The Columbia Basin Trust will be providing over $1 million split up between 36 environmental projects through its Environmental Initiatives Program (EIP).
"These projects will have positive effects on the Basin environment through both direct action and education, helping reduce the impacts people have on our region's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems," said Sabrina Curtis, CBT director in a press release.
Over the past 11 years, the program has provided over $5 million in funding for environmental conservation, restoration, stewardship and education projects across the Basin.
One of the projects receiving funds is the Kootenay Community Bat Project by Silverwing Ecological Consulting.
The project involves continuing community-based bat inventories, visiting landowners who have bats in their buildings, providing educational programs and promoting bat houses. It also involves engaging community members in collecting long-term monitoring data on bat populations at roost sites in buildings.
"The response to this project has been wonderful. We are so excited to be able to provide continued support to residents who have bats in buildings, while helping others to encourage bats to roost by building bat houses," said project biologist Juliet Craig. "CBT has been critical to our success."
The next large grants intake will take place in fall 2013. A small grants intake will be opening shortly; visit www.cbt.org/eip for details.
Here's a list of projects approved for funding (Fall 2012 for 2013 implementation):
BASIN-WIDE/CROSS-BOUNDARY
- British Columbia Conservation Foundation, Columbia Basin Electric Fence Project ($22,500)
- Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society, Quantifying Emissions Reductions for Ecosystem Restoration Projects in the Rocky Mountain Trench ($20,000)
- Seepanee Ecological Consulting, Abundance and Movement of Wolverine in the Kootenay Region ($49,180)
- Selkirk College, The Biodiversity Atlas: Education and Engagement ($25,000)
- Silverwing Ecological Consulting, Kootenay Community Bat Project: Citizen Science Roost Monitoring ($50,000)
- West Arm Outdoors Club, Kokanee Salmon School Program ($6,000)
- Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada, Whitebark Pine Restoration Planting ($34,500)
- Wildsight, Beyond Recycling ($50,000)
- Wildsight, I Love My Lake: Columbia Basin ($38,000)
NORTHEAST BASIN
- Groundswell Network Society, Applied Sustainable Living ($30,000)
- Lake Windermere Ambassadors Society, Lake Windermere Ambassadors Watershed Protection Dialogues ($15,000)
- Windermere District Farmers' Institute, Ecological Services Initiatives: Phase 2 Pilot Expansion Within the Columbia Basin ($20,000)
NORTHWEST BASIN
- GreenLearning Canada, Redfish School of Change ($22,900)
- Jakob Dulisse Consulting, Assessment of Western Toad Mortality on Highway 6 at Summit Lake ($40,950)
- Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild, Improving Mountain Caribou Calf Survival Through Maternity Penning ($50,000)
SOUTHWEST BASIN
- The British Columbia Wildlife Federation, Wetland Enhancement and Protection in the West Kootenay ($20,000)
- Central Kootenay Invasive Plant Committee (CKIPC), CKIPC Invasive Species Awareness Program ($49,950)
- City of Nelson, Waterfront Improvements - Selkirk College Field School 2013 ($9,998)
- Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology, New Ways to Use Technology in the Field ($9,000)
- Kootenay Native Plant Society, Camas Community Stewardship Initiative ($25,000)
- Kootenai Community Centre Society, New Life Furniture and Recycling's (NLFR) RePurpose, ReUse and Recycle It Campaign ($26,640)
- Nelson CARES Society, Earth Matters Zero Waste Youth Group ($20,000)
- White Bark Consulting, Whitebark Pine Restoration in the Selkirk and Columbia Mountains ($40,850)
- West Kootenay EcoSociety, Friends of Kootenay Lake ($29,900)
- West Kootenay EcoSociety, Kokanee Visitor Centre ($10,000)
SOUTHEAST BASIN
- Birchdale Ecological, Creston Valley Grizzly Bear Project ($22,000)
- Blue Lake Forest Education Society, Blue Lake Day Camp Program ($20,758)
- Elk River Alliance, Reporting to Residents on River Health ($30,000)
- Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, Our Wish for BC Fish 2013 ($49,136)
- I.M.A.G.E School Association, Bee Presentation in East Kootenay Parks ($4,275)
- Mainstreams Environmental Society, Deepening Field-based Water Education ($36,510)
- Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society, Blueprint for Action 2013 ($22,400)
- St. Mary's Indian Band, Grassland Ecosystem Strategic Planning: Support Inventory Phase II ($40,000)
- Wildsight, Cranbrook Clean Bin Project ($15,000)
- Wildsight, EcoGarden EcoEducation ($40,000)