ARI team

ARI team time

Once a year the A Rocha International team steps out from behind our screens to enjoy some quality in-person time together. With three of us in the USA and a fourth with a Stateside conference to attend, this year we met in the beautiful Texas Hill Country – home to the Nine-banded Armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus,  Whitetailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus and Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Crotalus atrox as well as some slightly random zebras!  

We arrived at our scenic location in time to witness several established oaks being brutally ripped from the ground. For the entire week, morning to night, heavy machinery belched out noise and fumes as a new building took shape at impressive speed. It was an apt reminder of the complex context of A Rocha’s work, in a world where often nature is forced to make way for human endeavour but in which God’s design is for us to all to flourish, living equitably together.  

Later, we were much more encouraged by a visit to A Rocha USA’s habitat restoration site in the Bull Creek watershed. Texas Conservation Director Verónica Godoy led us on a pleasant hike along the creek and through meadows and forests where we observed invasive privet that had been painstakingly girdled by A Rocha USA partners, staff and volunteers as well as meadows being converted from a monoculture of invasive King Ranch Blue Stem to a myriad of native wildflowers and grasses.  

Spread across eight countries, the A Rocha International team has responsibility for supporting and representing A Rocha organizations worldwide, for ensuring everyone maintains high standards and for initiating new work. While we were together, we worked on strategy, thought about how to know whether our conservation efforts are effective, prayed and studied the Bible, and tried to get the hang of the two-step! Now back into the swing of being a virtual community, we are grateful for meaningful work caring for God’s world, and a strong, unified and multi-cultural team.  

Impassable beaver dam, Canada

Helping Buck Creek’s Salmon and Beavers Coexist

September signals the beginning of an exciting new season for the small but dedicated team of conservationists at Buck Creek Hatchery and Nature Centre: the arrival of Coho Salmon spawners. The Coho have undertaken a vast journey up rivers, through canyons and past lakes. Some of them may have hatched and grown into fry at the hatchery operated by A Rocha Canada in Northern British Columbia! Having reached their home waters where they were either born or released, the Coho have now reached the end of their life’s journey and will lay their eggs in redds, which are rock nests in the gravel of the riverbed. 

Each year, the A Rocha team monitors the return of the Upper Bulkley River Coho spawners and captures a small number of them to collect a target of 10,000 eggs for their hatchery. Last year, however, the salmon faced challenging waters which were exceptionally low due to drought. Added to this, several beaver dams blocked the spawning salmon, leaving them vulnerable to predators as they had no way through the dam.  

Beavers are amazing river engineers: without them, the water levels in the river would have been even lower. Beaver ponds slowly release water and create perfect rearing pools for juvenile Coho Salmon; however, when the dam completely spans the river, it becomes an impassable barrier to Coho spawners migrating upstream. With the concerns about the low returns of salmon spawners to the Upper Bulkley River, we want to ensure they have the best chance to reach their spawning grounds in time. Careful management of beaver dams is one tool to help achieve this goal.  

A Rocha Northern BC called on their network of amazing volunteers, reached out to landowner contacts to secure access to the river and began journeying with the Coho up the Upper Bulkley River. They found fifteen beaver dams within the first 30 km of the river where Coho Salmon were stuck below and successfully assisted at least 300 Coho spawners past the beaver dams! While some of the Coho stopped to spawn along the way, about 100 made it at least 30 km up the river to an area of valuable spawning habitat. 

Although humans can–and often do–create immense damage in an ecosystem, we can also be a source of healing. Droughts exacerbated by climate change are an increasingly common occurrence, and in some cases, species struggle against one another for habitat. Through careful management, we can create a healthy home for all the creatures who live in the Buck Creek Watershed. To protect both the salmon and the beavers, an effective compromise is to create an opening in the dam that the salmon can swim through while leaving the base intact.  

Sadly, drought conditions are continuing into a fourth year at Buck Creek. Despite a rainier spring, low snowpack and hot summer months have left the river lower than ever. While hundreds of Chinook Salmon should have been seen in the past couple months, the A Rocha team only spotted five, four of which died before they were able to spawn. Thankfully, rain has come, and we are hopeful that Coho will arrive with higher waters. The beaver dams are looking sturdy as ever. Come what may, A Rocha will be there working for the mutual flourishing of all our creaturely neighbours.   

A Rocha Sweden Celebration

Welcome to A Rocha Sweden!

Välkomna A Rocha Sverige! We are thrilled to announce that A Rocha Sweden has officially become the 18th national organization in the A Rocha Worldwide Family.  

On 20 September, A Rocha Sweden celebrated this milestone at the site of their flagship project in Hyllie Park Church, Malmö. About twenty people gathered in person, including A Rocha’s cofounder Peter Harris, with another ten joining virtually. One member, Vincent, opened the celebration with a trumpet fanfare announcing the birth of A Rocha Sweden! Peter then gave an enthusiastic talk on spirituality and conservation and spoke about the five distinctive commitments that identify A Rocha, followed by a video message from A Rocha International’s Executive Director, Ed Walker. At the end, everyone present celebrated by eating delicious birthday cakes!  

This momentous day has its origins in 2017, when the organization was founded as Swedish Friends of A Rocha. This developed into KriNa in 2021, as the A Rocha Associated Project in Hyllie Park, Malmö, was launched. Nestled in an urban area, A Rocha cares for this garden and park near Hyllie Park Church where the land is planned and managed to support a rich biodiversity.  A Rocha has established a nature trail lined with informational signs for students and other visitors, as education is central to this project. While exploring the meadow, pond and forest on site, you might also see a Swift making its home in one of the bird boxes that A Rocha Sweden maintains.  

In the southern part of the country, A Rocha Sweden partners with a local mowing association and Lutheran church to cultivate a thriving apple meadow. Using the traditional craft of scything, they manage the meadow in an ecological manner to support biodiversity and create a place that locals can enjoy. Now, A Rocha Sweden is looking forward to a new project further north with a community farm in Borlänge. They signed an agreement of intention with this farm’s landowner to launch a full-scale A Rocha project in 2025. 

Stay tuned for inspiring conservation updates from Sweden.