Foodlands supports place-based riparian restoration and cultural food systems on privately held land. Each Foodlands site takes shape through relationships, local leadership, and shared priorities, creating the conditions for long-term care of land and water.
Working alongside First Nations, landholders, and other collaborators, Foodlands brings together restoration, cultural knowledge, and practical stewardship. Activities may include restoring riparian habitat, reintroducing native and culturally significant plants, stabilizing riverbanks, and improving floodplain function over time.
This work supports habitat for salmon and other species while strengthening the health of waterways and the communities connected to them. Knowledge shared by First Nations and local knowledge holders helps guide how restoration takes place in each location.
While each Foodlands site is grounded in a specific place, the program reflects a watershed-wide understanding that care for land and water is interconnected. Corridor-based restoration connects multiple parcels along a waterway, supporting learning, relationships, and long-term stewardship that can inform work in other places over time.
A visual overview of the sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm* corridor, showing how restoration and care take shape on the land.
Curious about Foodlands or land and water care where you live? We’re always open to listening and learning.
“sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm” is the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word for the Salmon River. hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ is the Downriver dialect of Halkomelem. Translations provided by Knowledge Keepers and language learners from Kwantlen and Katzie Nations.
Care for land and water takes shape through ongoing relationships and collaboration with First Nations, landholders, and others connected to each place. Restoration activities are carried out by local crews, First Nation Guardian programs, and technical specialists, supporting local employment, skill-building, and stewardship rooted in place.
Foodlands sites are supported through multi-year maintenance and monitoring to help ensure restored areas continue to function and thrive over time. Work in each corridor is guided by shared goals for ecological health, cultural food systems, and long-term resilience.
A Foodlands corridor connects neighbouring parcels of land through collaborative restoration and stewardship, often along rivers and streams where agriculture, habitat, and community life intersect. Corridors support riparian function, native and traditional food plants, and the long-term health of waterways.
Foodlands corridors are understood as long-term landscapes where restoration, maintenance, and monitoring unfold over time in response to local conditions, relationships, and priorities.
The Foodlands Toolkit is a free downloadable resource for groups interested in collaborative, place-based restoration. Drawing on experience from the sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm corridor, it brings together reflections from practice, planning prompts, and selected UNDRIP articles that have informed this work.
The toolkit is offered as a starting point for learning and reflection, recognizing that each place and community will approach restoration differently.
If you are interested in learning more about Foodlands, or curious about how this approach might take shape where you live, you are welcome to reach out. Conversations begin with listening and learning, and help determine whether and how Foodlands might be relevant in a particular context.
Despite challenging conditions brought on by snow, ice, permits, and seasonal flooding, we recently completed effectiveness monitoring along the sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm (Salmon River)* Foodlands Corridor! This monitoring happens twice a year—once at the end of winter and again in the summer—providing data to track how restored sites respond to seasonal shifts and ensuring we meet permit…
Mid-August to mid-October are busy months in the world of habitat restoration, and this year the Foodlands sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm (Salmon River)* Corridor has been no exception. The Foodlands Corridor Restoration Program team took on two new ambitious projects to expand the corridor this fall: another bank stabilization project and a marsh connectivity project. “sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm” is the…
In August 2021, Rivershed launched the Foodlands Corridor Restoration Program and began work on the first pilot restoration site along the sc̓e:ɬxʷəy̓əm (Salmon River)* in Langley, in the shared territory of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo and Matsqui Nations. Two years later, the transformative impact of Foodlands is evident. Seven parcels along the river have undergone…
Donations help sustain long-term care for land and water through Foodlands corridors, supporting relationship-based restoration, maintenance, and learning over time.
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