Manager of Programming & Education

The Yukon Wildlife Preserve Operating Society is looking for an innovative, goal-oriented professional responsible for all programming at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. Key program areas are: Visitor Services, Membership, Interpretive Services, Education and Nature Camp. Development and implementation of additional programs and policies to carry out the objectives of the YWP may be required. The Yukon Wildlife Preserve is a unique wildlife viewing property featuring 10 species of northern Canadian mammals in their natural environment. Encompassing over 700 acres with various natural habitats, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve offers unparalleled wildlife viewing and photo opportunities. The organization's mission is to promote knowledge and foster appreciation of arctic and boreal ecology through the creation of a centre of northern education, conservation and research excellence at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. View the job description here.

Eco Job Board

Check out ECO CANADA for recently posted environmental jobs.

* I'm always looking for job opportunities to highlight, please send me your submissions!  Thanks, MM

Environment Canada's EcoAction Community Funding Program

Environment Canada's EcoAction Community Funding Program provides financial support to community-based, non-profit organizations for projects that have measurable, positive impacts on the environment. The Program encourages action focused projects that will protect, rehabilitate or enhance the natural environment, and build the capacity of communities to sustain these activities into the future. The Program supports projects that address the following four themes: clean air, clean water, climate change and nature.

Next funding deadline: November 1, 2012. Applications must be reviewed by a regional office in advance to qualify. Be sure to check out the EcoAction Community Funding Program application requirements and eligibility criteria well in advance of the deadline.

Columbia Basin Trust - Environmental Initiatives Program (EIP)

Small grant applications (<$10,000) are accepted by the EIP Program throughout the year. Contact Rick Allen, Program Manager-Environment, before submitting a proposal.

September 21-22, 2012, Creston, BC

The Kootenay Conservation Program is holding its annual meeting and 10th Anniversary celebration entitled Kootenay Connections at the Ramada Creston Hotel. This event brings together non-govenment, government, First Nations, local colleges, consultants and practitioners from throughout the East and West Kootenays for two days of learning, networking, and celebration. See EKCP News (above) for more information, to register, and to become a sponsor.

September 27-28, 2012, Fernie, BC

The Crown of Continent Round Table is holding its 3rd Annual Conference Pathways to Prosperity: Caring for Communities in the Crown of the Continent at the Fernie Mountain Lodge. The purpose of the conference is to connect people and organizations who are passionate about the future of this 18 million acre landscape. The annual conference is open to all interests, communities, and perspectives, and provides an opportunity to communicate (share information and lessons learned), connect (build and strengthen relationships), and catalyze action on topics of shared interest.

September 28-30, 2012, Cranbrook, BC

CBEEN is gearing up for another Voices for Sustainability symposium, which will take place at Clear Sky Centre near Cranbrook. Learn the Tools, Lead the Way! This small-footprint professional development retreat allows formal and non-formal educators from across the Columbia Basin to annually get together, share ideas, and network, while rejuvenating in a spectacular setting. If you haven't attended one before, we highly recommend it! Great Divide Interpretation will be joining us to provide a half-day workshop on interpretation techniques. Through interpretation, educators can provoke thought, help students relate, and create deeper connections to subject matter. Registration opens in July. 

September 28-30, 2012, West Kelowna, BC

Waterlution - an Okanagan experience will be held at Green Bay Retreat on the west shores of Okanagan Lake. The Okanagan is one of Canada's driest watersheds - an ideal location to host a dialogue that focuses on real water issues, the process of leadership, collaborative learning and communication. The Waterlution Okanagan experience will provide you with an opportunity to learn about a range of water perspectives and practical leadership processes.

October 26, 2012 Vancouver, BC

The Real Estate Foundation of BC 2012 Land Awards Gala will be held on Friday, October 26th at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver. The Land Awards recognize initiatives that demonstrate leadership, innovation, and collaboration in sustainable land use in British Columbia. The awards celebrate and honour the non-profit organizations, private companies, and government bodies behind the initiatives...as well as highlighting the dynamic, forward-thinking people who make it all happen-leaders in creating more resilient, healthy communities and natural environments, and making BC a great place to live.

Nominations in the four Land Awards categories are now open. Read their nomination information for the details on how you can nominate individuals and organizations--even companies and government departments--that have been going over and above in their efforts to improve the way we steward land based resources in BC.

November 6, 2012 - Cranbrook, BC

Natural Processes for Restoring Drastically Disturbed Sites is a one-day workshop organized by the Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology (CMI) that will explore how natural processes can be applied to the reclamation of roads, borrow pits, and other sites that humans have disturbed. Natural processes have been "reclaiming" natural disturbances since the beginnings of time; and it is clear that traditional reclamation programs are failing to generate the ecological goods and services that were lost during the disturbance of the site. Providing erosion control is a key element in the development of effective restoration programs. We will look at the processes of erosion and how natural systems solve erosion problems. Similarly, many disturbed sites lack nutrients for plant growth or the capacity to cycle the nutrients that are available. We will explore the natural processes that provide nutrients and nutrient cycling capacity to ecosystems and how these can be re-established on disturbed sites. In many cases the systems and processes that naturally reclaim disturbed sites can be established on anthropogenic disturbances easily and at a lower cost than using traditional reclamation techniques.

This workshop on natural processes precedes this important CMI conference...

November 7-8, 2012 - Cranbrook, BC

Resource Roads in British Columbia: Environmental challenges at the site level is a conference being organized by the Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology (CMI)  Within British Columbia, paved and unpaved road length increased by 82% between 1988 and 2005. In 2000, there were over 420 thousand road-stream crossings in BC; over the subsequent five years, road-stream crossings increased by about 13 thousand per year (BC Ministry of Environment 2007). Estimates of unpaved roads vary from 400,000 to 550,000 km across the province (BC Forest Practices Board 2005). Many more roads have been built since. The environmental effects of roads are diverse, and include impacts on aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and habitat, soils, and water. This conference will address both road impacts and management responses.

Since our KCP Annual Conference will be held in Creston this month, I have included links to information about this beautiful, fertile, and changing landscape.

Early History from the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area

"The history of the landscape and water regime in [the Creston Valley] is a fascinating and complex story in itself. High in the Rocky Mountains, the Kootenay River begins its journey, carving a route through the Rocky Mountain trench into Montana before making a wide loop through Idaho and then heading north into B.C., flowing into Kootenay Lake before draining its way into the Columbia River near Castlegar. The river basin once formed 70 kilometers of wetland habitat, approximately 8-10 kilometers wide, from the south end of Kootenay Lake down to Washington State, where waterfowl congregated in large numbers, especially in the spring and fall." Read more and view archived photos...

Early History from the Creston Museum

"Diking of the river began in 1893. The Alberta-BC Exploration Company brought in a floating barge as the company office in 1893 with the goal of reclaiming the south end of the valley for agriculture. Armed with funding from English investors, the company under the leadership of George Alexander constructed a dike near the Canadian border at Rykerts, dredged Boundary Creek, erected a bridge over a channel at Nick's Island and Reclamation Farmhouse in 1895. Some 8,000 acres were reclaimed, but the flood of 1894 destroyed the dikes and the idea was abandoned for the time being. Read more and view archived photos...