Sailing, stewardship, and sound
Our environmental education program continues to inspire youth.
Raincoast’s youth program, Salish Sea Emerging Stewards, aims to educate, inspire, and empower the next generation of conservation leaders. Combining land-based learning activities, online education, and immersive sailing expeditions aboard Achiever, our program educates youth on local ecosystems and conservation issues, and provides them with access to nature.
We have built meaningful partnerships with community groups and Nations to engage Indigenous and underserved youth from around the Salish Sea. This past year, we worked with the Red Fox Healthy Living Society to deliver classroom-based and outdoor programming to Indigenous, low-income, and newcomer youth. They joined us on board Achiever for an immersive, week-long trip through the Gulf Islands. We also welcomed the Special Bird Service to our program in 2024, with local BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ youth joining us for a sailing expedition focusing on seabirds, whales, and the unique ecosystems of the southern Gulf Islands.
This coming year, we will expand our online offerings to include educational resources. Our first foray has focused on sound and underwater noise, connecting to our cetacean conservation research Underwater Listening Stations. This will help us expand our program reach by bringing interactive STEM activities to Grades 1-12 throughout BC and beyond, while raising awareness on underwater noise.
We look forward to growing our program offerings and engaging new community partners in 2025, so we may continue to inspire youth to become stewards of the Salish Sea.
This is an excerpt from our annual report, Tracking Raincoast into 2025.
You can help
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.
