Introducing the Land Healing Stewards Initiative
In partnership with Special Bird Service, we held our first sea-to-soil educational excursion.
As Raincoast’s on-the-ground work, community engagement, and collaborations are key to our research and conservation successes, the Forest Conservation Program and the Salish Sea Emerging Stewards youth education program have partnered to deliver a new and innovative multi-year project. Titled the Land Healing Stewards Initiative, it will support our programs’ shared goals; engaging local communities in conservation and building capacity by providing them with applicable skills and knowledge, while restoring and protecting endangered coastal habitats in the Salish Sea. An initiative we’ve dreamed of for many years, it finally launched this spring with a multi-day sea- and land-based expedition.
About the Land Healing Stewards Initiative
The Land Healing Stewards Initiative (LHSI) is a place-based project that blends restoration with education. It aims to increase environmental literacy in local communities, enhance the ecological integrity and climate resilience of Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) ecosystems, and inform better, more holistic land management practices. Importantly, this initiative intends to meet the needs of the communities embedded in CDF ecosystems while centering Indigenous knowledge and land stewardship practices. Through this initiative, we will work to engage with Indigenous-led land healing processes, and we aim to support the integration of the W̱SÁNEĆ 13 Moons ecological framework into coastal conservation practices.
Since 2019, the Forest Conservation Program has focused on CDF ecosystems, which are endemic to the south coast of British Columbia, including the Gulf Islands. The unique ecosystems are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in British Columbia, and further, are globally rare. Simultaneously, CDF ecosystems are the most threatened, restricted in area, and fragmented of all in British Columbia. Urbanization, industrial logging, invasive species, climate change, biodiversity loss, and the removal of Indigenous land stewardship practices are the main and cumulative threats to these precious ecosystems. As such, the Forest Conservation program was founded on the dire need to protect, conserve, and restore these ecosystems while also creating community stewardship opportunities to ultimately better serve the people living in these threatened ecosystems and build the foundation for long-term, continued conservation action.
One of the key actions we have taken to protect, conserve, and restore CDF ecosystems is by establishing a land trust. As a land trust, we can purchase and receive donations of ecologically significant parcels of land to restore and protect in perpetuity. To date, the Forest Conservation Program has acquired two parcels of land on S,DÁYES (Pender Island) in partnership with the Pender Islands Conservancy Association. These two properties, S,DÁYES Flycatcher Forest and KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest, provide the backdrop for our LHSI activities.
Current restoration efforts at both properties include invasive species removal and planting a diversity of native species, such as tree saplings and understory herbs and shrubs. Importantly, significant monitoring efforts are ongoing at both properties to capture the current ecological baselines. A major restoration project is also underway at KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest, where we are in the early phases of converting a disused gravel cul-de-sac into a wetland.
Our intention with the LHSI is to bring youth and community groups to be a part of the restoration and monitoring processes in these protected areas to ultimately foster long-term stewardship capacity and skills that can be passed through communities and generations to come.
Sea-to-soil adventures
Aptly timed, our first sea-to-soil educational excursion took place during the PENÁWEṈ Moon – the Moon of the Camas Harvest. During PENÁWEṈ, W̱SÁNEĆ communities would return to spring camps to harvest ḰȽO,EL (camas bulbs). It was a time rooted in the interconnectedness of people with each other and with place. Learning from the PENÁWEṈ Moon and holding tight to the meaning of interconnectedness, we embarked on a journey of sea- and land-based exploration.
We invited Salish Sea Emerging Stewards (SSES) partner Special Bird Service (SBS) to join us for our inaugural sea-to-soil expedition. A birding, outdoor recreation, and nature education nonprofit, SBS engages BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ communities from around the Salish Sea. Nine youth participants joined us aboard SV Achiever for a 5-day, 4-night journey. With most youth being deeply passionate and interested in conservation, ecosystem monitoring, and fieldwork skills development, we knew they would be the perfect group to launch the LHSI.
The group was welcomed aboard Achiever by SSES Coordinator Pascale Campagna-Slater, Captain Drew Graham, and First Mate John Kelsey. Departing Sidney, we made the most of our first day, observing the nesting seabirds of Mandarte Island, sailing through Haro Strait, and hiking Pender Island’s Mount Norman. After spending our first night at anchor in Port Browning, we arose early to make our way to the shores of KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest, where we met Forest Conservation Coordinator Priya Puri. Joined by Dr. Erin O’Brien and Casey Garrison of the Pender Islands Conservancy Association, they led us on a walk to survey the land, identify native and invasive plant species, conduct a bird count, and discuss the restoration and conservation needs of the protected area.
Priya then led a vegetation monitoring activity to measure the percent cover, richness, and diversity of understory plant species in proximity to trails that had previously been established throughout KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest. The group learned how to establish transects, lay plots, identify species, and record vegetation monitoring data. We hypothesized that in closer proximity to a human-used trail, there would be reduced cover, richness, and diversity of understory plant species, and an increase in invasive species. Interestingly, the results from our two samples showed that we found only native species regardless of proximity to a trail! These results showed us in real-time the impact and importance of reducing human activities within intact CDF forest ecosystems.
The next morning, we were undeterred by the rain and returned to KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest to learn how to measure big trees. Priya demonstrated to the group how to use the three pieces of equipment required to measure big trees: a clinometer, an instrument used to measure the angle from where we are standing to the top of a tree so we can calculate tree height, a two-sided tape, known as a ‘D-tape’, to measure Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), and a regular measuring tape. We turned our eyes upward to find some forest giants, and measured three big trees – two Douglas-firs and one western redcedar. The first Douglas-fir had a diameter, or DBH, of 0.93 m, 13.2 m crown spread, and was approximately 35 m tall, while the second had a DBH of 1.24 m, 9.7 m crown spread, and was approximately 39 m tall! The western redcedar we measured also had a DBH of 0.93 m, a 12.8 m crown spread, and an approximate height of 40 m!
Spending time measuring and looking for big trees in the forest was a grounding time for the group, and offered a humble reminder that by protecting ancient trees and forests, we are protecting and conserving centuries of knowledge held by the land.
After a day and a half of forest-based learning, we said goodbye to KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest, raised the anchor, and set sail for the next adventure. We spent our last two days cruising around the Gulf Islands, focusing on exploring marine ecosystems and species. We observed a group of traveling Bigg’s killer whales in the Strait of Georgia, explored marine invertebrates at low tide on Portland Island, and took advantage of some strong winds to raise the sails. We also stretched our legs on shore to hike and observe birds, such as the purple martins of Sidney Island.
To cap off our trip, the crew led a quiz night aboard Achiever to review the forest, bird, marine, and nautical knowledge learned. Participants proved to be quite competitive, demonstrating their deep passion for nature and conservation. We could not have asked for a better group to launch the Land Healing Stewards Initiative, and we thank them for making it such a success.
Thank you to our supporters
We are grateful to the Gencon Foundation for providing the core funding needed to get this project off the ground and running, as well as to the additional funders who have provided us the opportunity to expand and further the reach of this project.
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.
