Small-scale marsh creation

Daniel Stewart, Conservation Decisions Lab, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Raincoast are all working in the Fraser River Estuary.

Right now, members of Conservation Decisions Lab, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and Ducks Unlimited Canada, will be installing small-scale marsh creation experiments at Tilbury Island. 

These “pre-pilot” experiments explore sustainable marsh restoration methods, steering away from hard infrastructure and unnatural materials. Instead, we’re tapping into natural river processes like sediment accretion to promote ecosystem resilience.

The data and observations gathered will inform larger-scale marsh creation projects planned for next year. Exciting times for estuary restoration! Daniel Stewart is developing this work as part of his PhD research with Conservation Decisions Lab, and is a MITACS researcher with Raincoast. His research is focusing on habitat restoration and improving coastal ecosystem management strategies.

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Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.

Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.