Previously funded programs for 2011

2011

Spring

Scout Island Nature Centre
Williams Lake, BC
Students Working and Learning in their Watersheds
$6,440
The Scout Island Nature Centre offers high school students hands-on involvement in real science through investigating the impacts that humans have on watershed health. During the two-day field trip, students help specialists, biologists and researchers collect field data, participate in habitat restoration and salmon population enhancement. They get a first-hand look at how stream-side damage affects spawning grounds, and are shown how to restore the riparian zone.

Partners for the Saskatchewan River Basin
Saskatoon, SK
Sammy the Sturgeon’s Fish Habitat Program
$2,500
This program will encourage individuals, school groups and families to not only practice water conservation but also work to improve the water quality in their watershed. It will help teach people that the health of neighbouring ecosystems are intertwined and can affect one another.

Community Forests International
Sackville, NB
The Acadian Forest Biodiversity Initiative
$5,000
The Acadian Forest spans New Brunswick and is composed of northern boreal and southern hardwood forest which support a number of plant and animal species. The Acadian Forest Biodiversity Initiative will educate communities on the Chignecto Isthmus and in the wider Atlantic Maritime Ecozone  about the importance of this forest by providing web resources, education, plant material, and wildlife structures.

Yukon Conservation Society
Whitehorse, YT
Teslin Lake and Albert Creek Bird Observations
$16,500
As migratory bird populations continue to decline, researchers are becoming increasingly concerned about the welfare of these creatures. The Albert Creek and Teslin Lake Bird Observatories are committed to monitoring and counting the bird species of the northwestern portion of Canada’s Boreal Forest. This project will help to gather more baseline data on birds in the southern Yukon including their migration timing and species distribution as well as data that can contribute to long term population monitoring.

Bulkley Valley Centre for Natural Resources Research and Management
Smithers, BC
Response of Caribou Terrestorial Forage Lichens to Mountain Pine Beetles in West-Central BC
$8,800
This research project will discover the effects that the mountain pine beetle epidemic had on terrestrial caribou forage lichens which took place 10 years ago. These lichens are critical to the caribou in the Tweedsmuir-Entiako herd in BC during the winter. By re-measuring the terrestrial lichen abundance, competing vegetation abundance, stand structure, regeneration and coarse woody debris now, the Centre hopes to learn more about the impacts of a threat on caribou and how we can better conserve and manage caribou and their habitat.

University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
Foraging Ecology of Peregrine Falcons in the Canadian Arctic
$5,000
The peregrine falcon experienced drastic population declines during the 1960s and 70s due to pesticides. Since then, the number of chicks produced by the Arctic population has continued to decline for unknown reasons. This University of Alberta study will look into the hypothesis that weather is indirectly affecting falcon populations by means of the abundance (or lack thereof) of their terrestrial and marine prey.

Keyano College
Fort McMurry, AB
Impats of Oil Sands Mining on Amphibian Health in the Boreal Forest
$9,000
Oil sands mining and processing operations are releasing organic compounds and heavy metals that have the potential to negatively impact the ecosystem on a large scale. Amphibians may be particularly impacted by these metals since their breeding ponds are primarily filled by snowmelt in the spring – which studies have shown contain high levels of toxic organic compounds. This project will evaluate the health of wild amphibian populations surrounding the oil sands operations in Fort McMurray.

University of Winnipeg
Winnipeg, MB
A Comparison of Breeding Biology of Captive and Released and Wild Western Burrowing Owls
$5,000
Burrowing owls once occupied most of the grassland Prairie Provinces and the southern interior of B.C.. Currently the species occupies only 36 per cent of their historical Canadian distribution due to declining populations. This study will begin a reintroduction program of captive bred birds into the Manitoba wild to increase burrowing owl populations in the province. It will also gather data about the owl’s food habits, habitat use and activity.

Fall

A Rocha Canada
Surrey, BC
The Pembina Valley Raptor Migration Project
$4,500
Birds of prey are excellent indicators of ecosystem health, however, monitoring has been left mostly to non-government organizations. The Pembina Valley Raptor Migration Project will monitor the 2012 spring raptor migration and offer up the data it collects to the international raptor database. The project will also educate the public about the value of raptors and their relevance to ecosystem health.

B.C. Wildlife Federation
Surrey, BC
Sea-to-Sky Wetlands Institute Workshop
$3,000
The B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Wetlandkeepers Sea to Sky project trains and educates participants in the inventory, mapping and restoration of wetlands.

Lake Windemere Ambassadors Society/Wildsight
Invemere, BC
Kinsmen Beach Restoration – Phase II
$2,000
This project will prevent erosion, restore native riparian and wetland habitat for fish and wildlife, increase recreational opportunities for fishing and wildlife viewing. It will also provide environmental education opportunities for shoreline property owners and others who visit Lake Windermere’s busiest community beach.

Toronto Zoo
Toronto, ON
Great Lakes Program
$4,000
The Great Lakes Program increases public knowledge and respect for the Great Lakes. By focussing on a single endangered fish, the Redside dace, the program aims to inform the public on what they can do for water conservation.

Bird Studies Canada
Sackville, NB
Students for a Swift Recovery
$6,000
Since 1968, this aerial insect forager has seen a 95 per cent drop in its numbers. With only 12,000 left in Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed the chimney swift, an aerial insect forager, an endangered species in 2007. Originally these winged wonders nested in hollow trees, but as Europeans settled on Canadian shores, they swapped trees for chimneys. By 1800, the once woodland bird turned urban, nesting in chimneys. However, at the current rate of chimney loss, in 30 years few brick chimneys will remain. This project will empower kids and educations to take conservation action and will also create awareness about the chimney swift.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter
St. John’s, NL
Purple Sandpiper Monitoring
$2,500
The purple sandpiper breeds in different regions of the Arctic and Sub-Artic from Canada to Siberia, but Atlantic Canada has a high proportion of the only population of purple sandpipers wintering in North America. But recent data shows a significant decline in their numbers. In partnership with Environment Canada, CPAWS-NL will survey purple sandpipers along the Newfoundland shoreline from November to April.

Nature Conservancy of Canada
Victoria, BC
Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory
$2,000
In August and September, migratory birds journey south on their autumnal migration using Tatlayoko Lake Ranch riparian and wetland area to refuel. Volunteers will band birds, recording their details for data.

University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
Mange and Conflict Behaviour in Urban Coyotes
$4,000
The Edmonton Urban Coyote Project has discovered that coyotes infested with Sarcoptic mange (a mite common in canids) show different diet, movement and habitat selection than healthy coyotes. Researchers will test the hypothesis that mange promotes conflict behaviour in urban coyotes by reducing their ability to forage and tolerate cold temperatures. This study will help to reduce disease transmission to allow coyote populations to become healthier and more stable.

Queen’s University
Kingston, ON
Microclimatic Preditors of Call Phenology for Eastern Ontario Frogs
$750
This research project will study how abiotic environmental factors influence calling variation in frogs. Data will give researchers insight into how climate change affects Eastern Ontario frogs and also how environmental factors affect frog breeding behaviour.