Riley Finn, Research Associate

Riley is currently working with Raincoast to support the development of a “Vision for salmon in the Lower Fraser”. He has spent much of his time with Raincoast speaking with local stewardship organizations around the lower mainland about how they work to protect and restore salmon habitat. Along with this he has been collating data sets that are relevant for education and informing management around salmon in the Lower Fraser area and putting them into an online mapping atlas for public use. Moving forward he hopes to continue mapping efforts made to restore and conserve salmon in the area.

Growing up in Ontario Riley was fascinated by the unique and diverse ecosystems of Coastal British Columbia and moved out to pursue a degree in Natural Resources conservation at UBC. While completing his degree he travelled across the province and as far as India participating in field studies. Through these experiences and working with Raincoast, Riley’s core interests have grown to include interdisciplinary approaches to conservation, understanding how humans fit into a landscape while maintaining ecological resilience, and priority threat management of conservation actions. On the weekends and his spare time Riley enjoys camping, biking, and photography.

Riley Finn, research associate
Riley Finn is working on the Living Atlas the Lower Fraser river.

Close up of a map of streams and lost stream in the Fraser river watershed.

In search of the Lower Fraser’s lost streams

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Conservation Updates
There is currently renewed interest in locating historical streams that have long been paved over and lost in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Mapping these historical landscape features offers a connection to the land that has been lost through urbanization and highlights opportunities for restoration…
Raincoast scientists aboard their boat on the Fraser River getting the seine nets ready to do their summer research.

Fraser estuary research completed for 2018

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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…
Underwater view of a school of Chinook salmon swimming.

Funding habitat restoration and conservation in the Lower Fraser Region

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Raincoast Updates
The AFER Network features working groups to provide space for focused discussion of key topics related to conservation initiatives in the Lower Fraser. On June 17th from 1-3 pm, we are launching our Funding and Fiscal tools Working Group, which will discuss what a post-covid funding world could look like, shifts in funders’ strategic focus, and the role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in shaping funding priorities.
Underwater shot of a Chinook Salmon in the Fraser River

Join us for the last webinar of our Connected Estuary series

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Events
In Episode 6, we will build on this learning with Morgan Guerin, a community member, past Councilor, and Senior Marine Planning Specialist for the Musqueam Nation. Morgan is also an artist who has developed materials for the c̓əsnaʔəm exhibit at the Musqueam Community Cultural Centre and he continues to share his knowledge, expertise and teachings through tool-kits for use in schools and other communities.