Mon, 18 Nov 2013

Build It and They Will Come

HCTF has received news that salmon have returned to MacKay Creek! Shown in the photo below, chum salmon were seen making their way up the creek to spawn. Previously, a large concrete weir prevented fish from accessing the upper estuary and creek during low tide. The weir was removed in September and replaced with a naturalized creek outlet as part of the site’s restoration under the Burrard Inlet Restoration Pilot Program. Project leaders are hopeful that cutthroat and rainbow trout will also return to the creek in future years. You can read more about the improvements made at MacKay in our recent blog post.

 

Mon, 4 Nov 2013

HCTF and The Land Conservancy of BC

The following backgrounder summarizes HCTF’s funding history with The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC), and the Foundation’s current involvement in TLC’s court process.

View HCTF TLC Media Backgrounder

Tue, 29 Oct 2013

Reminder: HCTF Application Deadline This Saturday

The deadline to apply for a 2014-15 Enhancement & Restoration grant is this Saturday, November 2nd at 4:30pm. Applications must be submitted via HCTF Online. An HCTF staff member will be available this Saturday from 11am until 4:30pm to answer any last-minute questions about the application process: phone 250-940-9781 or email hctf@hctf.ca for assistance.

 

Thu, 24 Oct 2013

HCTF Presents Silver Award at Stewardship Evaluation Workshop

HCTF IES Evaluation Workshop Participants

The 2013 HCTF Stewardship Evaluation Workshop brought together an inspiring group of some of BC’s leaders in stewardship and environmental engagement. Participants presented the results of their HCTF-funded projects, providing great examples of how licence surcharge money is being used to change behaviors and truly make a difference for conservation in BC.

In additiona to providing an excellent forum for exchanging ideas about stewardship, the workshop was also a golden opportunity for HCTF to present a Silver Award to one of the participants. Board Chair Harvey Andrusak presented a Silver Award to Barb Beasley for her work in protecting native frog populations. Barb’s project initiated the construction of a highway underpass system to prevent frogs and other animals from being crushed by vehicles while migrating across roads. The project may not have moved mountains, but it certainly moved highways and close to forty tons of concrete to create safe passage for frogs and salamanders. You can read more about the “Conserving Amphibian Populations & Connecting Habitats Across Roads” project in our project profiles section, and visit Barb’s blog for a full account of tunnel installation, along with some recent project updates.

HCTF Evaluation Workshops are held annually, alternating between fisheries, wildlife and stewardship projects. A full report on the 2013 workshop will be posted in our “Publications” page in the coming months, along with some highlights of project presentations. Thanks again to everyone who participated in the workshop, and congratulations to Barb on your award!

Barb_Beasley_Silver_award.jpg

Tue, 15 Oct 2013

PCAF Grants an Additional $59K for Community Conservation Projects

The Public Conservation Assistance Fund (PCAF) has approved funding for a dozen hands-on, community-based fish and wildlife projects as part of its fall intake. Grant recipients will use HCTF funds to support the work of dedicated volunteers in providing environmental education programs, restoring disturbed habitats, constructing boardwalks, fishing docks, and much more. You can view a complete list of this round’s successful PCAF applicants by downloading our 2013-14 PCAF Approved Projects List (2nd Call).

The next deadline for submitting a PCAF application will be May 15, 2014.

Mon, 7 Oct 2013
Tags: Fisheries

Restoring Nature’s Curves

Aerial Photo of Okanagan River, with overlay showing difference before and after channelization.

As part of HCTF’s project site evaluation program, staff recently visited a restoration project on the historically channelized and straightened Okanagan River (“Okanagan River Restoration Initiative – Phase II). HCTF (along with a number of partner organizations) is currently funding the reconstruction of a side channel to improve spawning and rearing habitat for trout and salmon. This project will also benefit wildlife species by increasing riparian habitat.

In the early 1900s the Okanagan River was re-engineered from a meandering stream to a channelized and diked waterway for the purposes of navigation, flood control and irrigation. This reduced much of the fish and riparian habitats along the river. The Okanagan River Restoration Initiative (ORRI) is an alliance of government and non-government organizations dedicated to restoring portions of the river to its original configuration, providing habitat for sockeye salmon, rainbow trout and wildlife species at risk such as, Yellow Breasted Chat, Great Basin Spadefoot and Western Screech Owl.

This HCTF project is being undertaken by the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) and project leader Camille Savois-Rivard proudly showed HCTF staff the new side channel which was still under construction at the time of the site visit. HCTF Project 8-391 Okanagan River side channel

This work had been delayed for several years due to unusually high streamflows impeding the instream activities, so it took teamwork, ongoing commitment to ensure partners and landowners remained on-side and perseverence for it all to come together – thank you Camille, for helping to make it happen!

The Okanagan River Restoration Initiative was a 2010-11 BC Premier’s Award Regional Finalist. You can learn more about the project by watching the video below: