Tue, 20 Sep 2022
Tags: birds of prey / cougar / Education / fellowship / owls / scholarship

2022 Al Martin HCTF Conservation Fellowship Recipients Announced

The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and HCTF Education are pleased to announce our 2022 recipients of the Al Martin HCTF Conservation Fellowship (AMCF): Siobhan Darlington & Megan Buers.

The AMCF awards $10,000 annually to two graduate students who are wishing to pursue a career in fish or wildlife management and conservation in British Columbia.

The award is named in honor of Al Martin, a lifelong conservation giant who passed away suddenly in 2019. Al had an influential career with the BC provincial government that spanned three decades in fish and wildlife management and habitat conservation. After his retirement in 2010, Al continued to be a leader in the conservation community as a Board Director with HCTF and Director of Strategic Initiatives with the BC Wildlife Federation.

More About Al

2022 Recipients:

Siobhan Darlington

Siobhan Darlington (she/her) is a PhD student in Biology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan working under the supervision of Dr. Adam Ford and Dr. Karen Hodges. AMCF funds will be used to support research for her thesis “The spatial ecology and foraging dynamics of cougar in the southern interior of British Columbia” as part of the Southern BC Cougar Project. In the future, Siobhan hopes to continue working with cougars and other wild felids to understand the dual impacts of climate change and human activity on their distributions and mitigate potential threats through policy, public outreach, and conservation work.

More About Siobhan

 

Megan Buers

Megan Buers is an MSc student at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus under the supervision of Dr. Karen Hodges. AMCF funds will be used to support her thesis “Are riparian areas thermal refugia for nocturnal forest birds in south central British Columbia?” which explores how habitat characteristics of riparian areas may act to provide shelter for wildlife during periods of high heat. In the future, Megan hopes to continue working with species at risk in British Columbia and, in particular, birds of prey. She will continue to advocate for more public outreach and education on habitats and how we can work to protect these habitats through the coming decades.

More About Megan

If you or someone you know may be interested in applying for the Al Martin HCTF Conservation Scholarship, check out the following links:

Applicant Info Apply Online

 

HCTF Scholarship Program

 

 

Wed, 15 Sep 2021
Tags: chinook / moose / salmon / scholarship

2021 Al Martin HCTF Conservation Fellowship Recipients Announced

The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and HCTF Education are excited to announce the first-ever recipients of the Al Martin HCTF Conservation Fellowship (AMCF): Kaitlyn Zinn & Carl Jefferies.

The AMCF awards $10,000 annually to two graduate students who are wishing to pursue a career in fish or wildlife management and conservation in British Columbia.

The award is named in honor of Al Martin, a lifelong conservation giant who passed away suddenly in 2019. Al had an influential career with the BC provincial government that spanned three decades in fish and wildlife management and habitat conservation. After his retirement in 2010, Al continued to be a leader in the conservation community as a Board Director with HCTF and Director of Strategic Initiatives with the BC Wildlife Federation.

More About Al

2021 Recipients:

Kaitlyn Zinn

Kaitlyn is a PhD student at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry under the supervision of Dr. Scott Hinch in the Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Laboratory. AMCF funds will be used to support her research for her thesis “Effects of Recreational Catch and Release on Chinook: From Marine Environments to Spawning Grounds”. Kaitlyn’s long term goal is to be involved in salmonid conservation, contributing to the conservation of wild salmon stocks in British Columbia.

More About Kaitlyn

 

Carl Jefferies

Carl is a MSc student in the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (NRES) program at UNBC under the supervision of Dr. Heather Bryan. AMCF funds will be used to support his proposed thesis “Towards a better understanding of moose declines in BC: Effects of climate and anthropogenic landscape change on moose body condition and physiology”. Carl’s long term goal is to contribute to the management of conservation of wildlife populations throughout BC by balancing ecological conservation with the values and priorities of stakeholders, particularly First Nations and citizen groups.

More About Carl

If you or someone you know may be interested in applying for the Al Martin HCTF Conservation Scholarship, check out the following links:

Applicant Info Apply Online

 

 

Mon, 29 Mar 2021
Tags: scholarship

Announcing the Al Martin Conservation Fellowship & Scholarship Program

Project #5-306: Horsefly River - Rainbow Trout Enumeration and Habitat Use Study

In celebration of the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation’s 40th Anniversary and the many individuals who have championed conservation efforts across BC in that time, we are proud to announce the HCTF Scholarship Grant Program. It is our hope that this new program will support students to pursue a higher education leading to a career in wildlife or fish conservation and carry on the tradition of conservation excellence here in BC. The first of these Scholarship Grants to be awarded will be the Al Martin Conservation Fellowship (AMCF), named in honour of our late Board Director.

Al was a giant in the conservation community and had an influential and lengthy career in fish and wildlife management and habitat conservation. His clear thinking, vision, and integrity commanded the respect of his colleagues, conservationists, politicians, and bureaucrats at all levels of government. Al passionately worked to sustain fish and wildlife habitats and populations for the enjoyment of generations to come. You can learn more about Al Martin’s impact of BC conservation here.

HCTF invites graduate students (pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree) to apply to the 2021 Al Martin Fellowship Program. The AMCF awards two fellows a $10,000 stipend, successful recipients must be full-time graduate students with solid academic standing registered in a recognized Canadian educational institute. They must be citizens or landed immigrants of Canada, wishing to pursue a career in fish or wildlife management and conservation in British Columbia. Fellowship Award recipients will have the opportunity to access Peer networking opportunities with HCTF’s conservation technical committees, a greater, real-world understanding of BC’s conservation landscape, and an expanded personal and professional network.

With the AMCF, HCTF strives to build a cohort of emerging leaders, connecting graduate students who will go on to do important work with BC’s conservation. We believe in nurturing and growing conservation leaders of the future and hope to announce other Scholarship and Fellowship opportunities as part of the new HCTF Scholarship Grant Program. If you interested in joining a community of leaders interested in BC’s fish, wildlife, habitat, and biodiversity conservation, Apply Now!

For more information visit our Scholarship Grants webpage.