Listening to the sea, looking to the future

Since ancient times, the Coast Salish peoples have cared for and relied on beaches to provide a healthy, nutritious supplement to their diet. Using practices passed down through generations, they cultivate intertidal ecosystems by removing sea lettuce and tilling beach sand. These practices encourage growth of many valuable food species in the shallow coastal waters. Building rock walls near the lowest tide-mark helps trap sand and sediment, and create a terrace on the landward side – a perfect environment for clams to grow. Once established, these “clam gardens” support many more clams than unmodified beaches. This cultivated balance has been interrupted in more recent history. But staff in Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, and the WSÁNEĆ and Hul’q’umi’num Nations of the Coast Salish people, are restoring these eco-cultural systems and rejuvenating this ancient practice.