Our gratitude goes to the following organizations for providing the funding that allowed us to conduct this ecosystem-based assessment of the Koksilah River watershed: Real Estate Foundation of BC, Shawnigan Basin Society, Cowichan Valley Regional District Directors for Areas E, B, C, and A, Sidney Anglers Association, the HUB Film Club, and area residents through local fundraising. Our thanks go to Chris Steeger, as well, for his invaluable editorial assistance, and to the Koksilah Working Group of the Cowichan Station Area Association for initiating this project.

Certain limitations affected the accuracy of the accompanying maps. Most of the watershed is privately owned, and detailed data on terrain, forest age, wildlife, plants, water, and other values are not available for our assessment of the Koksilah River watershed. Private land ownership also
limited access for field study. We relied on publicly available data and information shared by Cowichan Tribes community members, settler community members, and landowners to develop content in this report. Information may improve in coming years, through new data and/or shared information. While
some of the mapped line work may change, the rationales for including the various landscape features in the network are not expected to change. The protected network identified in this report is not linked to any legislation and therefore has no legal basis. Rather, the intent is to inform residents and landowners about a possible approach to protect and restore the ecological integrity of the watershed.

Introduction

This report provides the context and rationale for a network of protected areas designed for the Koksilah River watershed (Figure 1) and commissioned by the Cowichan Station Area Association. This phase 3 is the final step towards completing an Ecosystem-based Assessment of the Koksilah River Watershed (‘the Project’). The objectives of the Project are: i) to prepare an ecosystem-based assessment of the Koksilah River watershed applying the principles and methods developed by the Silva Forest Foundation and Silva Ecosystem Consultants (Hammond 2002; Silva Forest Foundation 1997, 2009); ii) to ensure the Project addresses questions of interest to the Cowichan Tribes community, and, where permitted, includes local and traditional knowledge shared by Cowichan Tribes community members; iii) to maximize community participation in the project, including the inclusion of local knowledge; and iv) to provide tools, such as the ecosystem-based planning methodology and maps, for building local capacity in ecosystem-based management in the Koksilah River watershed, and encourage wider use throughout the Cowichan region. In Phase 1 of the Project, we used publicly available data and relevant literature to describe the original character of the watershed (i.e., pre-industrial human activity) as well as its current condition (Pritchard et al. 2019). Phase 1 products included: 1) a report describing the character and condition of the Koksilah River watershed, 2) a set of thematic maps to aid in the description of the watershed’s character and condition, and 3) a geodatabase of spatial data used to produce the thematic map set. In Phase 2, we conducted a community review of the maps and information produced during Phase 1, soliciting and integrating feedback from Quw’ut’sun elders and community leaders, Cowichan Tribes staff, and non-Quw’ut’sun settler community members. The final stage of the Project, Phase 3, is the focus of this report. Drawing from information gathered in Phase 1 (description of watershed character and condition) and Phase 2 (community review), the goal of Phase 3 is to design a multi-spatial scale network of protected areas for maintaining and restoring ecological integrity in the Koksilah River watershed. More specifically, this includes developing:

• A proposed Protected Area Network (PAN) for the Koksilah River watershed as a whole;
• A proposed Protected Landscape Network (PLN) at the sub-watershed scale; and
• An example of a Protected Ecosystem Network (PEN) at the site-scale.

A more detailed description of the approach used to develop the network of protected areas is
provided below.

Approach

Establishing ecological networks to protect biological diversity and ecosystem functioning is not a new concept. In their 2006 report, the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) provides a comprehensive review of ecological network case studies dating back to the early 1980s and spanning several continents (Bennett and Mulongoy 2006). Despite differences in terminology to denote ecological networks, the CBD points to common characteristics amongst all cases reviewed, including the consideration of multiple spatial scales, and the integration of a mixture of “core areas”, corridors, buffer zones and “sustainable-use areas” (Bennett and Mulongoy 2006). The Koksilah River watershed ecological network, herein referred to as the “network of protected areas”, grows from these same roots.

The specific approach used to develop the network of protected areas is based on the ecosystem-based conservation planning methods developed by Silva Ecosystem Consultants and the Silva Forest Foundation (Hammond 2002; Silva Forest Foundation 1997, 2009, undated), in which ecological integrity is positioned as the precursor to developing healthy communities and economies. In other words, we take an ecosystem-based approach to designing the network of protected areas. Like the ecological network concept, the “ecosystem approach” has also earned esteem by the CBD for enabling “ holistic decision-making and action”, and is the officially adopted framework for implementing the CBD (Bennett and Mulongoy 2006). Thus, we are in good company when guided by the principles outlined below. The ecosystem-based conservation planning (EBCP) principles developed by Silva Ecosystem
Consultants and the Silva Forest Foundation are as follows (Hammond 2015):

Principle 1: Focus on what to protect, then on what to use.

Principle 2: Recognize the hierarchical relationship between ecosystems, cultures, and economies.

Principle 3: Apply the precautionary principle to all plans and activities.

Principle 4: Protect, maintain, and where necessary, restore ecological connectivity and the full range of composition, structure, and function of enduring features, natural plant communities, and animal habitats and ranges.

Principle 5: Facilitate the protection and/or restoration of Indigenous land use.

Principle 6: Ensure that the planning process is inclusive of the range of values and
interests.

Principle 7: Provide for diverse, ecologically sustainable, community-based economies.

Principle 8: Practice adaptive management.