Habitat Recovery in the Salish Sea, One Community at a Time: Community engagement for socio-ecological resilience of coastal restoration projects

Community engagement builds both social and ecological resilience of restoration projects. This is particularly true in coastal areas, which are complex both ecologically and socially. The Salish Sea Nearshore Habitat Recovery Program builds on 20 years of community building towards coastal ecosystem restoration on the south coast of British Columbia, Canada. Funding was obtained by a small non-profit organization for seagrass and marine riparian restoration, and marine debris removal to support forage fish and juvenile salmon habitat recovery. The engagement and involvement of a broad community including Indigenous groups, coastal residents, all levels of government, academics and industry has resulted in the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars of additional support for restoration works within this program. The broader community is engaged in multiple steps of restoration including site selection, planning and implementation. Recognition of the value of traditional and local knowledge, an investment in bringing people together and ongoing communication have built collective enthusiasm and ownership over the project. Marrying restoration activities with cultural events is increasing ecological literacy and building the resilience of the work. Restoring or establishing connections between parties that do not otherwise work together is a fundamental step towards restoring ecosystems