Three people standing in a restoration zone in the Maxwell Creek watershed.

Maxwell Creek Watershed Project Field Files Part 4: Managing fire in a climatically uncertain future

As previous installments of the Field Files series have established, since settler arrival in the Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) zone, forests have been extensively harvested. The consequence of this widespread, industrial-scale logging is predominantly second growth forests that are not only lacking in biodiversity and natural complexity, but also at a higher risk of burning in…

Frog climbing a cedar tree with a map overlay showing where Maxwell Creek Watershed is located on Salt Spring Island.

Maxwell Creek Watershed Project Field Files Part 3: Mapping the watershed

Multiple practitioners working under the umbrella of the Maxwell Creek Watershed Project (MCWP or “the Project”) have contributed to this third instalment of the Field Files series, a photo essay illustrating the important role spatial data and mapping plays in establishing landscape-wide restoration projects. All maps were made by Nicholas Courtier, who also assisted with…

Man walking on a trail on a mountain.

Maxwell Creek Watershed Project Field Files Part 2: Developing surveying methodologies 

The project takes a watershed-wide scope to improve understanding of both existing and historical ecological conditions. The first question we aim to answer is: how has modification via forestry, fire, wetland drainage, etc. influenced hydrological dynamics, availability and quality of freshwater (i.e. source drinking water), and local forest ecology? We seek to find answers to…

Forest floor with a stream running through, in the Maxwell Creek Watershed.

Maxwell Creek Watershed Project Field Files Part 1: Project Impetus

Registered environmental charity, Transition Salt Spring has partnered with experts and organizations from across the Coastal Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone, including Raincoast Conservation Foundation, to provide a model for on-the-ground, multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and collaborative climate action.  We interviewed Ruth Waldick from Transition Salt Spring to learn more about Maxwell Creek Watershed project.  What is the Maxwell…