HCTF’s list of Available Restricted Funding for 2016-17 has been posted!

Occasionally, HCTF receives funding that is restricted to a specific location, species, or activity. If there are no current approved projects that meet the restriction, HCTF will advertise the funding on our website in an effort to solicit proposals for the upcoming year. The current list of available restricted funding has been posted here. 

The majority of our restricted funding is the result of court awards made to HCTF through creative sentencing. For more information on creative sentencing, click here.

This year there are 7 different restricted court awards that can be applied for, ranging from $2,000 to $70,000. The restricted funding can be the basis for a full project, or form a small component of a larger project.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal for any of the restricted funding, please review the “How to Apply for Restricted Funding” section. Note that all restricted funding applications should be submitted through our regular enhancement grant process, with the deadline of November 2, 2015.

Do you have a project idea for enhancing fish habitat in the Alouette River watershed, or Grizzly habitat in Northern BC? We’d love to hear from you!

The HCTF Board would like to welcome David Tesch as their newest member (bio here). David replaces the recently departed Alec Dale as one of the two government appointees, with Alec stepping down after serving a solid three year stint on the Board. Many thanks to Alec for all his service, advice and support to the Foundation, and welcome aboard Dave!

The North Okanagan Naturalist’s club is looking for volunteers to help them with monitoring Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes as part of a PCAF project taking place in the Campbell Brown Ecological Reserve.

The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake is a subspecies of the Western Rattlesnake, which is designated as threatened in BC. In Canada, its range is limited to the Thompson and Okanagan Valleys and its habitat is increasingly threatened by development. The Campbell Brown Ecological Reserve was set aside partly because it had a long-recognized active rattlesnake den, and a second den has since been discovered. The project will focus on marking the snakes by inserting PIT tags under the snake’s skin which can be read without recapturing the snakes, and recording their biostatics in order facilitate long term research on the growth and conditions of snake and den populations, as well as providing a means of tracking the snakes’ use of the habitat.

Starting September 15th, the Campbell Brown Ecological Reserve Western Rattlesnake Project will require two people to start monitoring for snakes returning to dens on most warm days. Experienced assistants (i.e. people who have some experience in helping to handle snakes) are preferred for this task. The project also needs recorders to help record snake ID and measurements, and assistants and “go fors” to watch for snake activity. Volunteers will always work with another person. All jobs require the ability to walk up to dens (steady up hill on a good path) and have sturdy boots/gum boots. To confirm volunteer requirements or get further information, please contact Linda asap at ardtarig@gmail.com.

We were so impressed with the entries we received last year in response to our first ever photo contest that we’ve decided to run it again! If you’ve captured a spectacular image of BC’s wildlife, freshwater fish, natural landscapes, or a photo of people participating in activities that connect them to these resources, you could enter to win this year’s grand prize of a $500 VISA gift card. For full contest information, official rules and digital entry form, click here.