B.C. restores 70 hectares as Cowichan marsh faces 60% loss by 2100

The Cowichan Estuary is getting a major ecological reset. The Province of British Columbia is investing $500,000 in a large-scale restoration effort covering 70 hectares of marshland, to strengthen watershed health, improve climate resilience, and supporting Indigenous stewardship in the Cowichan Valley.This is not just an environmental cleanup project. It is being framed as a long-term investment in biodiversity, flood protection, local food systems, and the health of one of Vancouver Island’s most important salmon-bearing ecosystems, according to British Columbia Gov News.Why the estuary mattersEstuaries may cover a small share of B.C.’s coastline, but they do an outsized amount of ecological work. According to the province, they make up just 2.3% of the coast yet support more than 80% of coastal fish and wildlife at some point in their life cycle.That includes wild Pacific salmon, steelhead, shorebirds, waterfowl, grizzly bears and orcas, along with species that matter to local food systems and fisheries such as herring, crabs, clams and oysters. In the Cowichan watershed, that ecological role is especially important because the estuary sits in the path of changing tides, rising...