A coastal First Nation’s Guardians are ‘testing the water’ to prepare for climate change
We Wai Kai Guardians are partnering with Quadra Island volunteer groups to do a critical survey of wetlands to protect water as droughts increase with climate change, says Guardians manager Shane Pollard. Photo Rochelle Baker / Canada's National Observer
By Rochelle Baker
A coastal First Nation’s Guardian team is gearing up to test the waters to try to limit the impacts of drought in their traditional territories on northeast Vancouver Island.
The We Wai Kai First Nation's environmental stewards are partnering with other local groups to map and monitor wetlands, watersheds and streams on Quadra Island as summers get hotter and drier, said Guardian program manager Shane Pollard.
Drought in the northeastern Vancouver Island water basin, which includes We Wai Kai territory and Quadra Island, is increasingly common.
All of B.C. suffered severe drought this summer, but it is the third year running that the island region hit Level 5 on the provincial drought scale — the most extreme rating when adverse impacts on fish health, ecosystems or society are certain.