T4W - Interior University Research Coalition Grant Recipients
Last updated on December 7, 2023Together for Wildlife (T4W) and the Interior University Research Coalition have announced the recipients of their 2022 student research grants. As announced in May 2022, six grants of $25,000 each are being provided to university graduate students to help guide effective wildlife stewardship in B.C. and support the goals of the T4W strategy.
The six projects are located in different regions of the province and address a range of priority topics.
Anna Santo (University of British Columbia) will work with the Southern Grizzly Bear Stewardship Steering Committee on the design and implementation of a stakeholder and rights-holder consultation process. The intent of this work is to understand and support communities that could be affected by grizzly bear recovery efforts and to develop a process that is transferable to other wildlife recovery projects.
Jeff Nishima-Miller (University of British Columbia - Okanagan) is collaborating with the Xeni Gwet’in community on Indigenous-led wildlife management, with the purpose of advancing the design and implementation of its wildlife management strategy. A critical component of this work will be the weaving together of Xeni Gwet’in and western scientific knowledge to determine wildlife management practices that can help drive successful outcomes for wildlife, habitat, and Indigenous well-being.
Katie Tjaden-McClement (University of British Columbia) will be investigating whether a large population of feral horses living on the Chilcotin Plateau is competing for habitat and resources with native moose and mule deer. Research outcomes will inform feral horse management practices to help support native species. This project is being undertaken in partnership with Southern Dakelh Nation Alliance, Tŝilhqot'in National Government, Ulkatcho First Nation, and the B.C. government.
Levi Oostenbrink (University of British Columbia - Okanagan) will be working in collaboration with the Tŝilhqot'in National Government and the B.C. Ministry of Forests to quantify the impacts of boat-based bear viewing and human activity, salmon abundance and habitat quality on grizzly bear presence and daily activity patterns. Results from this project will help support wildlife and bear management plans of the Tŝilhqot'in National Government and inform bear viewing regulations and policies being developed by the B.C. Ministry of Forests.
Spencer Greening (Simon Fraser University) will be undertaking interdisciplinary research that explores Indigenous resource and wildlife management by narrating the Gitga’at First Nation’s historical relationship with the Laxgalts’ap watershed. Oral histories and traditional harvesting methods, rituals and laws will be used to collaborate and contrast current western methods of managing ecosystems. This research will provide a better understanding of how Indigenous knowledge can improve our understanding of people’s relationship with the natural world and how that knowledge is applicable to Canadian laws and policies.
Westin Creyke (University of Northern British Columbia) will be investigating the impacts of an active resource road on a wildlife corridor used by Stone sheep in the Dome Mountain area of the Tahltan Territory. He will be working to define the extent of the road’s influence on stress in the Stone sheep population and identifying other variables, such as food availability, that could be impacting the animals’ stress levels. The findings will generate information that can be used by the project partner (the Tahltan Central Government) in the management of road activity and sheep habitat in its territory.