The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) is investing $85,900 for a project to preserve the declining Telkwa Caribou herd.
A recent press release says the Telkwa caribou herd is declining almost to extinction, and the foundation funded project will look at the causes of the decline including displacement by winter recreation and predation by wolves.
The study will quantify the impacts of those factors and GPS and web-based technologies will increase awareness and reduce recreational impacts to caribou.
The Telkwa caribou grant is one among 139 grants from the non-profit HCTF organization. They are distributing over $6 million to projects to protect B.C.’s fish, wildlife and habitats.
“This money is critical to conserving and managing the diverse range of habitats and species that make B.C. special,” said Harvey Andrusak, Chair of the Foundation. “Without these grants, much of the critical conservation work happening around the province simply couldn’t get done.”
The primary source of HCTF funding is the sale of fishing, hunting, guiding and trapping licences, rather than donations.
“The conservationists of this province chose to go beyond simple stewardship of the resource to become instrumental in preserving a whole range of species and habitats, to everyone’s benefit,” Andrusak said.