Foodlands Restoration Project

The Foodlands Corridor Restoration Project is a Rivershed Society of BC initiative that brings together Indigenous communities and agricultural landholders to restore portions of private land adjacent to waterways along the Fraser River. Their goal is to “create continuous corridors of natural areas that reflect the diversity of values that the land represents, both from a western farming perspective and from a traditional fishing, hunting and harvesting perspective.”

The Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance has been pleased to partner with the Rivershed Society team, Kwantlen First Nation and Kerr Wood Leidal Associates – a consulting engineering firm specializing in water infrastructure – to do post-construction monitoring of two sites that were restored through the program last year. Both sites are on the banks of the sce:ɬxwəyəm (Salmon River) and saw the creation of new off-channel salmon rearing habitat and riparian plantings.

LFFA conducts monitoring sessions which involve collecting in-situ water quality, setting minnow and feddis traps, seining the off-channel ponds, and taking depth measurements. We are excited to report that there are already juvenile coho using the new off-channel habitat and lots of stickleback, too. Monitoring of these sites will continue for five years while the Rivershed Society continues to look at adjacent sites along sce:ɬxwəyəm for more restoration opportunities.

See www.rivershed.com for more information on this unique program.