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

Anglers and conservation groups make joint call for listing of endangered Interior Fraser River steelhead under Canada’s Species at Risk Act

Endangered Interior Fraser River steelhead were the object of a scandal in 2018 when bureaucrats at Fisheries and Oceans Canada unilaterally altered the conclusions of a multi-author scientific report the federal cabinet relied on in their controversial decision not to protect Fraser River steelhead under SARA. This action by DFO came to light in an FOI that was reported on by the Narwhal in 2021.

A large number of fishing boats squeeze into a small area off the coast of Alaska.

Impacts of Alaskan interception fisheries on Canadian and Southern U.S. salmon and steelhead

Alaskan Interceptions of BC Salmon: State of Knowledge Prepared by: Andrew Rosenberger, Victoria Chicatun, and Greg TaylorPrepared for: Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Skeena Wild Conservation Trust Read the report and summary: Southeastern Alaska catch of BC salmon. How many Canadian salmon and steelhead are killed in Southeast Alaskan interception fisheries? In 2021, nearly 800,0000 sockeye…

A school of salmon as seen from below in the Fraser River.

Recovering wild salmon through collaborative conservation

The Fraser is one of the world’s greatest salmon rivers. Despite the Lower Fraser representing only 5% of the entire watershed, it supports more than half of the watershed’s Chinook and chum, 65% of its coho, 80% of its pink, and significant populations of sockeye salmon.

A sandpiper walks along the shoreline of the Fraser Estuary.

Rejecting the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion

n 2020, a federal review panel concluded that the Terminal 2 shipping expansion project would have significant adverse and cumulative effects to populations of Fraser Chinook.

Aerial view of a Fraser Estuary breach and two tiny little humans standing below on the side of the water.

100 years later: Reconnecting the Fraser River with its estuary

As we move into 2022, our Fraser River Estuary restoration efforts move towards the next target, the North Arm jetty. In late 2021, we finished our Coastal Restoration Fund project, a five year multi-million dollar initiative to restore connectivity between the main arm of the Fraser River and the marsh on Lulu Island’s Sturgeon Bank….