An Innovative Bioremediation Approach
Beginning its journey in the Sacred Headwaters—an alpine basin in northern British Columbia—the Skeena River winds southeast through the Skeena Mountains. Along the way, it is joined by major tributaries like the Bulkley and Babine Rivers before flowing into the Pacific Ocean through Eleanor Passage. The Skeena Watershed is one of the largest and most biologically diverse watershed ecosystems in Canada, sustaining not only wildlife but also the communities that depend on it.
The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC), founded in 2004, is a grassroots non-profit working on Gitxsan territory to protect this ecosystem and conserve wild salmon through research, education, and community-based stewardship grounded in cultural heritage—recognizing that stewardship is not only ecological but relational.
“One of the things that’s important about doing conservation work is making sure that it has a long-term sustainable impact, and that means working together with folks over a long period of time. As a non-profit organization working on Gitxsan territory, we have to ensure that our work is done through a decolonized perspective, and with the lens of building connection and trust before we try to meet goals.”
— Anissa Watson, Director of Program Execution, SWCC
This relational approach has shaped every aspect of SWCC’s work, including its growing focus on bioremediation—a powerful, nature-based response to ecological disturbance. By working with living organisms such as plants, fungi, bacteria, and yeasts, it is possible to remove, transform, or break down environmental toxins and pollutants into harmless substances such as carbon or water—restoring balance to affected ecosystems. Bioremediation is a practice rooted in reciprocity, where rather than imposing solutions, it asks what the land itself can do, if given the right conditions to recover.
Since 2021, the Coalition has partnered with members of the Sik-E-Dakh community, permaculturalist Leila Darwish of Earth Repair, Royal Roads University professor Matt Dodds, and others. Together, they are increasing access to tools and knowledge for community-led bioremediation projects in response to wildfire and environmental contamination.
Learning Together, Growing Capacity
Community learning has been central to the project’s growth. Last summer, SWCC hosted a two-day mushroom cultivation workshop led by mycologist Willoughby Arevalo and local youth knowledge-holder Owen Stoeppler. Participants learned fungal biology, cultivation techniques, species identification, and the foundations of mycoremediation (a technique using fungi to decontaminate polluted soils or water), gaining hands-on skills they can carry forward. These experiences are already creating ripple effects. Community members like Shawntei Michell and Corrina Mitchell have become passionate advocates for the work and knowledge sharers of mycelial attributes.
“I started working with Skeena Watershed in the summer as a junior guide. I loved it so much, I quit my other job. To be able to work outside and enjoy the sunshine feels like strength, like I can do this. To work with my family, my cousin, and my mom, it feels so good, it doesn’t feel like a job.”
— Shawntei Michell, River Activity Director, SWCC
Inspired by her experience and by the hidden work of fungi beneath the forest floor, Shawntei co-designed t-shirts and hoodies featuring different mushroom species, turning everyday clothing into tools for learning and sharing knowledge within the community.
Shawntei Michell wearing the co-designed mushroom hoodie. Mushroom strains growing at the Sik-E-Dakh demonstration site and Smithereens Mushroom facility.
When Wildfire Hits Home
In 2023, a wildfire spanning more than 30 hectares prompted an evacuation alert due to its proximity to the Sik-E-Dakh. In its aftermath, the challenge was not only how to rebuild the affected area, but how to heal the land itself and make it resilient to future climate change events. The community began looking at nature-based solutions to manage leftover wood waste, repair ecological damage, and strengthen forest resilience—work that ultimately supports the entire watershed, including salmon.
“When we care for the land, we’re also caring for the salmon. The work that we do on the land eventually trickles down to the salmon. In really good years, nutrients from salmon get converted by mycelium and go into the healthy forest. We know that healthy forest practices help to support a healthy wild salmon ecosystem.”
— Anissa Watson, Director of Program Execution, SWCC
Modelled after fungal research from Jeff Ravage’s Cold Fire Project in Colorado and with support from mushroom cultivators Marie-Eve Arseneault and Alexis Galus of Smithereens Mushrooms, SWCC introduced specific fungi strains across affected areas to accelerate recovery of the wildfire site.
Anissa Watson and Corrina Mitchell at the 2023 wildfire site addressing fungal activity.
Cold Fire: A Nature-Based Solution for Wildfires
Cold fire is a type of bioremediation that relies on fungal activity to reduce wildfire risks, manage wood waste, and break down toxic pollutants without further burning. The process involves inoculating wood piles with native mycelium to accelerate decomposition, stabilize organic materials, reintegrate nutrients into the ecosystem, and return carbon to the soil, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. What might otherwise take two or more decades to break down naturally can be transformed in as little as three to five years. In cases where homes and structures have burned, this process may also help reduce toxic pollutants and heavy metals, limiting their spread into surrounding soils and waterways.
Aside from introducing fungi in the affected wildfire site, the community also established a cold fire demonstration and research site at the Sik-E-Dakh Farm School, where species such as Turkey Tail and Blue Oyster mushrooms are used to break down chipped wood waste generated during the 2023 firebreak response.
Anissa Watson, Shawntei Michell, and Corrina Mitchell at the cold fire demonstration and research site at the Sik-E-Dakh Farm School.
Beyond Wildfire: Rethinking Forest Practices with Models for Long-Term Resilience and Stewardship
As SWCC continues to explore the full potential of cold fire, findings offer insight into broader possibilities beyond wildfire recovery. Across British Columbia, forestry practices generate large volumes of slash—branches, treetops, and other residual material, often disposed of through pile burning or converted into products such as wood pellets. A 2023 report from the Ministry of Forests estimated that slash burning accounts for roughly 6% of the province’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, shifting forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources. A bioremediation approach could reduce these emissions and offer a sustainable model that nurtures the soil and supports healthy ecosystems and communities.
SWCC initiatives demonstrate restoration and stewardship models rooted in relationships to land, knowledge systems, and each other. By prioritizing trust, collaboration, and place-based learning, SWCC and its partners are not only restoring ecosystems but strengthening the social and cultural fabric that enables long-term stewardship.
Project team processing wood chips for the cold fire demonstration site. Views of the Bulkley River.
References and additional links
Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition
Smithereens Mushroom
Sik-E-Dakh First Nation
Woven Cedar Films
WSF Collaborative Skeena Watershed Stewardship & Climate Resilience Solutions Project Link
FireTech Podcast Episode: : Partnerships on the Frontlines
Waterlution: Skeena Watershed Situation Report
Skeena Fisheries: Skeena Watershed
Skeena Independent Science Panel Report