Wed, 4 Nov 2020
Tags: Education

Get Outdoors this Fall!

Get Outdoors: Exploring Autumn Changes

Join us at 10 am (PST) on Saturday, November 7th for a free online HCTF Education Get Outdoors session. Our team will provide educators and families with some fun, interactive and engaging activities that will spark wonder in students of all ages. Learn about the natural autumn changes occurring in your own backyards or close to home.

Stephanie Weinstein, Sue Staniforth & Jennie McCaffrey will take participants through interactive and engaging exploration in their own backyards, share some outdoor, socially distant activities to do with friends and family, and talk about their favorite tools for nature-based exploration that you can make at home!

Please bring a leaf (or some other part of a tree that you might find on the ground at this time of year) to the online session.

Keep the fall fun going! We will provide an online, outdoor fall focused scavenger hunt that participants can do following the session, and we encourage you to share your photos on social media! Remember to tag #GetOutdoors on Twitter and Facebook. We would like to extend a particular welcome to the NatureKids BC network, but all BC educators and families are encouraged to join in!

To register for this interactive, online learning experience please follow the link below. You must pre-register via the Zoom portal, and then you will receive your personal Zoom link in a confirmation email and a calendar reminder.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMldeCvqzoqG9AUKzzAX0yTxsSLSAPmFCAm

Fri, 22 Nov 2019
Tags: Education

2019 HCTF-McCubbing Awards Winners Announced

The winners of the 3rd annual HCTF–McCubbing Awards were announced today at the BC Institute of Technology’s Awards Celebration in Burnaby, BC.

Four students from the Fish, Wildlife and Recreation program as well as the Bachelor of Science, Ecological Restoration program will receive a $5,000 awards scholarship to assist with their studies at the BC Institute of Technology (BCIT). The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) created the award in memory of Don McCubbing, a fisheries biologist and member of our Fisheries Technical Review Committee who passed away in 2015. Don believed that education in both practical field work and technical skills training was key to developing the next generation of fisheries biologists. Don left behind a legacy of academic and professional achievements, innovation in the field of fisheries biology and science-based decision making in service of fisheries conservation throughout BC.

We here at HCTF believe that supporting the next generation of BC conservationists is key to securing the future of wildlife, fish and natural habitats in this province. The educational background, technical skills and practical experience the awards winners and their fellow students will receive at BCIT will inform conservation practices in BC for years to come. HCTF would like to congratulate this year’s HCTF–McCubbing Awards winners and wish them success in their future fish, wildlife and habitat conservation careers.

Mon, 10 Jun 2019
Tags: Education

New Interactive Trail in Tsútswecw Park Tells Story of Landscape & Local Plants through the Voices of Secwépemctsin Language Students

BC Story Trail launch
HCTF Board member Ian McGregor is among the first visitors to the Story Trail in Tsútswecw Provincial Park

Today marks the opening of an interactive and interpretive trail in Tsútswecw Provincial Park built on the traditional territory of the Secwépemc people. The trail uses technology to tell the story of native plants and landscape features through the voices of local youth.

Members of the public are invited to celebrate the power of story, nature and culture, and discover the rich history of the land. Visitors will scan signage along the trail to hear students from Chase Secondary School’s Secwépemctsin language class share what they learned from their elders. You can listen to the Story Trail stations by clicking on the image below to visit the interactive map on the BC Parks Foundation website.

Visit the BC Parks Foundation’s website to listen to the story trail stations on their interactive map.

The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) Education program helped support the Story Trails project by covering the class’s transportation costs to and from the park, providing honorariums for elders and having WildBC facilitators work with the students and teachers. The Story Trails project is one of multiple HCTF Education-supported initiatives at Chase Secondary. The school was chosen as a pilot for HCTF’s new high school LEAP (Leadership Environmental Action Projects) granting program. As part of the pilot, Chase’s Biology 11 class brought their stream and watershed studies to life through hands-on field experiences at nearby Chase Creek. Chase students also helped younger students at Haldane Elementary with garden box plantings and Earth Day events. A dozen Chase students were even trained as Park Ambassadors for the Adam’s River Salute to Sockeye event.

Chase Secondary Student Ambassadors

Chase Secondary School Salmon Ambassadors worked with younger students and HCTF Education WildBC Facilitator Brenda Melnychuk to educate Salute to Sockeye participants about composting and recycling.

BC high schools interested in provided similar learning opportunities for their students are encouraged to check out the new LEAP grant program. Grants of up to $5000 are available for science, environmental or career courses focused on opportunities for students in environmental and conservation sciences. This year’s application deadline is June 15th. For more information, visit https://www.hctfeducation.ca/c2c-community/leap-grants/

Mon, 10 Jun 2019
Tags: Education

6000+ Students Get Outdoors this Spring

 

What a fantastic spring it’s been for outdoor learning in BC! HCTF Education, in partnership with BC Parks, provided BC schools with more than $80K in GO Grants to give their students the opportunity to learn about BC’s incredible biodiversity. Over 6,000 students from classes around the province participated in GO Grant field trips this spring. They created wildlife habitat gardens, removed invasive plants, investigated water quality and much more while exploring some of the province’s amazing natural settings, including BC Parks. To find out more about HCTF’s environmental education programs and resources, visit https://www.hctfeducation.ca/c2c-community/partners-and-special-projects/

Thu, 9 May 2019
Tags: Education

Congratulations HCTF Education, Cmolik Award Finalist!

HCTF Education Cmolik Prize Finalists

Congratulations to HCTF Education for being named a finalist for the Cmolik Prize for the Enhancement of Pub­lic Education in BC. The prize recognizes recipients who have developed and implemented an invention, innova­tion, concept, process or procedure that enhances educa­tional practice in the British Columbia K-12 public school system.

 

“On behalf of the entire environmental learning community of educators who help the program to thrive and grow, we are very honoured,” says Kerrie Mortin, HCTF Education Program manager. “Our belief is that every student in BC should be able to learn and experience BC’s great outdoor classroom.”

HCTF Education helps to meet the needs and challenges faced by schools and teachers to implement environ­mental learning in the classroom. This includes providing field trip (GO Grants) and conservation high school grants (LEAP), school programs (Wild Schools and Environmental Exchange Box), access to a network of environmental educators (WildBC Facilitators), and educational resources. HCTF Edu­cation programs and support network continue to be a catalyst and voice for environmental educational initiatives that support changes across the diverse geographies and cultures of BC.

To learn more, visit hctfeducation.ca

Tue, 26 Feb 2019
Tags: Education

Educators Get Outdoors to learn about Environmental Education

In an event cosponsored by BC Parks and HCTF, educators came together at Strathcona Provincial Park to participate in HCTF Education workshop. Led by HCTF Education’s WildBC Facilitator, Luisa Richardson, the group’s goal was to learn and teach winter ecology activities they could do with their own students.

Using Get Outdoors and Below Zero activities at attune their senses to the snowy world around them, learning was brought to life through hands-on learning.

“All participants were enthusiastically and joyfully engaged. They were happy to receive activities that allowed them to teach youth about habitat, biodiversity and stewardship to lighten their foot print in snowy habitats protected places,” Richardson reported. “We were all surprised at how much harder it was to play predator prey simulations in snow. It drove home how much more energy animals need to find food, water, shelter in winter, and how much harder it is for them to survive.”

Events such as this one, bringing together HCTF workshops for educators is made possible by the BC Parks license plate funding program.