This story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2025 edition of Salmon Steward, the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s quarterly print magazine.
In the 35 years since its inception, the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Community Salmon Program (CSP) has distributed $31 million in grants to more than 3,500 projects across B.C. and the Yukon.
The funding program provides grants to streamkeepers, First Nations, schools, and conservation organizations by stewarding Salmon Conservation Stamp funds on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
Now, thanks to a new online ‘Restoration Atlas’, exploring the archive of CSP projects has never been easier.
By providing a collection of previously completed community-led salmon restoration projects, the database will help community groups visualize successful projects and focus their efforts for future applications.
Impactful CSP-funded initiatives over the years have included salmon habitat restoration, monitoring and research, streamkeeper training, and educational programs that raise awareness for salmon.
“The Community Salmon Restoration Atlas has been a long time coming,” says Ben Skinner, a GIS Specialist at Pacific Salmon Foundation who was responsible for developing the Atlas. “Creating this resource is a great way of spotlighting the impact that local community groups have had for salmon across B.C over the years.”
Visually pinpointing projects
The Restoration Atlas visually pinpoints projects from across the province, highlighting the breadth and scope of the local action the Pacific Salmon Foundation has supported since 2015.
The records include everything from project objectives, the number of volunteers involved, how many hours a project took to complete, to post-construction photos of the positive impact stamp dollars have had for salmon.
“Building this resource really creates a visual tapestry of salmon restoration,” says Skinner. “From Haida Gwaii to the Interior of B.C., we’re lucky to have so many committed people for salmon who get involved in community-led projects.”
The Restoration Atlas will be housed in PSF’s Restoration Hub, a repository of open-access informative resources and decision-support tools to guide and help coordinate adaptive habitat restoration approaches and strategies.
Thanks to DFO’s Habitat Restoration Centre of Expertise, West Coast Aquatic, and Redd Fish Restoration Society for their support. Funding for this work was provided by DFO’s Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Fund as part of the PSF-led project called ‘Greening the Salish Sea: Decision Support Tools for Successful Pacific Salmon Habitat Recovery.’ Additionally, thank you to the many dedicated stewardship groups and First Nations participating in salmon habitat restoration.
The Community Salmon Restoration Atlas will feature major fish habitat recovery efforts like at Hiłsyaqƛis (Tranquil Creek) near Tofino on Vancouver Island. The Community Salmon Program has provided $235,000 in funding over several years, enabling Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and Redd Fish Restoration Society to implement a holistic and innovative approach that restores river processes and creates habitat for salmon that was damaged by decades of logging. Over eight years, Tla-o-qui-aht and Redd Fish installed 38 engineered log jams and placed more than 800 large trees back into the river, the natural processes vital to salmon production across their life cycle.
