Fri, 24 Jan 2014
Tags: Stewardship

Good Neighbours Project Wins HCTF Silver Award

HAT President Pia Archibald and Stewardship Coordinator Todd Carnahan accept an HCTF Silver Award for the Good Neighbours Project

 

The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation was pleased to present the Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) with a Silver Award for the Good Neighbours Project at their AGM last Wednesday.

HAT is a land trust operating in Greater Victoria that aims to help citizens better understand and care for habitats within the region. Their Good Neighbours program assists property owners in meeting their land use needs while simultaneously protecting some of Canada’s rarest habitats.

Each year, HAT focuses its outreach services on a different region of Capital Regional District. Their engagement of neighbours and students in science-based demonstration projects benefits local ecosystems and creates lasting networks within communities.

The HCTF Silver Award is just the latest accolade for Good Neighbours Program – it has also won a CRD Ecostar Award. For more information on this program and how you can become involved, visit HAT’s website

 

HAT Millstream Good Neighbours Project

 

Thu, 23 Jan 2014

Contract Extensions

Project Leaders: the window to submit Contract Extension Request Forms is now open. If you do not foresee being able complete the activities covered under your 2013-14 grant agreement by March 31, 2014, you will need to submit a request for a contract extension. Request forms can be emailed to Katelynn.Sander@hctf.ca, and must be submitted by the February 15, 2014 deadline. 

Sat, 18 Jan 2014

The Mysterious Wolverine

A rare photo showing a bighorn ram amongst a flock of domestic ewes in Arizona’s Dome Valley. Photo Credit: Bob Henry

Planning to be in Victoria next Wednesday? Join the Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) for their annual general meeting, which will include a special presentation by wildlife biologist Eric Lofroth on the wild & wonderful wolverine. Learn more about the lives of these mysterious icons of BC’s wilderness, who have only recently been discovered to inhabit the Great Bear Rainforest.  Eric has been researching this solitary species for many years, including being the lead on an HCTF-funded project examining wolverine distribution, habitat and foraging behavior in the North Cascade Ranges.

 

The Habitat Acquisition Trust is a non-profit land trust in the capital region. They have received multiple HCTF grants for their projects promoting positive land use practices and natural area stewardship.   HAT’s AGM begins at 7pm on Wednesday, January 22nd at the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary Nature House. Everyone is welcome.

Tue, 7 Jan 2014
Tags: Wildlife

Video: Roosevelt Elk Recovery Project

Roosevelt Elk departs truck as part of Lower Mainland Elk Recovery Project

Today’s Globe and Mail features the following video of the HCTF-funded Coastal Mainland Roosevelt Elk Recovery and Management Project. This highly successful project relocates Roosevelt Elk from areas along the Sunshine Coast Highway to remote watersheds in southwestern British Columbia where the species was historically found.

 

By the 1900s, the number of Roosevelt Elk in BC had been severely reduced, and they were all but eliminated from the southern mainland coast. Since 1997, HCTF has provided approximately $750,000 to fund the translocation (and monitoring) of over 450 elk to 22 different mainland locations. The resulting population from these transfers is estimated to be 1,400 animals.

Map showing South Coast Roosevelt Elk Recovery Status

The restoration of this big game species to its former habitats not only has ecological benefits, established populations resulting from translocations also provide some limited-entry hunting opportunities, which benefit local First Nations, resident and non-resident hunters.

Roosevelt Elk departs truck as part of Lower Mainland Elk Recovery Project

To find out more about the Coastal Mainland Roosevelt Elk Recovery and Management Project, visit the following links:

Up Close with Roosevelt Elk: YouTube Video of Canada in the Rough episode featuring project leader Daryl Reynolds darting and collaring a bull Roosevelt elk to collect information on their habitats (helicopter action starts at 9:32).

Elk Herds Repopulate Sea to Sky: Article in Pique Magazine.

Squamish-area elk population boosted  The Chief news article and video of relocated elk coming off the truck. 

Want to read more about HCTF-funded projects? Visit our project profiles page.

Sat, 21 Dec 2013

Happy Holidays

Season’s greetings from all of us at HCTF. Please note that the office will be closed the week of December 23rd, reopening 8:30am Monday, December 30th. Happy holidays!

Fri, 13 Dec 2013

Christmas Bird Counts Start This Saturday

HCTF_7-410_Vanderhoof_sharp_tailed_grouse.jpg‘Tis the season for the Christmas Bird Count! Find a Christmas Bird Count near you and participate in the longest-running citizen science survey in the world. Started by the Audobon Society on Christmas Day in 1900, this early winter bird census involves thousands of volunteers across the Western Hemisphere counting birds in designated areas over a 24 hour period. The counts are held on specific days between December 14th and January 5th. Anyone can participate (it’s free!) but you must make arrangements in advance with the person designated as circle compiler. You can get the contact details for the circle compiler in your area by visiting the website of HCTF grant recipient Bird Studies Canada.