
Songhees Walkway
Resilient Coasts for Salmon Project:
Green Shores for Shoreline Development Demonstration Site
As part of the Resilient Coasts for Salmon (RC4S) project, the Stewardship Centre for BC and Pacific Salmon Foundation partnered with Peninsula Streams Society, the City of Victoria, the Ralmax Group of Companies, Salish Sea Industrial Services, and the Songhees Nation and Esquimalt Nation to develop a Green Shores demonstration site at the Songhees Walkway Pocket Beach. The project is undertaken with the financial support from the Environment and Climate Change Canada, Climate Action & Awareness Fund.
Project Location
The demonstration site is located on southeastern Vancouver Island (latitude: 48.427702; longitude: 123.383662) on the north shore of Victoria’s Middle Harbour, approximately 1.5 kilometres west of the city’s core, adjacent to the residential neighbourhood of Victoria West. It is within the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) People, known today as the Songhees Nation and Esquimalt Nation. The area to be restored is just off the Songhees Walkway to the southeast of Lime Bay.

Songhees Walkway Pocket Beach site map, produced by Peninsula Streams Society.
Project Objectives
- Restore soft shore pocket beach habitat in the Victoria Harbour area.
- Establish a sand/gravel beach suitable for forage fish spawning.
- Remove existing invasive backshore species and replant the area with native riparian vegetation.
- Design the beach area to enhance recreational values and re-establish a traditional site for launching First Nation canoes.
Restoration Process
Using a Green Shores® nature-based approach, restoration of this pocket beach will include planting with native vegetation, removal of non-native armoured rock and application of beach nourishment to reclaim the ecological and cultural values of the site. This approach will stabilize the backshore against erosion, prevent coastal squeeze, ensure restoration of vital nutrient and sedimentary processes which support all five important salmon species found in this area: chinook, coho, sockeye, chum and pink.
The eroding backshore will be re-graded, stabilized, and planted with native riparian and upland species. Non-native armoured rock and materials will be removed and the beach will be nourished with a sand-gravel mix of small rock pebbles, pea gravel, and sand. These sediments are well suited to provide spawning habitat for surf smelt and potentially for Pacific sand lance forage fish both of which support salmon. The beach nourishment will also help to stabilize the backshore against erosion and prevent coastal squeeze.
Songhees Walkway Project Updates
Learn more
Visit the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Resilient Coasts for Salmon project website to learn more and find opportunities to get involved. Learn more about Green Shores on the Stewardship Centre for BC’s pages.
#GreenShores #RC4S