Funding

In February 2016, the BC Government announced the formation of the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). One of the purposes of the Society is to advance environmental and resource stewardship of British Columbia’s forests by improving habitat for wildlife. FESBC chose to use HCTF’s application and technical review process to help select wildlife habitat projects to invest in, as well as having HCTF administer these grants. The result has been well over a million dollars in additional funding for wildlife habitat projects thus far, with a commitment from FESBC to fund additional work improving wildlife habitat through HCTF.

“HCTF has an unparalleled track record for its rigorous, science-based approach to identifying projects with strong potential return. FESBC is pleased to work with HCTF to strengthen the impacts of our conservation investment.” Steve Kozuki, Executive Director of FESBC

FESBC and HCTF co-funded projects are highlighted in our approved project lists.

BC Conservation Officer Service, Crown Prosecutors and the Judiciary of BC
HCTF is named as a potential recipient of creative sentencing awards in 5 different environmental statutes. Creative sentencing enables judges to use sentencing alternatives beyond the traditional options of fines, penalties and imprisonment. Under this approach, courts can order offenders to make payments to HCTF, who will then invest those funds into conservation projects. To date, the Foundation has invested over $3.5 million creative sentencing dollars into conservation projects throughout the province. You can read more about projects we’ve supported using court awarded funds in the Investing with Revenue from Creative Sentencing report (see Publications).

Caribou Habitat Restoration Fund
In 2018, the Province of British Columbia announced it would provide the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation with $2 million dollars to create the Caribou Habitat Restoration Fund. This purpose of this fund is to restore high-use caribou habitat in British Columbia using functional and ecological restoration methods. You can find out about projects currently funded by this program here.

Conservation Lands Management and Land Stewardship Granting Programs
In 2008, the Province of BC provided HCTF with a $9 million dollar endowment for the operations and management of BC conservation lands. The interest on $6 million of this endowment and other funding sources are used to generate over a half million of funding per year to manage wildlife habitat on over 120 conservation properties owned by the Province or leased to the Province by the Nature Trust of BC.

The other $3 million dollars of the endowment fund provides funding for conservation lands owned by provincial, regional or local land trusts under our Land Stewardship Grant program. Our first intake of this grant in 2017 provided $300,000 for land management over three years at 12 properties across the province. One example property is the Quintal Floodplain in the South Okanagan owned by Ducks Unlimited Canada, where funds have been used for invasive species management and planting of native species to improve habitat in restored wetlands.

Invasive Mussel Monitoring Program
In 2017, the Province of British Columbia announced it would provide $450,000 over three years to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation to manage the invasive mussels lake monitoring program.
This program provides grants to organizations for sampling BC lakes and rivers to test for the presence of zebra and quagga mussels. These are two freshwater invasive species that are not currently found in BC, but pose significant environmental and economic risks if introduced. You can find out more about this program here.

BC Parks
In 2018, BC Parks announced it would contribute revenue from the sale and renewal of speciality licence plates to HCTF’s GO Grants program. GO Grants provide funding for school field trips to provincial parks, and other natural areas, so students can learn about B.C.’s fish and wildlife habitats. BC Parks has committed $115,000 in funding for the program to date, supporting over 5700 students’ outdoor learning experiences.

In 1983, Cominco Ltd. made a $250,000 contribution to HCTF (then the Habitat Conservation Fund). This contribution was in recognition that closing three lakes near its Highland Valley mining operation would lead to a loss of fish and wildlife habitat. Since then, HCTF has administered the fund with the purpose of establishing or enhancing recreational fish and waterfowl habitat within a 60 kilometer radius of the mine site. Every year, projects are approved that aim to improve conservation outcomes in this region, or provide improved access for British Columbians to enjoy these natural areas.