Foundation

CWF Photo Club image: G. Goelzer

The Canadian Wildlife Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to the belief that the renewable natural resources of Canada are economic, social, recreational and aesthetic assets that must be restored, used wisely and perpetuated for posterity. The Canadian Wildlife Foundation’s Funding Program exists to promote wildlife habitat and the wise use of wildlife resources in Canada. 

Every spring and fall, the Canadian Wildlife Foundation’s Funding Program provides funding to conservation and education programs related to wildlife research and to registered Canadian charitable organizations.

In the last year, the Canadian Wildlife Foundation funded the following projects:

Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre
$10,000
The Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre applies the veterinary medical sciences to wildlife conservation and management in Canada.

Sea to Sky Wetlands Project
$11,800
The B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Wetlandkeepers: Sea to Sky project trains participants in education, inventory, mapping and restoration of wetlands.

Eelgrass Beds
$4,500
Eelgrass beds and other coastal foundation species support whole trophic webs and offer migratory waterfowl and fish and lobster species a spot to feed and nurse. In the last century, invasive species like the European green crab and other environmental factors have threatened the growth and survival of eelgrass. A study conducted by the University of Prince Edward Island will research the interaction between green crabs and eelgrass to learn how to conserve these beds.

Sauger Fish
$10,000
The sauger fish has recently changed in size and decreased in number — signs that the species is in trouble. The Lac Saint-Pierre Committee plans to find the sauger’s spawning grounds and migration patterns in order to maintain the fish’s habitat before it is lost forever.

Junction Creek
$2,900
For decades, Junction Creek in Sudbury, Ontario sat polluted largely due to industrialization and urbanization; no one knew what species of fish the creek contained. But in 1993, a fish community assessment found 12 species of fish. The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee and the Nickel District Conservation Foundation are conducting another fish community assessment to check which species live in the waters and how they are distributed throughout the 23 kilometres that make up the creek’s main branch.

Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer Snake
$7,500
The eastern yellow-bellied racer has been declared a threatened snake species, and very little is known about its cloistered population found only in south-central Saskatchewan. A joint program between the University of Regina and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum is developing a recovery strategy for the species, identifying racer habitat and hibernation sites, collecting genetic samples and conducting surveys to determine ecological challenges and possible solutions.

Cougars
$4,900
Since the late 1990s, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, which extends from southeast Alberta to southwest Saskatchewan, has supported cougar populations. This area has no other large carnivores but boasts many other mammalian species, like coyotes and mule deer, which are prey species of cougars. As of 2007, eight to 12 cougars lived in the park. University of Alberta researchers plan to track these cougars with GPS collars to evaluate how the seasons and human impacts affect their patterns; they’ll also track how much time the cougars spend in the park and on private land.

Moose
$4,000
A research project conducted by St. Mary’s University found the number of tooth breakage in moose on the islands of Cape Breton and Newfoundland to be greatly higher than in other North American jurisdictions. After chemically analyzing 500 teeth, researchers found a link between tooth breakage and lead concentration in the teeth. Further research will study the cause of deterioration through study of the environment (including the soil and freshwater) of the Cape Breton Highlands region.

Frogs
$2,700
Experts deem the presence of frogs to be a sign of a healthy ecosystem; the absence of frogs, then, signifies a deteriorating ecosystem. Researchers study frogs to understand the effects of climate change, ozone depletion and pollutants like pesticides. The New Brunswick Federation of Naturalists Inc. will use a quality bilingual education kit aiming to teach N.B. youth aged six to 12 about the importance of native frogs and toads to the province.

Wetlands
$4,000
Salt marshes and freshwater marshes have drastically declined in New Brunswick due to development along coastlines, drainage for agriculture, urban expansion and forestry. The Tantramar Wetlands Centre, located in Sackville, N.B., offers education programs that teach over 1,000 Grade four to 12 students about the importance of wetlands and their conservation. In the Wetlands through Waterfowl program, students learn waterfowl ecology and identification and participate in duck banding to learn about monitoring waterfowl populations. In the Wetlands in Winter program, students track wildlife on snowshoes to assess wildlife populations, use specialized equipment to study aquatic invertebrates and examine buffer zones and wind chill factors in order to understand how crucial wetland habitats are for wildlife in cold weather.

Butterfly Housing
$2,500
Since 1999, La Maison des Insectes MDI has housed more than 2,000 butterflies of 60 to 90 species. Canadians can visit the butterflies from mid-June to early September in Domaine de Maizerets, a municipal park in Quebec City. This enclosed butterfly habitat sparks public awareness about the role, diversity and importance of butterflies, as well as their host plants. It also offers advice to Canadian gardeners that will help protect butterflies in the wild.

Chimney Swift
$7,500
Since 1968, this aerial insect forager has seen a 95 per cent drop in its numbers. With fewer than 12,000 left in Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed the chimney swift as a threatened species in 2007. Originally these birds nested in hollow trees, but as Europeans settled on Canadian shores, chimney swifts began to nest more and more in chimneys. By 1800, the once woodland bird turned increasingly urban. Due to chimney covers, new fire prevention standards, the use of metal chimneys and logging practices, these birds are finding it difficult to locate nesting areas; so much so, it’s expected that their nesting grounds will disappear within the next 30 years. But the Société de biologie de Montréal is working to reverse this ordeal by developing, building and installing artificial chimney models across Quebec that will allow the chimney swift to repopulate.

Russian Thistle
$7,500
The Russian thistle, an invasive plant, has spread widely through the native montane grasslands around Jasper National Park, where wildlife such as bighorn sheep and elk graze over the winter. Researchers at the University of Alberta are researching the impact Russian thistle has on native plants in the region, how grazing wildlife impact the survival and persistence of the thistle and what methods (be they herbicide, mechanical or manual removal) work to keep this weed under control. 

Purple Martin
$2,500
In 1985, the B.C. western purple martin population dwindled down to five breeding pairs because of a loss of nesting habitat due to logging, clearing land for agricultural purposes, fire suppression and urban development. The remaining nesting spots were sought after by European starlings and house sparrows, leaving the purple martin homeless. The Georgia Basin Ecological Assessment and Restoration Society in Nanaimo, B.C. built, installed and maintained nesting boxes around the Strait of Georgia, increasing the martin’s numbers to 650 breeding pairs in 2007. But after a long cold spring in 2008, the numbers dwindled again to 555 breeding pairs. For 2009, GBEARS plans to keep a close watch on marine and freshwater nest box locations, document the bird’s population numbers, and bring them back to their old freshwater sites.

Mason Bee
$5,500
With native bee populations on a mysterious decline, the Environmental Youth Alliance is aiming to bring blue orchard mason bees back to Vancouver parks. The mason bee is a non-aggressive native bee that is crucial to pollinating fruit-bearing plants. By setting up 53 bee “high rises” in 50 neighbourhood parks and nests in Stanley Park, Everett Crowley and Jericho, 4,320 female mason bees will have a spot to nest. EYA hopes that within one generation, there will be 65,000 new mason bees in Vancouver parks.

Orville Erickson Scholarship
$10,000 to undergraduate students, and $16,500 to graduate students
The Orville Erickson Memorial Scholarships are awarded once per year to post-secondary students in the field of conservation. The fund is administered by the Canadian Wildlife Foundation and is financed entirely by private-sector donations in memory of Orville Erickson, a prominent Canadian conservationist and past CWF president. In 2008, scholarships were awarded to eight undergraduate students (Sarah Champagne, Robyn Davidson, Tanner Beck, Maxime Boivin, Kaycee Morrison, Kaitlyn Obstfeld, Emma Posluns and Peter Tarleton) and six graduate students (Allison Henderson, Corey Scobie, Aurelie Bourbeau-Lemieux, Sarah Lord, Adam Martinson and Kimberly Monaghan).