Client Files
7) Maps
8) Photographs
9) Digital Records

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Managing Conservation Lands to keep Nature's Pulse Beating" for the BC Trust for Public Lands.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC's Agricultural Land Reserve - Its Historical Roots" at the Post World Planners Congress Seminar.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC Land Use Issues and Smiling Frogs" for the Agricultural Institute of Canada Foundation.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Consensus Decision Making" for an Executive Development Program.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Action Steps to Sustainable Agriculture" at the Forum on Sustainable Agriculture in Summerland.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The Importance of Agriculture to BC and the Creston Valley" Creston Valley Agricultural Society.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Landscape Level Planning - Fitting People into the Watershed" at the Stewarding Our Watersheds Conference.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agriculture in the Urban Shadow" at the Agricultural Land Commission Symposium.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Working Together Towards Identifying and Protecting Land for Nature in the Kamloops Area" to an unknown audience.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agricultural Land and Its Management".

File consists of an untitled published piece in Country Life Column by Gary Runka.

File consists of an untitled published piece in Country Life Column by Gary Runka.

File consists of an article written by Gary Runka entitled "Balanced Agriculture - Its Social Value".

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC Soil Conservation Issues: How Serious are They?".

File consists of a panel moderation talk given by Gary Runka entitled "Methods of Resolving Land Use Conflicts in BC".

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Effects of Urban Decision Making on Rural Issues".

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Sharing the Land Resource - 1990 and Beyond" for CNC, FAS-UBC and BCMAF.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Western Canadian Agriculture - A Look to the Future" for an unknown audience.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agricultural Land and Land Use Decision Making in the 1980s" for the Western Land Directors' Conference.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Planning for the Future Agricultural Land Base of Alberta" for Alberta Agriculture.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Expanding Needs from a Finite Resource: the Necessity for Sound Land Use Planning" for the Manitoba Land Use Conference.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Who Gets to Use the Land and Water? - the Urban and Agricultural Land Needs of the Okanagan Valley" for the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, UBC and Okanagan College.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Land Resource Issues in BC and the Tough Choices Ahead" for the Surrey Rotary.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Land Resource Issues in BC" at a UBC seminar.

File consists of an article written by Gary Runka entitled "Political Realities - Protecting our Dwindling Soil Resource" published in Agrologist magazine.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The Rural-Urban Continuum: Tough Land Use Choices Ahead" for the Vernon Rotary Rural-Urban Day.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC Experience: Establishing Priorities for the Use of Rural Land Resources" for the Canadian Institute of Planners Annual Conference in Kitchener, Waterloo.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Overview: Planning for Rural Land" for the Canadian Institute of Planners Annual Conference in Kitchener, Waterloo.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Winter Range for Ungulates" for the Symposium on Threatened Species and Habitats in British Columbia and the Yukon.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Integrated Natural Resource Management" to the 4th Annual BC Mine Reclamation Symposium in Vernon, BC.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Proposed Hydro Development - Peace River Valley: Some Questions" to the Peace Valley Environmental Association in Dawson Creek.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agricultural Land Preservation - Some of the Problems" to an unknown audience, possibly a political caucus.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The BC Agricultural Land Preservation Experience" to the Canadian Agricultural Extension Council Conference in Kelowna.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Habitat, Land Use Planning, Economics and the Land Owner" to the 43rd Federal-Provincial Wildlife Conference in Regina.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Land Use Planning and the Nursery Trades" to the BC Nursery Trades Association.

File consists of the written personal reflections of Gary Runka for the Agricultural Land Commission 10 Year publication.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Future of Intensive Livestock Enterprises in the more densely populated areas of the Agricultural Land Reserve" for the Agricultural Engineering Branch of the BC Ministry of Agriculture.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Urban Growth Impact on Rangelands in British Columbia" for the Society for Range Management - Pacific Northwest Section in Spokane, Washington.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Private Land Needs and the BC Agricultural Land Commission Experience" for the Perspectives on Natural Resources Symposium II at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ontario.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The British Columbia Experience" for the Planning for Rural Growth event in Whatcom County, Bellingham, Washington.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Agricultural Land Commission 1978 - What's Happening?" to the UBC Soil Science and Land Use Planning Seminar.

File consists of an untitled speech about resource conflicts given by Gary Runka to the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) Annual General Meeting in Vancouver.

File consists of an untitled speech to the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce regarding land use planning an its impact on the food producer.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka to the BC Provincial Seed Fair in Fort St. John entitled "Land Use Planning and the Farmer".