Koksilah River watershed. Photo: Taylor Roades
Healthy Watersheds Initiative
The Healthy Watersheds Initiative created jobs and brought communities together to protect fresh water, restore salmon habitat, and adapt to climate change.
Our Water, Our Future
The Healthy Watersheds Initiative (HWI) was an economic stimulus program that created jobs in British Columbia by investing in watershed conservation and restoration projects.
As part of the B.C. Economic Recovery Plan, the Province of BC provided $27 million in stimulus funding for 61 pre-identified projects in communities across the province. The Real Estate Foundation of BC administered this funding through HWI, with support from Watersheds BC.
HWI grants supported project teams working to restore rivers and streams, protect salmon habitat, manage water flows, collect data, and conduct watershed mapping and sustainability planning. Through these projects, teams hired and trained local workers who were affected by the pandemic.
This investment went toward protecting and restoring critical freshwater ecosystems, helping communities adapt to climate change, creating jobs, protecting our drinking water, and strengthening relationships with First Nations and Indigenous-led organizations.
HWI was guided by an Indigenous Leaders Advisory Circle. A majority of the projects supported the exercise of Indigenous rights and incorporating Indigenous Knowledge in planning, and, therefore, helped to advance the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
$20.7M
awarded to projects across BC
61
projects received grants through HWI
90%
of projects supported the exercise of Indigenous rights
“What future do I see for BC’s watersheds? A lot of learning opportunities, I think, for people in British Columbia. It is a real opportunity to work with Indigenous First Nations with the strength of what they know about governing water and governing land.”
— Mavis Underwood, Chair, Indigenous Leaders Advisory Circle