Kristen Walters, MSc
Biologist, Director of Salmon Habitat, Climate, and Policy

Kristen is a biologist and Director of Salmon Habitat, Climate, and Policy for Raincoast’s Wild Salmon Program. The aim of her work is to advance the recovery of at-risk salmon populations by conducting applied scientific research, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration, and policy reform. To achieve this, Kristen collaborates closely with Indigenous Nations to implement research and ecosystem-based governance frameworks, and works with the federal and provincial governments on policies related to biodiversity recovery, watershed governance, and species at risk. She also works more broadly with academics, non-profits, and industry on initiatives related to toxicology, conservation genetics, forestry, wildfire ecology, and legal personhood for ecosystems.

Her current work is focused on the intersection between land use activities, such as clear-cut logging, mining, and water withdrawal for industry, and how these activities, coupled with climate change, are exacerbating wildfires, floods, and drought that have a cumulative impact on watershed health and salmon population dynamics. She thinks critically about the policies, legislation, and management decisions that facilitate these activities, and how our land use paradigm can be shifted to better support watershed resilience over the long-term.

Kristen completed her Masters of Science in Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University in the Centre for Wildlife Ecology. Her research examined the temporal and spatial distribution and foraging behaviour of an apex predator in response to varying Pacific salmon abundances. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia where she studied History and Biology.

Kristen is from Jackson, Wyoming U.S.A (territory of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes), where she grew up surrounded by the abundant wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. From a young age, she always knew she wanted to be involved in wildlife conservation. In her free time, you can find Kristen, hiking, skiing, and mountain biking on the homelands of the Sinixt, and the territories of the Secwépemc, Syilx, and the Ktunaxa Peoples, in Revelstoke, B.C.

kristen [at] raincoast [dot] org