Countless volunteers and nearly 100 salmon conservation projects across B.C. granted $1M

PSF funds 98 local salmon projects, leveraging $5.3 million in total value for communities.

The Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) has granted just over $1,000,000 to 98 community-led salmon conservation, enhancement, and habitat restoration projects across British Columbia. These projects represent over $5.3 million in total value of salmon stewardship work.

The Community Salmon Program, launched by PSF in 1989, empowers volunteers, local streamkeepers, Indigenous communities, and schools to help conserve and restore Pacific salmon and their habitats.

In the 33 years since its inception, PSF’s Community Salmon Program has awarded $26.8 million in grants to nearly 3,100 projects across B.C. and the Yukon and engaged roughly 30,000 volunteers.  Successful projects have included salmon habitat restoration, aquatic monitoring and research, emergency flood initiatives, hatcheries, and educational programming and outreach.

The Community Salmon Program accepts new applications each fall and spring. The federal Salmon Conservation Stamp, a decal which anglers purchase with their saltwater fishing licence that allows them to retain any species of wild salmon, is the primary funding source for the program. PSF proudly stewards 100 per cent of the proceeds from the Salmon Conservation Stamp on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to advance hundreds of local salmon conservation projects each year.

 

An annual Salmon Conservation Stamp, valid between April 1 and March 31 of each fishing season, can be purchased online or through an Independent Access Provider.

“The Community Salmon Program has been an essential component of the Pacific Salmon Foundation since day one,” says Michael Meneer, CEO and president of PSF. “With about half of B.C. salmon populations in a state of decline, streamkeepers and volunteers across the province are working hard with funding from the program to safeguard these salmon populations and their habitats. If you’d like to support these individuals and the salmon protection efforts in their communities, you can make a tax-deductible donation to PSF.”

If you’d like to support the Community Salmon Program, donate online.

One of the fortunate recipients in this round of funding was habitat restoration partner Peninsula Streams and Shorelines. Founded in 2002, the society restores and protects aquatic ecosystems and watersheds throughout Greater Victoria. The society depends on more than 175 active volunteers and 400 members to conserve and rehabilitate healthy aquatic habitats.

The society received eight grants in this round of funding for a total of $138,700 to continue its BEACH Initiative and Swan Creek restoration project, ongoing for more than a dozen years.

See below to learn how other Community Salmon Program grantees are making a difference for salmon.

Community Salmon Program dollars in action

Monitoring kelp on the West Coast of Vancouver Island

Healthy kelp forests are essential to the well-being of Pacific salmon in B.C. Young salmon depend on kelp in nearshore habitats for refuge from predators and for food sources as they grow and prepare for life in the open ocean.

Redd Fish Restoration Society has developed a multi-year kelp monitoring project with the goal of determining the baseline for kelp forest distribution and abundance, how healthy these ecosystems are, and how Pacific salmon are interacting with kelp forests in the Barkley-Clayoquot region.

The findings will offer a new, comprehensive baseline of the state of kelp forest ecosystems from which future surveys can be compared to.

“As climate change accelerates, the health of nearshore ecosystems may shift dramatically,” says Emily Fulton, the marine coordinator for Redd Fish. “This long-term project will enable us to monitor kelp forests, understand trends in changing habitats, inform future restoration efforts, and fill data gaps around the survival of Pacific salmon and other coastal species.”

Investigating the impacts of road salts on salmon in the Lower Mainland

Every winter, road salts contaminate urban creeks across the Lower Mainland. Those same streams are sensitive freshwater habitat for Pacific salmon. The impacts of road salt pollution on salmon – either directly or indirectly by affecting their primary food source, benthic invertebrates – are poorly understood.

Still Moon Arts Society, a local group that works at the intersection of art and stewardship, is partnering with nine local stewardship groups to better understand and raise awareness of the impacts of road salt on salmon and their food web. This project aims to support the Road Salt and Salmon Success Project, which is a five-year research initiative involving UBC, SFU, BCIT, and 13 stewardship groups in the Lower Mainland.

This project will involve sampling for benthic invertebrates twice a year in creeks in East Vancouver, Burnaby, Maple Ridge, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Langley, and Chilliwack. Project partners will collect data from sections of the creeks that are both impacted and unimpacted by road salts to assess the effect(s) of road salts on the salmon food web.

“Data from the project will be used to educate local residents on the importance of benthic invertebrates to the success of salmon populations and how contaminated stormwater runoff affects creeks and the species living in them,” says Adrian Avendaño, the stewardship programs manager for Still Moon Arts Society.

Additionally, ‘Road Salt and Salmon Education Toolkits’ will be developed as part of this project that will be offered to teachers and Indigenous groups who want to teach their students about the importance of benthic invertebrates for salmon and the challenges fish navigate in urban streams.

The Community Salmon Program will accept applications in early September for its fall round of funding. Details here.

The Community Salmon Program also benefits from corporations with sustainability goals. Trans Mountain, Mosaic Forest Management, BC Hydro, Methanex, Seaspan, Paper Excellence, Secure Energy, Neptune Terminals, ENCORP PACIFIC, Sutherland Foundation Inc., and Pembina Pipeline support the program. Interested businesses can contact PSF’s Senior Business Development Manager Cory Matheson at cmatheson@psf.ca.

 

A full list of recipients for the spring 2023 Community Salmon Program funding cohort includes:

Applicant	Project Title	Funding confirmed $	Project Value $
A Rocha Canada	Upper Bulkley Riparian Restoration Workshop	8,400	17,250
AJ McLellan Elementary School	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	3,550
Alouette River Management Society	Salmonid Habitat Assessment and Restoration	6,000	13,530
Alouette River Management Society	ALLCO Fish Hatchery Predator Net Replacement	2,500	5,066
Aubrey Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	536	2,436
Baker Creek Enhancement Society	Build-a-Whale	6,000	14,183
BC Conservation Foundation	Englishman River Claybank Assessment and Mitigation – Year 2	9,500	105,050
BC Conservation Foundation	Little Qualicum River Estuary Regional Conservation Area Planting Plan	4,930	19,450
Be the Change Earth Alliance	Youth for Community Rain Gardens (YCRG)	2,500	18,400
Berkshire Park Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	760	1,520
Bernard Elementary	Stream of Dreams at Bernard Elementary	4,086	12,664
Blessed Sacrament School	Salmonids in the Classroom	600	99,940
Bonaccord Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	2,460
Brooklyn Creek Watershed Society	Coho Spawning and Rearing Habitat Restoration at Birkdale Farm	24,040	4,054
Cat Stream Stewards	Cat Stream Pine Street Riparian Restoration Phase 2	2,500	58,081
Children’s Development Centre SD63	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	8,680
Coho Society of the North Shore	Coho Festival 2023	10,000	3,550
Cougar Creek Streamkeepers	Cory Drive Park Rain Garden	2,000	121,000
Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre Society	Restore Chum and Coho Rearing Habitat, Fish Gut Alley, Lower Cowichan River	2,500	11,600
Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society	Beaver Creek Habitat Restoration	4,000	35,400
Ecole Moody Middle School	Stream of Dreams at Ecole Moody Middle	4,825	47,720
Fanny Bay Salmon Enhancement Society	Wilfred Creek Hatchery Tanks 2023	13,600	15,718
Fanny Bay Salmonid Enhancement Society	River Never Sleeps Festival 2023	1,500	28,850
Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition	Silverdale Creek Wetlands-Stabilize Bank Erosion & Replace Failing Infrastructure	81,500	6,500
Friends of French Creek Conservation Society	French Creek Salmonid Habitat Restoration	8,900	172,070
Friends of the Marble River	Hatchery Supplies	2,400	23,200
Galiano Conservancy Association	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,800	5,400
Gillard Pass Fisheries Association	Gillard Pass Fisheries upgrades	20,943	8,104
Gitanyow Fisheries Authority	Kitwanga River Salmon Enumeration Facility Trap Box Improvements	12,500	505,250
Grenfell Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	234,193
Guardians of Mid Island Estuaries Society	Eco-Cultural Restoration of Salish Sea Estuaries	27,700	40,900
Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society	Cannery Kids Corner	1,400	3,550
Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department	Real-time video monitoring of salmon escapement in the Koeye River	28,900	255,350
Horsefly River Roundtable	Powerpacks	2,300	1,900
Invasive Species Council of BC	Preserving Salmon Habitat by Preventing Aquatic Invasive Species	12,000	311,700
Juan de Fuca Salmon Restoration Society	Repair to Charters Side Channel	11,949	52,800
Kingfisher Interpretive Centre Society	Salmon Conservation Through Education	7,460	107,625
Kitasoo Xai’Xais Stewardship Authority, Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation	Weir-supported video enumeration of coho and sockeye populations in the Kwakwa Lakes	24,500	24,749
Kitsumkalum Band, Fish & Wildlife	Kitsumkalum Band Fish Hatchery	13,445	120,460
Lakelse Watershed Stewards Society	Watershed Water Quality Sampling	2,500	80,000
Lakelse Watershed Stewards Society	Jackpine Wetland Interpretive Trail	5,000	189,445
Little River Enhancement Society	Spawning Gravel Nourishment	4,834	20,053
Little River Enhancement Society	Little River Habitat Restoration; Removal of Debris Jams	1,670	129,100
Loon Foundation	Monitoring Salmon Indicators for the Sunshine Coast	9,556	11,272
Lord Roberts Elementary	Stream of Dreams at Lord Roberts Elementary	8,548	3,974
Mainland Enhancement of Salmonoid Species Society	Embley Creek Habitat Enhancement	4,500	84,815
Margaret Jenkins Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	26,849
Miami River Streamkeepers Society	Riparian Ferns Infill	625	29,200
Millard/Piercy Watershed Stewards	Piercy Creek vegetation enhancement	1,500	3,490
Nanaimo River Stewardship Society	Nanaimo River Hatchery Upgrades Phase 3	75,000	2,750
North Shore Streamkeepers	Lynn Creek Off-Channel Habitat Restoration (Implementation)	9,753	3,080
North Shore Streamkeepers	Lower Mosquito Creek Salmon Enhancement Project – Phase II	50,000	563,788
Oak and Orca Bioregional School	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	216,250
Oyster River Enhancement Society	ORES Dredging of Channels and Newbury Riffle Repairs	30,000	439,250
Peach Arch Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	800	3,550
Peninsula Streams Society	Rain Gardens for Headwaters Program (2023/24)	26,000	65,828
Peninsula Streams Society	Portage Inlet Shoreline Restoration	15,800	2,020
Peninsula Streams Society	Water Quality Monitoring and Stewardship Program	10,000	97,750
Peninsula Streams Society	Swan Creek Enhancement Project	3,000	67,800
Peninsula Streams Society	Beach Education and Conservation of Habitat (BEACH)	15,900	50,500
Peninsula Streams Society	Millstream Stewardship and Restoration	30,000	41,000
Peninsula Streams Society	Colquitz Mainstem Restoration Project (Phase 4)	30,000	96,600
Peninsula Streams Society	Tetayut (Sandhill) Creek Habitat Enhancement Project	8,000	79,200
Powell River Salmon Society	PRSS Resiliency Project	33,900	124,000
Powell River Salmon Society	Salmon Champions Project	2,500	35,300
Qayqayt Elementary School	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	155,649
Qualicum Beach Streamkeepers	Beach Creek Gravel Beds	1,935	45,000
Raincoast Conservation Foundation	Salmon Summer Initiative	4,000	3,790
Redd Fish Restoration Society	Kelp and Salmon Conservation in the Barkley-Clayoquot Region	32,428	4,535
Renfrew Elementary	Stream of Dreams at Renfrew Elementary	6,061	16,400
Rivers to Ridges	Salmon in the Schools Yukon	10,000	102,028
Salmon Coast Field Station	Boat motor safety upgrade for education and training	2,500	19,063
Second Street Community School	Salmonids in the Classroom	1,650	14,160
Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club – Little Campbell Hatchery	Hatchery support equipment	67,450	5,360
Serpentine Enhancement Society	Incubation Room Upgrade	7,850	1,736
Seymour Salmonid Society	Ongoing Hatchery Infrastructure & Equipment Project	16,000	3,550
Sir Wilfred Grenfell Elementary School	School Bus for Gently Down Seymour field trip	1,000	141,450
Skeena Fisheries Commission	Safety Upgrades for Northern Lake Studies	14,128	15,700
Skeena Knowledge Trust	LakeKeepers Training Course	2,500	32,200
Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society	Parrot’s Feather Control Program in Somenos Creek	2,500	2,030
Spruce City Wildlife Association	Cottonwood Island Park Assessment	15,500	29,378
Spruce City Wildlife Association	Touch Tank Display Set Up	2,200	9,060
Squamish River Watershed Society	Elaho River Chinook Salmon Enhancement Project	23,000	7,866
Still Moon Arts Society	Road Salt, Salmon, and Benthic Invertebrates	8,150	34,600
Stream of Dreams Murals Society	Stream of Dreams at Ecole Whitehorse Elementary and Elijah Smith Elementary	17,804	6,000
Suncrest Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	650	50,000
Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society	Intake Shut off Valve	10,000	30,730
Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society	Pipe project	2,000	35,613
Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary	Inflow Habitat Restoration Project	2,500	2,650
Toboggan Creek Salmon & Steelhead Enhancement society	Field trip funding	2,200	25,000
Tsolum River Restoration Society	Invasive fish species removal	5,275	4,100
Ucluelet Aquarium	Salmon Trail	3,000	6,230
Unsworth Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	600	4,840
Westridge Elementary	Salmonids in the Classroom	600	16,175
Wildcoast Ecological Society	MacKay Estuary	2,500	13,855
Williams Lake Field Naturalists/Scout Island Nature Centre	Intertidal Tank Refresh	1,500	1,560
World Fisheries Trust	Craigflower Creek Stewardship and Restoration	8,750	2,500
World Fisheries Trust	Salmonids population recovery – Stream to Sea Salmon tank refrigeration	5,750	10,635