Consensus for the Future: AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR SALT SPRING WE NEED YOUR VOICE! The Islands Trust is asking for the first phase of community input on Salt Spring’s Official Community Plan (OCP) and Land Use Bylaws (LUBs) until October 24, 2025. Your voice will shape the future of housing and affordability on Salt Spring Island.…

Save Money and Improve Resilience by Harnessing Your Water Resources This practical and engaging webinar explores how to use water wisely on your property to reduce costs, increase climate resilience, and build a more sustainable future, no matter your starting point. Learn how to make the most of rainwater, manage greywater, reduce overall water usage,…

This comprehensive, full-day workshop brought together over 70 participants, including FireSmart Coordinators, forest managers, BC Wildfire Service, Fire Rescue, First Nations representatives, and local government to address fire risk in the Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) Biogeoclimatic Zone. With 70% of the CDF zone under private ownership, participants explored how communities can adapt to increasing fire risk…

The Maxwell Creek Watershed Project (AKA the CARL Project) is a collaborative, multidisciplinary forest restoration project based on Salt Spring Island under the leadership of Transition Salt Spring with the support of multiple organizations including Raincoast Conservation Foundation. It aims to create a template for restoring ecological integrity and climate resilience to Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF)…

How do we protect the forests we depend on as climate impacts intensify? In this in-depth presentation, Dr. Ruth Waldick shares insights from the Mt. Maxwell Adaptation Lab on Salt Spring Island—an innovative project exploring how local ecosystems respond to fire, drought, and forest degradation. Learn how place-based science, climate adaptation strategies, and community collaboration…

Exerpt from: https://www.raincoast.org/2022/08/maxwell-creek-watershed-project-field-files-part-2-developing-surveying-methodologies/ Andrew Simon shares about the methodologies used in the Maxwell Creek Watershed project. By Shauna Doll, Gulf Islands Forest Project Coordinator August 5, 2022 The project takes a watershed-wide scope to improve understanding of both existing and historical ecological conditions. The first question we aim to answer is: how has modification via forestry,…

Intern Simona Taronna Writes an Update from the Field 9:00 am and the little parking lot by the “No Trespassing” North Salt Spring Waterworks District sign on Maxwell Road is packed. There is excitement in the air as an eclectic group of ecologists, foresters, restoration experts, technicians, students and volunteers gather in the field. It…

People have relied on what we call Maxwell Lake and the surrounding watershed for thousands of years, for water, food, and other resources provided by the forests. These forests support a range of wildlife, cougars, bears, songbirds, waterfowl, amphibians, fish and beavers. The tall crowns of coastal Douglas-fir trees reach for the sky with large,…

On March 2nd, some of the members of the TSS Maxwell Watershed Project Team including Ruth Waldick (TSS), Pierre Mineau (SSIC photographer), Sandra Ungerson (NSSWD Director and wetland expert), and Gary Gagné (NSSWD Director) were onsite documenting and mapping wetlands and surface water flow as a first step in understanding the hydrology of the Maxwell…