Man on a boat throwing a net into the water on a cloudy day.

Reciprocity and Research – how Raincoast and the Wuikinuxv Nation collaborated on ecosystem-based fisheries management research

It became apparent quickly that any research we did with the Wuikinuxv Nation on grizzly bears would be premised in a deep respect for the well-being of bears. This meant asking questions about the bears’ population, habitat, and food sources. There is a cultural principle in Wuikinuxv of looking ahead over each other and the lands and waters. In the Wuikinuxv language, this practice of being a guardian or a protector is called n̓àn̓akila.

A grizzly bear sits in the water munching on a salmon in their hands.

Research: Fisheries management of the Wuikinuxv bear-salmon-human system guided by n̓àn̓akila and data

Guided by the Wuikinuxv principle of n̓àn̓akila (to keep an eye on something or someone; a protector or guardian), a new study shows how fisheries managers can allocate salmon for wildlife, while balancing the needs of local communities.

Bear Language groups spatial patterns overlaid on the Indigenous language families.

Spatial alignment between grizzly bear genetic groups and Indigenous language families in coastal BC

In the landscape on the central coast of what is now known as British Columbia, genetic analyses have identified three distinct genetic groups of grizzly bears.  The spatial areas of these groups align strikingly well with the geographies of three Indigenous language families (Tsimshian, Northern Wakashan, Salishan Nuxalk).  The explanation the research partnership favours is…

Killer whales surface in a small cluster on the coast of BC.
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Dr. Peter S. Ross to lead a new water contaminants program

There is an urgent need for a more comprehensive approach to monitoring water pollution in British Columbia. For these reasons, and more, we are excited to announce that Dr. Ross is leading the new Healthy Waters Program at Raincoast. He will bring new focus, and new reach, to our efforts to safeguard salmon, whales, and people.

Two people looking up at a tree with one person measuring the height of a tree using an inclinometer.

Measuring trees – introducing our new “how-to” video series

We are thrilled to be releasing video tutorials on how to measure trees that we co-created with Nerdy About Nature! We’ve learned so much from Ross Reid, the ‘nerd’ behind Nerdy About Nature, so when we were thinking about making this video resource, teaming up with him to co-create tutorial videos on how to measure trees seemed like the perfect idea.