In 2020, the First Nations Legacy Fund, Okanagan Nation Alliance, Skeena Fisheries Commission, and Big Little Maps/University of Victoria Map Shop partnered to explore how community mapping and geospatial technologies can contribute to the management of salmon habitat. In the Skeena River watershed, we further partnered with Gitksan Watershed Authority to carry out with the Skeena region portions of the project.
The result was the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Habitat Mapping to Inform Wild Salmon Stewardship project.
The project aimed to enhance First Nations’ capacity for monitoring and managing wild salmon habitat through the integration of community mapping and geospatial technologies.
Some outcomes of this project included:
- Multi-use, high-resolution spatial datasets that can be used beyond the lifetime of the project;
- Standardized methodologies and protocols for community-based watershed mapping and monitoring that incorporate Indigenous knowledge;
- A Rapid Salmon Habitat Assessment framework that supports BC First Nations in the implementation of environmental stream flows and community planning for salmon stewardship.
This project was carried out over three years, from 2021 to 2024.
- In year one, inventories of baseline data, local fish habitat knowledge, and geospatial technologies available for undertaking long-term salmon habitat monitoring were conducted in each First Nation organization. The inventories informed opportunities for capacity building by providing targeted training in community asset mapping, UAV data collection and related ground surveys, and spatial analytics of fish habitat data.
- Years two and three consisted of: training for UAV, community mapping, and data analysis; data collection/accumulation of UAVs and community mapping; developing the Rapid Salmon Habitat Assessment framework; developing standardized methodologies and training materials.
One of the goals of the project was to support our partner organizations, as well as other First Nations organizations, in using community mapping and UAV surveys in salmon habitat management projects. To advance that goal, several training guidebooks have been created to assist groups that want to incorporate these methods in their work.
Click the thumbnails below to download, or view our project videos.
