SWCC is working to protect the Skeena Watershed and conserve wild salmon through research, education, and community-based stewardship grounded in cultural heritage—recognizing that stewardship is not only ecological but relational.
Salmon depend on healthy and resilient watersheds but the increasing amount of drought and flood events in the Nicola Region coupled with the growing impacts of climate change are negatively impacting their spawning habitat and freshwater systems.
Raincoast Conservation Foundation, in partnership with Scw’exmx Tribal Council and Citxw Nlaka’pamux Assembly, are mapping thermal refugia – micro-habitats within a stream that are significantly cooler than the surrounding water – that are used by salmon in the Coldwater River on the traditional territory of the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx Nations, near Merritt, BC.
In the streams and lakes of the Upper Fraser, an aquatic habitat monitoring program is taking place, led by two First Nations women, the Aunties of the Streams.