The Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild project received $50,000 in funding from the Columbia Basin Trust's Environmental Initiatives Program.
"The Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild Society thanks CBT for its support of community-based caribou recovery," said Sarah Boyle, Vice-Chair of the RCRW Society. "These funds will help construct the maternity pen that will protect caribou and their calves at their most vulnerable time."
The Environmental Initiatives Program provided more than $1 million in funding to 36 community initiated and supported projects that support environmental conditions and education in the basin. Over the past 11 years, it has provided more than $5 million in funding to different projects for environmental conservation, restoration, stewardship and education.
"These projects will have positive effects on the Basin environment through both direct action and education," said Sabrina Curtis, CBT Director, Sector Initiatives, "helping reduce the impacts people have on our region's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems."
The next large intake for grants will take place this fall. For more information, visit www.cbt.org/eip.
The complete list of recipients is as follows:
BASIN-WIDE/CROSS-BOUNDARY
The British Columbia Conservation Foundation, Columbia Basin Electric Fence Project ($22,500): This project provides a 50 per cent cost subsidy to Basin residents for electric fence equipment and installation. The project coordinator helps residents install preventative electric fencing suitable to their needs, and works with the BC Conservation Officer Service to respond with fencing to current grizzly/livestock conflicts. www.bccf.com
Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society, Quantifying Emissions Reductions for Ecosystem Restoration Projects in the Rocky Mountain Trench ($20,000): This project builds upon 2012 mastication research done by the society and will use an ecosystem restoration database to evaluate potential emissions reduction by shifting from traditional treatment methods to a biomass utilization model. www.trenchsociety.com
Seepanee Ecological Consulting, Abundance and Movement of Wolverine in the Kootenay Region ($49,180): Little regional data exists on wolverines and it has been suggested that current harvest levels may be unsustainable. To address this, this project includes collecting non-invasive genetic samples from wolverine in the Purcell mountain range using established techniques.
Selkirk College, The Biodiversity Atlas: Education and Engagement ($25,000): The atlas is an online mapping application that provides current, authoritative and accurate ecological information to the public via an interactive map and report. http://biodiversityatlas.org/links.html
Silverwing Ecological Consulting, Kootenay Community Bat Project: Citizen Science Roost Monitoring ($50,000): This project will follow up from previous success by continuing community-based inventories, landowner visits, education and roost enhancements; evaluating and compiling information on critical bat habitat enhancement; and engaging community members in citizen science to collect long-term monitoring data on bat populations at roost sites in buildings.
West Arm Outdoors Club, Kokanee Salmon School Program ($6,000): This program helps foster an environmental stewardship ethic within students by educating and informing them of the importance of healthy habitat requirements, life cycle and fisheries management relative to Kokanee salmon.
Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada, Whitebark Pine Restoration Planting ($34,500): Whitebark pine is blue-listed in BC and listed as endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act. This project involves planting seedlings in suitable Whitebark pine restoration sites in Cranbrook, Kimberley and Golden, and delivering hands-on environmental education programming to various groups. www.whitebarkpine.ca
Wildsight, Beyond Recycling ($50,000): This school-based environmental education program, based in the Kootenays, provides an action-oriented, solutions-focused curriculum that allows students to recognize the impacts of their lifestyle choices and highlights the importance of individual action. www.wildsight.ca
Wildsight, I Love My Lake: Columbia Basin ($38,000): This is a social outreach and education project aimed at creating a mainstream water stewardship ethic and culture in the Kootenay region. This project will facilitate the implementation of water science for the long-term health of local lakes. www.wildsight.ca
NORTHEAST BASIN
Groundswell Network Society, Applied Sustainable Living ($30,000): This project provides hands-on environmental education and outreach programs to improve community ecological literacy through courses, events, media resources and community gardens. www.groundswellnetwork.ca
Lake Windermere Ambassadors Society, Lake Windermere Ambassadors Watershed Protection Dialogues ($15,000): This project supports the society in holding a series of workshops and engagement activities aimed at finding ways to collaborate as a community to ensure the protection of water quality and supply in the Lake Windermere watershed. www.lakeambassadors.ca
Windermere District Farmers’ Institute, Ecological Services Initiatives: Phase 2 Pilot Expansion Within the Columbia Basin ($20,000): This project supports Phase II of an ecological services initiative on the Columbia River watershed from Canal Flats to Spillimacheen. Included in Phase II are an economic analysis of the existing ecosystem service demo site and the establishment of five new demo sites on agricultural land in the Upper Columbia watershed.
NORTHWEST BASIN
GreenLearning Canada, Redfish School of Change ($22,900): This project supports GreenLearning Canada in delivering the Redfish School of Change Program, in which university students will work with the Slocan Lake Stewardship Society, the Kootenay Community Bat Project and Lucerne Elementary Secondary School to gather data about critical riparian habitats on Slocan Lake. www.greenlearning.ca
Jakob Dulisse Consulting, Assessment of Western Toad Mortality on Highway 6 at Summit Lake ($40,950): Summit Lake hosts a provincially significant breeding population of western toad, a blue-listed species. Thousands of adults and toadlets are killed by vehicle traffic on Highway 6 as they migrate to and from lake breeding sites. This project will assess the timing, severity and location of mortality with the end goal of designing permanent mitigation strategies such as fencing and highway underpass structures.
The Johnsons Landing Community Association, ReGrowth Project: Rehabilitation of Johnsons Landing Slide Site ($10,000): This project supports the Johnsons Landing Community Association in coordinating the rehabilitation of the 2012 Johnson's Landing slide site. Following an ecological restoration prescription, a contractor will be hired to plant live stakes and create bio-engineered terraces above the water intake in order to re-vegetate and stabilize the lower portion of the slide site above the community water intake location.
Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild, Improving Mountain Caribou Calf Survival Through Maternity Penning ($50,000): This is a community-led endeavour piloting a three- to five-year caribou penning recovery project in the Revelstoke region. The grant supports year one of the project, which includes building fencing and housing 10 pregnant female caribou from the Columbia North herd.
SOUTHWEST BASIN
The British Columbia Wildlife Federation, Wetland Enhancement and Protection in the West Kootenay ($20,000): The federation will be delivering workshops and environmental education programming to build the capacity of West Kootenay residents to protect, enhance and construct wetlands. www.bcwf.net
Central Kootenay Invasive Plant Committee (CKIPC), CKIPC Invasive Species Awareness Program ($49,950): This project is an expansion of the committee’s Communities and Youth Pulling Together public and school educational programs. It is focused on educating youth and adults on invasive species and their impacts, and will provide stewardship opportunities through on-the-ground invasive species management. www.kootenayweeds.com
City of Nelson, Waterfront Improvements - Selkirk College Field School 2013 ($9,998): This project will provide a learning opportunity for students in Selkirk College’s Integrated Environmental Planning Program who will complete the installation and combine invasive weed treatments with shoreline restoration. www.nelson.ca.
Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology, New Ways to Use Technology in the Field ($9,000): The institute, in partnership with Selkirk College and the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology, will host this two-day workshop in Castlegar in May 2013. The first day will consist of speakers sharing how researchers are using new field technology and the second day will offer hands-on demonstrations and mini-courses on different types of emerging tools. www.cmiae.org
Kootenay Native Plant Society, Camas Community Stewardship Initiative ($25,000): Common camas is a culturally and ecologically significant plant that is in decline throughout its range in BC. This project aims to raise public awareness of this species and increase community-based stewardship by engaging groups in protecting, improving and expanding camas habitat. www.nelsoncares.ca
Kootenai Community Centre Society, New Life Furniture and Recycling’s (NLFR’s) RePurpose, ReUse and Recycle It Campaign ($26,640): This project supports public environmental education and awareness for residents in Creston and the surrounding area on recycling options available to them. Included in this project are upgrades to the NLFR recycling facility; recycling open houses for business, schools, seniors groups and the general public; recyclables pick-ups; and the establishment of a community guide about recycling that identifies options in and around Creston. www.crestonbc.com
Nelson CARES Society, Earth Matters Zero Waste Youth Group ($20,000): This group is a collection of youth aged 15 to 30 who share a common vision of redesigning how people relate to and conceptualize waste. The program offers opportunities for youth to become leaders in action-based projects that inspire community awareness and provides curriculum linkage lessons to assist teachers with coursework addressing waste issues. www.nelsoncares.ca
White Bark Consulting, Whitebark Pine Restoration in the Selkirk and Columbia Mountains ($40,850): This project will restore and help maintain endangered whitebark pine trees in a high elevation habitat of the Darkwoods Conservation Area.
West Kootenay EcoSociety, Friends of Kootenay Lake ($29,900): Friends of Kootenay Lake is a partnership between Wildsight, the West Kootenay EcoSociety and the Kootenay Lake Partnership. Building on a successful first year of program development, it engages community members and stakeholder organizations around Kootenay Lake as stewards of the lake’s water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. www.ecosociety.ca
West Kootenay EcoSociety, Kokanee Visitor Centre ($10,000): The centre, located along the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, provides environmental education programs to visitors and residents to foster regional ecological knowledge and stewardship. www.ecosociety.ca
SOUTHEAST BASIN
Birchdale Ecological, Creston Valley Grizzly Bear Project ($22,000): Birchdale Ecological has been working with farmers and landowners in the Creston Valley to reduce attractants for grizzly bears in the region. This project will be a continuation and expansion of a 50 per cent cost-sharing program with landowners and farmers in the region to electrically fence attractive food resources.
Blue Lake Forest Education Society, Blue Lake Day Camp Program ($20,758): This program is an environmental and social education opportunity for children in the Cranbrook region who are unable to participate in the residential camp. The day camp will run over a three-week period in August 2013 and will include environmental education games, activities and arts and crafts. www.bluelakecentre.com
Elk River Alliance, Reporting to Residents on River Health ($30,000): This project supports the Elk River Alliance in delivering a report to residents on river health. This is a community-initiated project that includes the publication of a state of the watershed report, coordination and facilitation of a watershed advisory panel and development of an effective communication strategy to gather input and report back results to residents and decision-makers. www.wildsight.ca/elk-river-alliance
Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, Our Wish for BC Fish 2013 ($49,136): This environmental education and outreach program raises awareness and encourages stewardship in youth of BC's natural resources. The project supports further expansion of Our Wish for BC Fish programs targeting grade five students and the delivery of these programs through schools. www.gofishbc.com
I.M.A.G.E School Association, Bee Presentation in East Kootenay Parks ($4,275): Bee Presentation in East Kootenay Parks is an environmental education program that delivers “Honey Day”, a presentation aiming to educate individuals about both native and non-native bees in the East Kootenay region. The program is delivered in Basin area Provincial Park Amphitheatres from July 2013 to August 2013.
Mainstreams Environmental Society, Deepening Field-based Water Education ($36,510): This project supports the society in the expansion of its school-based environmental education and water science programs. In addition to its existing programs, Stream Trailer and Creek Science will be integrated into the curriculum.
Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society, Blueprint for Action 2013 ($22,400): This project supports the society in developing and publishing Blueprint for Action 2013. This comprehensive, multi-purpose publication describes ecological rationale, benefits, strategy and priorities, objectives, actual treatments and costs of restoration work on Crown land, provincial and national parks, private conservation properties and First Nations reserves in the Canadian Columbia Basin up to March 31, 2013. www.trenchsociety.com
St. Mary’s Indian Band, Grassland Ecosystem Strategic Planning: Support Inventory Phase II ($40,000): This project supports the band in undertaking an inventory of forest resources on band lands to determine the potential for bio-energy and assess land management and conservation priorities.
Wildsight, Cranbrook Clean Bin Project ($15,000): This project tackles the serious issue of waste reduction using a lighthearted, inclusive, participatory approach. It includes sharing the “Clean Bin Project” video with the Cranbrook community and organizing month-long school and community clean bin challenges using print, radio, film and social media to involve the whole community. www.wildsight.ca
Wildsight, EcoGarden EcoEducation ($40,000): The EcoGarden is a community green space located in Fernie that is cared for by the EcoGarden Advisory Committee and used by garden members, schools, community groups and individuals. The year 2013 is the EcoGarden's 10th anniversary and the committee will be celebrating by replacing aging garden beds and offering environmental education programs to the community. www.wildsight.ca