The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) is seeking applications for its Invasive Mussels Lake Monitoring Fund program to ensure lakes and rivers across the province of BC are actively sampled and monitored for the presence of invasive zebra and quagga mussels.

HCTF is administering this fund to provide support to various agencies and community organizations across the province to participate in the sampling of waterbodies. This program has been funded through a contribution to HCTF from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV).

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) has updated and released a new version of the British Columbia Dreissenid Mussel Lake Monitoring Field Protocol which describes in detail the protocol that must be followed when collecting samples with funding from this program. The Field Protocol includes a list of priority waterbodies which must be used to select from for sampling.

Funding Information

• There are no specific restrictions on the amount of funding which may be provided, but typical grants for this program are in the $10-$15K range.
• Request significantly over $15K will require a strong rationale.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Applicants:
  • Invasive Mussels Lake Monitoring Grants are available to community groups, non-profit organizations, local, regional and provincial governments, First Nations, and others.
  • For applicants to be successful, the application must demonstrate that applicants have proven experience, knowledge, and capacity to carry out the activities in the proposal.
  • Activities may be conducted by paid staff, volunteers, or a combination, but the applicant must provide a compelling case that they have the experience necessary to complete the proposed activities according to the sampling methods as outlined in the ENV Field Protocol, including direct experience with sampling of waterbodies.
• Eligible Waterbodies:
  • The Field Protocol includes a list of priority waterbodies from which grant proponents may select to sample. The waterbodies with a sampling frequency of bi-weekly are the highest priority. It’s not expected that all the priority waterbodies within the region are selected for sampling. Please consider the additional cost vs. benefit to add a given waterbody. If applicants plan to sample more than one or two additional waterbodies over what have sampled in previous years, please contact HCTF to discuss before you submit your proposal. For larger and more complex waterbodies, a minimum number of sample site locations have been provided; however, additional sites may be proposed for sampling. Rational for including additional sites must be included as part of the proposal.

For more information, visit The Foundation.