Working with a local First Nation, M.C. Wright and Associates performed a Coastal Shoreline Inventory Mapping project of approximately 900km of coastal BC shoreline. The objectives of this project included the identification and mapping of important ecological, geological, cultural, and anthropogenic features along the coastal shoreline within their traditional territory.
This information will help to characterize the suitability of coastal areas for conservation / protection for
ecological, cultural, and social values versus those suitable for economic development, and will help
inform future management direction and the development of a join Land Use Plan with the Province of BC.
Phase I of the project saw the collection of existing spatial data sets from numerous governmental and public databases. This included collecting recent high resolution aerial imagery to digitize and classify shoreline substrate and character. This data was put together to create basemaps showing high and low tide, shoreline units, ecosystem polygons and shoreline features at a scale of 1:5000. This process identified important critical habitat such as eelgrass beds, kelp beds, pocket beaches and estuarine marshes in addition to anthropogenically altered shorelines (e.g. docks, marinas, industrial).
By combining existing digital elevation/bathymetry data with forecasts for sea level rise, a tidal inundation model was created. This model suggests which areas within the area may be most at risk to increased flooding due to sea level rise from climate change.
Phase II of the project was field surveys of areas identified in Phase I as needing verification and more data. This phase consisted of collecting orthoimagery with our Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (“drones”) as well as using our SONAR and drop cameras. The orthoimagery collected 0.05m resolution imagery to create very high resolution basemaps of important areas such as estuaries. SONAR was used to verify existing bathymetry data to understand how the seafloor may be changing. Drop cameras identified historically disturbed areas underwater (e.g. old forestry log dumps) and were used to identify the presence of various marine life, including boot sponges (Rhabdocalyptus dawsoni ) an important water filtering species.
