The South Coast includes the southwest corner of BC’s mainland, including Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, the Sea-to-Sky region (Squamish–Pemberton), and the Lower Fraser Valley. Its abundant waterways create rich habitat for countless species.
Heavy rains in fall and winter feed temperate rainforests, with huge conifers and a tangled undergrowth of devil’s club, salmonberry, salal, and ferns.
The Fraser River is BC’s largest salmon river, hosting all five species of Pacific salmon. It ends in the Fraser River Delta, a narrow floodplain surrounded by low hills, with nutrient-rich soils left behind by glacial melt and river floods.
Where the river meets and mixes with the salt water of the Georgia Strait, it forms a massive estuary. The Fraser River Estuary is a vital crossroads along the Pacific Flyway, a route traversed by millions of birds each year as they migrate between their breeding and wintering grounds on three continents. It is one of Canada’s most significant wintering areas for migratory birds, and the most important estuary in BC for pintail, snow geese, and other waterfowl.
More than 60% of BC’s human population lives on the South Coast. As a result, huge areas of native ecosystems have been converted to urban, industrial, and agricultural uses. The 4,356 acres in our 27 conservation areas in this region help ensure the few wild spaces that remain here are protected for generations.
We secured Addington Point Marsh in 1977 to protect 638 acres (258.4 hectares) in heavily urbanized Metro Vancouver. Today it’s part of the Pitt-Addington Marsh Wildlife Management Area, which is open to the public. It’s home to rare and at-risk species like pointed broom sedge, two-edged water-starwort, sessile-leaved sandbar willow, great blue herons, trumpeter swans, osprey, sandhill cranes, and bald eagles.
Little Bear Slough is in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Squamish River Estuary on the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Squamish Nation. The estuary used to connect the slough and several other channels to the Squamish River, but a railway spur line was installed in the 1970s, isolating the slough.
We are working with partners to rewater Little Bear Slough and other channels, improving fish habitat, by installing a floodgate and culverts, and we’re restoring the ecosystem by removing invasive species and planting native ones. We will measure plant communities and fish populations before and after this restoration, and we will survey invertebrates to track the health of the estuary.
Carleton has worked in conservation land management with NTBC since 1998. He oversees management of our conservation holdings in the South Coast, Cariboo, Omineca, Skeena, and Peace regions. Originally from the southern Okanagan Valley, Carleton loves hiking and camping in the great outdoors.
Carleton has a Master of Science in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University in Victoria, where he also completed his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, and an Environmental Technology Diploma from Camosun College.
We gratefully acknowledge that our Vancouver office is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, who have been stewarding this land since time immemorial. Our work and conservation areas encompass many lands throughout the province, and we humbly acknowledge the First Nations communities who live on and steward these lands.
Stay connected to the landscapes you help protect. Receive updates from the field, stories of conservation in action, and opportunities to support and experience BC’s natural places.
Stay connected to the landscapes you help protect. Receive updates from the field, stories of conservation in action, and opportunities to support and experience BC’s natural places.