The Environmental Conservation Department is offering a grant for Tracking Wetland Changes in Bird Conservation Regions 9 and 10

To undertake one or more of the pilot projects based on the methodology created by the “scoping” consultant. Pilot projects will involve combinations of spatial and temporal scales which satisfy key information requirements for project partners, and in consideration of this the consultant has been requested to design at least one pilot project involving the use of satellite imagery to track wetland distribution at the scale of an ecoregion or a priority wetland region. The intent is to gain needed information towards:

Knowledge of wetland trends to help set priorities for conservation (i.e., where is there a need for action? What are the highest priority sites and individual wetlands?).

Identification of important stressors to identify industry groups that require education about wetland mitigation, to flag local governments that could benefit from policy tools, and to indicate which conservation tools would be most effective.

Validation of a related climate change predictive modelling project. Climate change is a primary stressor on wetlands in BCRs 9 and 10, and since 2008, with the overall goal of predicting the long-term effects of climate change on wetlands in various areas of British Columbia. Initial deliverables from this project have included assessments of “wetland vulnerability” in two Ecoregions of the CIJV.

Improved accuracy and applicability of wetland-dependent species models in estimating population sizes/distributions, and in predicting climate change impacts on priority avian species.

A method to fulfill NAWMP requirements for reporting the amount of wetland habitat secured over time at the JV level in a spatially explicit approach, and finer-scale methods to improve knowledge of small and ephemeral wetlands, which are most affected by climate change.

A means of informing landscape-level partners as to methods and trends applicable to cross-boundary ecoregional management of wetlands in Canada and the United States.