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Summary<\/p>\n
Historically, First Nations in B.C. who lived near floodplains respected tides and lived nomadically, until settlers disrupted water flow, creating dikes to pursue agriculture and urban development.<\/p>\n
Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c, or Addington Point Marsh, has been restored to a wetland after three years of collaboration led by Katzie First Nation.<\/p>\n
Restoring wetlands brings life to countless species and helps restore Indigenous people\u2019s connection to their traditional territories. The marsh is part of Canada\u2019s largest salmon-bearing watershed.<\/p>\n
They gather in the First Nation\u2019s Lower Mainland territory to celebrate the long-awaited completion of a wetland restoration project connecting to the St\u00f3:l\u014d (Fraser River).<\/p>\n
Mike Leon leads Katzie\u2019s team of eight guardians, and has been involved with the marsh restoration project from the beginning. After everyone bypasses a locked gate \u2014 there to reduce the risk of bear-human encounters \u2014 they stop by the water, and he addresses the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would really like to raise my hands to all of you, to the hard work and willingness to work with us, to be with us, to be with this land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Mike Leon, at centre, leads the Katzie First Nation\u2019s team of eight guardians. They\u2019ll be monitoring the benefits of the wetland restoration to measure its impact on native species, including sandhill cranes and salmon. <\/p>\n
The restoration project was funded by the B.C. government<\/a> and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, implemented by Katzie First Nation, Resilient Waters, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Trust of British Columbia, with many helping hands involved.<\/p>\n For three years the partners worked together to reestablish waterflow in the marsh. The wetlands connection to the Pitt River and South Fraser River system was disconnected when early settlers installed a dike, which has since been removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love doing the work. I love being on our territory and helping the environment,\u201d Mackenzie Adams, another Katzie guardian, added. Adams monitored the site throughout the project, and collected water and bird surveys to compare data before and after restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the B.C. Wildlife Federation, wetland monitoring is just as important as the initial restoration during a project. \u201cMonitoring, maintenance, and data collection help us evaluate the effectiveness of restoration techniques and improve the performance and function of future projects,\u201d it reads on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c is now letting nature take its course, and with the area being home to one of the country\u2019s largest salmon runs and smallest sandhill crane populations, monitoring the wetland\u00a0is critical work for Katzie Guardians.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was there one of the first days \u2026 comparing the first day to the last day was pretty eye opening because you can already see the differences from the river water coming in. It will be an awesome habitat for all birds and salmon fry,\u201d Adams said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n While the exact impact is currently unknown, wetland restoration benefits are well documented. Leon\u2019s team will be on top of that data, working with partners to restore and conserve native plants and animals in the area.<\/p>\n Relationships between Katzie Guardians and partners in the project have flourished. A local property owner who attended the celebration shared their initial concerns after seeing excavation equipment clearing a path to the dike, and their relief after learning more about the endeavour. Beyond its environmental impacts, the project has brought people together from all walks of life who want to see salmon and wildlife in and around the Fraser River thrive.<\/p>\n Restoration project had many partners, but Katzie had final say<\/p>\n Dan Straker, the manager for the Resilient Waters project, was a lead organizer under the direction of Katzie Guardians and leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith Katzie First Nation, it was determined early on they would have final decision making and be informing the project along the way. All the partners fell in line with that idea and thinking,\u201d Straker told the Narwhal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we ended up with was this really nice blended way of doing things, from a more two-eyed seeing approach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Leon added that, throughout the endeavour, Katzie brought in their customs, culture and laws.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important and special to us to know our place names in our territory. When we have our guardians come out, we\u2019re honored to be on those place names such as Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c,\u201d Leon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sentiment shared by Katzie\u2019s guardian coordinator April Pierre. In a quiet moment of emotion in the circle, she addressed a reality shared by many First Nations people: growing up away from her homelands.<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n The Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c restoration project gave Pierre an opportunity to spend time on land she had never been to \u2014 the land of her ancestors. It\u2019s one emotional moment of many that were shared during the celebration, as others reflected on the marine and wildlife already making appearances in the marsh.<\/p>\n Dikes were built to create flat land for agriculture in the area since the late 1800s. Restoring the marsh\u2019s connection to the river has immense ecological benefits and cultural benefits for local First Nations.<\/p>\n \u201cConservation organizations in previous decades had a different approach to conservation land management that I think sometimes excluded other organizations and nations,\u201d Ducks Unlimited senior restoration biologist, Eric Balke, said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we are learning new and better ways of moving forward, more collaborative ways, and this project is a great example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Balke has been involved with restoring Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c since brainstorming and planning days, eventually passing the reins to his colleague Alison Martin.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat excites me about this project is it\u2019s all about restoring relationships,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re restoring the relationship between the river and these wetlands that were formerly alienated by dikes. You\u2019re restoring the relationship between Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c and juvenile salmon that previously were prevented from accessing the site \u2026 it\u2019s also restoring the relationship between Katzie and their kin.\u201d<\/p>\n Wetland restoration benefits salmon<\/p>\n In the Pacific Northwest, both people and the ecosystem know how important salmon is. Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c is connected to Canada\u2019s largest salmon-bearing watershed, the Fraser River.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the Pacific Salmon Foundation<\/a>, \u201cfloodplains provide critical, food-rich habitat for juvenile salmon. These low-lying areas adjacent to stream channels allow young salmon to grow healthy and strong before their journey to the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n But dikes disrupt the river\u2019s connection to the marsh, blocking valuable nutrients and harming the salmon and other species.<\/p>\n \u201cWetlands, such as tidal marshes, help to collect sediment that build up the marsh platform, helping to protect our communities from flooding,\u201d Balke said.<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n \u201cThis land that settlers found is super valuable for farming and agriculture, it was valuable because of the sediment that was delivered, because of the nutrients that were delivered by the river,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we construct dikes we disconnect the river from its floodplain. The river can no longer deliver those critical ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n A huge benefit of restoring tidal marshes is that they are one of the most effective ways of capturing and storing carbon<\/a>, contaminants and pollutants that flow downstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n Further, Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c is home to wapoto<\/a> and tule<\/a>, two traditional plants for Katzie First Nation that have been impacted from dikes. Restoring the wetland is giving members of the nation hope that these plants can be harvested for food and mat-making once again.<\/p>\n The marsh is also home to sandhill cranes, whose local population has hovered around 30 to 35 birds for decades, Myles Lamont told the Narwhal. He was brought into the project by Katzie as a sandhill crane consultant.<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n \u201cThe remaining birds seem to nest in golf courses and some very small regional parks \u2026 Unfortunately they\u2019ve been getting struck by golf balls. Quite commonly over the last 10 to 15 years, I\u2019ve had to rescue a few birds that have had broken legs or injuries as a result of golf ball strikes, particularly in Richmond,\u201d Lamont said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He is hopeful that restoring Xw\u00ed\u0294l\u0259m\u0313n\u0259c to a wetland will bring in enough water to create a nesting habitat for the birds, drawing them away from golf courses. As folks went around the sharing circle, Lamont spotted one overhead, calling out, \u201cCrane!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really cool being a part of it. Just knowing that we\u2019re making a difference, I\u2019m making a difference,\u201d Adams said.\u201cThe salmon habitat has a place to go throughout the winter and so do the sandhill cranes and birds. It\u2019s a good feeling \u2026 I feel accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary Historically, First Nations in B.C. who lived near floodplains respected tides and lived nomadically, until settlers disrupted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-673029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Santana-Draver-Katzie-Marsh-Feature-4-1024x768.png\"\/)
The marsh restoration project was a collaboration among many partners, but Dan Straker, manager for the Resilient Waters project, said all partners were clear Katzie First Nation was in the lead: \u201cIt was determined early on they would have final decision making and be informing the project along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Santana-Draver-Katzie-Marsh-Feature-3-1024x768.png\"\/)
Wetlands have ecological benefits, but also protect people and communities by mitigating the risk of floods \u2014 which have hit the Fraser Valley region hard three times in the past five years. <\/p>\n