Where the Current Meets the Tide

All along the Pacific coast, the currents of inland waterways meet the tides of the sea in a series of more than 400 estuaries that are among the most productive in the world. Although they comprise less than three per cent of British Columbia's shoreline, these wetlands are used by 80 per cent of coastal wildlife.

Several features make these freshwater-saltwater habitats unique. Tidal fluctuations mean that these temperate areas are sometimes immersed in water and at other times exposed to air. Sandy deltas, where sediment has washed downstream and been deposited at the mouth of the estuary, serve as an ideal growing medium for plants, which, in turn, serve as food and protection to many invertebrates and fish. Salmon use these transition areas to acclimatize their systems as they travel between their saltwater habitat and freshwater spawning grounds.

This abundance of food makes the estuaries an important migratory stopover and breeding area for millions of waterfowl and shorebirds, and an important habitat for mammals such as deer, elk, cougars, sea otters and bears. The problem is that these delicate ecosystems are also located in the fastest-growing socio-economic region of Canada, and many were subdivided before the turn of the century to provide access to watersheds for logging and mineral exploration. Today, they are threatened by a variety of urban pressures, including industrial development, marinas, float plane terminals, sewage disposal practices, breakwaters and dykes.

To preserve these resources, a coalition of seven government agencies and three non-government conservation organizations formed in 1987 under the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program (PECP) to arrange for the transfer and conservation designation of key lands along the B.C. coast. Identifying which of these areas are most in need of protection has been part of the work at Environment Canada, where scientists have been involved in determining the biological productivity of the estuaries based on the species that live there, and in assessing the imminence of threats from existing or planned developments.

Over the past 12 years, PECP has acquired 1612 hectares of private land and arranged for the transfer and designation of another 54 736 hectares of Crown lands in the estuarine and adjacent intertidal habitats. In May, the partnership program received the first Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award at the Ramsar Convention in San José, Costa Rica, in recognition of its exemplary cooperative approach to preserving these precious resources.

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