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…

Land protection in some of Canada’s most threatened terrestrial habitats

Land protection in some of Canada’s most threatened terrestrial habitats

Raincoast established the Forest Conservation Program (formerly known as the Gulf Islands Forest Project) in 2019 with the intention of exploring pathways to strengthen protection of the rare and threatened habitats characteristic to the Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) zone, particularly on the Gulf Islands. However, land in this region is disproportionately under private ownership, unlike the…

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…