Protecting B.C. bats from the deadly white-nose syndrome is one of 178 conservation projects getting a boost with $8.5 million in 2024 funding from the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.
More than $1 million of that funding pool will be going to projects focused on Lower Mainland conservation issues or habitat conservation.
One of them is the bat project - a multi-year undertaking, co-funded with the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, to help prevent the devastating bat illness, white-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus.
“Saving bats and their biodiversity is important,” said project leader Cori Lausen. “To protect several species of building-roosting bats is not only important for the ecosystem health but is specifically important in urban and rural areas where high human densities benefit from the insect-eating services of these long-lived yet slow-reproducing mammals.”
The partnership between the Forest Enhancement Society of BC and Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation "exemplifies how collaborative efforts can lead to significant environmental and community benefits," according to the release.
“(The society) and (the foundation) are proud funders of our project leaders as they develop local solutions to conserve our species, habitats, and ecosystems,” said Dan Buffett, CEO of Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. “For example, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada’s important work to mitigate the spread of white-nose syndrome in bats; this project brings together the most up-to-date science with local land managers and requires collaboration with an extensive group of partners at the international, national, and local levels.”
Other foundation projects in the region:
• $152,001 to capture and tag juvenile White Sturgeon in the Fraser River and tributaries to improve understanding of the distribution and abundance;
• $20,000 to support the development of an Indigenous-led conservation and protection project on Sumas Mountain in the traditional territory of the Semá:th people;
• $25,000 to improve understanding of pollution sources in the Township of Langley and incentivize better agricultural land management practices;
The foundation's board makes a point of ensuring that species important to B.C. anglers and hunters are supported but also places a great deal of importance on conserving whole ecosystems, species-at-risk, and investing in environmental education across the province.
The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation has been funding conservation projects throughout B.C. for four decades with projects led by partners like community groups, rod and gun clubs, non-government environmental organizations, First Nations and Indigenous-led organizations, and the Province of B.C. The foundation has helped finance over 3,800 B.C. projects since 1881, an investment of more than $232 million in conservation. More at www.hctf.ca.
