Investigate. Inform. Inspire.
Raincoast is a team of conservationists and scientists empowered by our research to protect the lands, waters and wildlife of coastal British Columbia.
Raincoast’s monthly communication detailing our science, field work, events, and breaking conservation updates.
Published on 2019.02.05 | by Nicholas Sinclair | in Notes from the Field
We watch as her three little cubs slowly take to the high water and make their way to mom. They graze on roots, and search for salmon carcasses that simply aren’t there. The cub’s curiosity…
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Published on 2019.01.28 | by Heather Bryan, Postdoctoral Fellow, RACS Lab | in Notes from the Field
A theme that underlies our research in the Applied Conservation Lab is that we aim to apply methods that are minimally invasive to wildlife. This ethos emerges in large part from our partners in First Nations communities, who have taught us many important lessons about respecting the people, places, and animals where we work. Our […]
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Published on 2018.09.25 | by David Scott, Raincoast Lower Fraser Salmon Program Coordinator | in Notes from the Field
After a long five months we have now wrapped up our 2018 field season in the Fraser estuary, our best year yet! This year our team spent 76 days in the field and we captured more than 35,000 fish, including over 6,400 juvenile salmon. While it has been a long and hot season with a […]
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Published on 2018.09.04 | by Kristen Walters, Lower Fraser River Salmon Conservation Program Coordinator | in Notes from the Field
The aim of this research is to inform salmon management strategies given the importance of allowing adults to return to their natal streams to spawn. Considering this life cycle is imperative for management agencies…
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Published on 2018.05.07 | by Kate Field, Ilona Mihalik & Lauren Henson | in Notes from the Field
With spring comes organized chaos as graduate students and research associates transition from laboratory work, data analysis and writing, to a flurry of preparation for an upcoming season of monitoring bears on the central coast of British Columbia. We are headed to Gitga’at, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv Territories to join…
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Published on 2018.03.30 | by Misty MacDuffee, Wild Salmon Program Director & Dave Scott, Research and Restoration Coordinator for the Lower Fraser Salmon Program | in Notes from the Field
An amazing spring research season has begun. There was snow, and then suddenly we were in our boats with nets and buckets catching the year’s first juvenile salmon. This year brings renewed enthusiasm as we embark on a big plan to restore connectivity and natural processes on the delta of the Fraser River estuary…
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Published on 2018.02.07 | by Nicholas Sinclair | in Notes from the Field
In May, our spring ‘hunts’ visited lush estuaries as the days grew longer and bears were down low grazing on sedges. Marine wildlife started to make their way back to the rich, cold waters of the coast. Their annual migration to foraging areas beginning and lasting well…
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Published on 2018.01.17 | by Kristen Walters, Lower Fraser River Salmon Conservation Program Coordinator | in Notes from the Field
Last fall, while the dry start to autumn put the brilliant golds, reds and oranges of tree leaves on display, my mind continuously returned to the rain. Not the rain that many dread, but the rain that floods small watersheds and raises the water levels in the rivers…
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Published on 2017.09.30 | by Marlie Van Roy | in Notes from the Field
“Rain’s supposed to come down even harder this afternoon,” says our Skipper Murray ‘Moose’ Barton and we lower the canoe into the water…
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Published on 2017.09.20 | by Ross Dixon, Communications & Development Director | in Notes from the Field
As scientists we learn from each other, our Indigenous partners, the wildlife we study and the youth we engage. For over 15 years, as guests of the Heiltsuk Nation, Raincoast staff scientists have supported the development of local youth as future stewards…
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Published on 2017.08.31 | by Wiet van Bragt | in Notes from the Field
We used several techniques to catch the tiny salmon. We purse seined for them on the flats of the estuary in Georgia Strait, we beach seined along the shoreline of the river delta, and we set up fyke nets in the side channels of the river mouth…
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Published on 2017.05.25 | by Chris Genovali, Executive Director | in Notes from the Field
Right now our research vessel Achiever is sailing along the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest, through coastal fjords, vast forests, and shorelines of one of the planet’s last great tracts of intact temperate coastal rainforest. You can them and help Save the Great Bears…
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