The Strathcona Regional District has received $354,960.60 in grant funding for a variety of projects through the Province’s Disaster Risk Reduction / Climate Adaptation grant stream.

The money will help with risk assessments, the installation of tsunami education signs, and to  undertake a beaver coexistence flood mitigation project on Cortes Island.

SRD Board Chair Mark Baker explains that beaver dams and blocked culverts have caused flooding along Kw’as Bay Road on Cortes Island, posing risks to residents and impacting emergency and recreational park access.

The project, he says, involves installing three pond levelers and a culvert protection fence to mitigate flooding, reduce risks, and restore wetlands to coexist with beavers, what Baker calls a vital keystone species.

Beaver coexistence techniques such as pond levelers and culvert protection fencing provide non-lethal solutions to beaver management, supporting beaver-maintained wetlands on the landscape.

Wetlands provide critical ecosystem services for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation such as cleaning and storing water & ground water recharge, mitigating floods and erosional rain events, moderating climate extremes like heat waves and droughts, and mitigating wildfire.

To learn more, visit Strathcona Regional District.