Living Economies

We’re using science, economics, and policy to advance nature-positive economies in British Columbia.

Raincoast’s Living Economies Program explores how healthy ecosystems can support thriving local economies. We quantify the economic value of ecosystem services, habitat restoration, and conservation initiatives, while developing innovative approaches to finance and the delivery of conservation in salmon-bearing watersheds. By integrating economics, western science, conservation finance, and policy, we work to create solutions that generate employment, strengthen local economies, and support resilient communities across British Columbia.

Building on a decade years of habitat restoration and job creation

The Living Economies Program builds on the success of Raincoast’s decade-long habitat restoration and conservation work in the Lower Fraser River. Over the past 10 years, our projects have removed barriers to fish passage, controlled invasive species, and restored critical habitat for wild Pacific salmon.

This work created employment for 50 people, with more than $885,576.48 in grant funding directly supporting local jobs. The projects brought together a diverse range of expertise, including biologists, Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, First Nations youth, environmental monitors, engineers, heavy machinery operators, construction consultants, archaeologists, and graduate students.

By investing in habitat restoration, this initiative has contributed to the recovery of endangered Pacific salmon while demonstrating that conservation can create meaningful employment opportunities – even within one of the most urbanized and highly modified landscapes in British Columbia.

Aerial photo of tiny, distant workers with hard hats walking around the Fraser River Estuary, surrounded by grasses and water.

Misty MacDuffee, Noah Kussin-Bordo, David Scott, and Peter Kidd in the Fraser River estuary. — Photo by Alex Harris.

Conservation Economy Pilot

In 2026, we are launching a Conservation Economy Pilot that pairs innovative conservation finance mechanisms with habitat restoration to create a scalable model for nature-positive economic development in rural communities. The pilot will demonstrate how investments in ecosystem recovery can generate long-term employment, attract private and public capital, strengthen local economies, and improve outcomes for fish, wildlife, and people.

By bringing together diverse skill sets – from restoration practitioners and foresters to economists, Indigenous partners, engineers, and community organizations – the pilot aims to test a new model for delivering shared environmental and economic benefits that can be replicated across British Columbia.

Recent, from Raincoast

Uniting BC’s Salmon People

Raincoast, alongside our allies, is proud to support Salmon United, a new initiative bringing people together to advance a stronger future for Pacific salmon.

The camera is partially underwater, showing a chum salmon under the water and vegetation and mountains above the water.

Canada has the policy tools to protect Pacific salmon. Why aren’t they working?

A new peer-reviewed perspective examines why decades of ambitious conservation policy have failed to halt wild salmon declines and what must change to reverse the trend.

An aerial shot of a large forest that meets the ocean with the text "What Canada are you for?" overtop of the image.

Prime Minister Carney recently asked what Canadians ‘are for’

Here’s our answer.

A shoreline along the Fraser is seen at dusk, the land covered with rocks and a bridge and power lines in the background towards the horizon.

Marsh restoration projects in the Lower Fraser River; Shaughnessy Street Park

The Fraser River estuary should be a thriving ecosystem for juvenile salmon, a place to rest, feed, and grow before heading out to the ocean. Today, much of that habitat has been replaced by rip-rap, cement, and other engineered materials that offer little of what salmon actually need. This winter, our team worked to address…