What's new // Investigate and inform
Indepth essays and expert analyses from our researchers.
Recent events have raised important legal questions about the policies, practices, and procedures of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) for responding to human-wildlife conflicts. This past summer was marked by multiple encounters involving people and black bears in the Lower Mainland, with accompanying BCCOS-related controversy as well. In a high-profile incident in Coquitlam,…
By now you’ve probably seen the photos and video we’ve shared of the Kitlope, and hopefully you’re getting some sense of how spectacular this place really is. This past May I was given the opportunity to travel to the Kitlope conservancy aboard the SV Maple Leaf and it was easily the most beautiful place I’ve…
Grizzly and black bears do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to connecting marine and terrestrial ecosystems along the coast. As fish return each fall to spawn, bears catch salmon and eat them along the river banks or adjacent forests, leaving food and nutrient sources for hundreds of species of scavengers on…
Given the ecological challenges that Fraser River salmon, including juvenile salmon, face at this point in history, now is not the time to increase pressure on their rearing grounds in the Fraser estuary by increasing the footprint of the Terminal 2 project on Roberts Bank….
Hatcheries have failed to protect or restore the old ages, big sizes, range of migration times and diversity of wild Chinook salmon. For Southern Residents to recover, the age structure and run timing of wild Chinook runs, along with abundance, need to be restored. This is not the objective of hatcheries…
On May 10, the Canadian federal government announced its first wide-ranging measures to reduce the primary threats compromising survival of the salmon-eating Southern Resident killer whales reliant on the transboundary waters of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Although federally listed as endangered in 2003 in Canada and 2005 in the US, little has happened…
Cecil Paul has told the story of that long journey in–what his granny called–the magic canoe. “Build a canoe and it will be supernatural and no matter how many people will come aboard to help you paddle to save your place of birth, it will never be full.” Raincoast is one of the many organizations who stepped into the magic canoe to support and learn from the traditional knowledge systems of the Xenaksiala…
As critical as these images are, we are committed to using only images that are ethically obtained. These considerations are informed by our own conservation ethics and what we learn along the way. The points below are those from a code of conduct, given to us by Brad Hill and available in full on Brad’s website…
We recently closed our third season of Raincoast’s Salish Sea Emerging Stewards program with a new addition to the program – an event to connect, reflect and celebrate our precious coastline. People of all ages and backgrounds joined in the festivities as graduates of the 2018 season had the opportunity to take the stage and share their experiences and perspectives from the program…
The Fraser River in British Columbia remains one of the world’s most productive salmon rivers. Equally significant is the Fraser River’s estuary, which serves as vital habitat for fish, bird, and mammal species that are linked across thousands of kilometers of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. All Fraser River populations of salmon…
Just days before being asked to go on a last-minute week-long trip to the Kitlope I had been glued to the pages of Cecil Paul and Briony Penn’s new book, Stories From the Magic Canoe. I was invited to visit as a guest aboard Maple Leaf, to capture visuals, to help with fundraising and awareness…
2019 marks the second year of a decade-long $100,000 commitment from Maple Leaf Adventures to our research and conservation efforts on the BC Coast and, in particular, the Great Bear Rainforest. As the spring field program for Raincoast’s Salmon Carnivore program comes to an end…