Habitat & Wildlife

Project Name: Manitoba Community Pasture Grassland Study and Biodiversity Enhancement Project

Project Description: Manitoba's Community Pastures are large agricultural working landscapes that support numerous species at risk through managed grazing regimes. With new investments that improve grazing and range management, the project will enhance the drought resiliency, diversity and wildlife habitat quality of 10,000 acres of lands at nine Community Pastures throughout the Manitoba Prairies. Species at risk and wildlife surveys will be conducted at select sites.

Amount: $250,000

Project Name: Aspen parkland habitat improvement via range management infrastructure planning and implementation

Project Description: The objective of the project is to develop a cost share program to which BFC members can apply for funding to undertake projects that have both rangeland management as well as conservation goals. The program will be designed such that the applicants will develop a plan they feel best suits their land resource and has the best potential to improve wildlife habitat. This will be achieved be creating an outcome based framework to meet habitat improvement and EG&S goals.

Amount: $60,000

Project Name: Building Climate Change Resiliency and Wind Erosion Resiliency by way of Shelterbelts

Project Description: The project will provide 10 miles of diverse habitat for wildlife, for travelling in an area that has limited travel corridors. Through that work these other benefits will be achieved carbon sequestration, wind erosion, as well as aquifer recharge.

Amount: $30,000

Project Name: Conservation and enhancement of wetlands in Manitoba 2020

Project Description: Manitoba is home to some of the most important breeding waterfowl habitat in North America, but the wetlands vital to these birds are slowly being lost or degraded. Conservation Trust funding will help Delta Waterfowl permanently enact habitat conservation on as much as 330 acres of Manitoba’s wetlands and enhance another 1,300 acres through placement and maintenance of Hen House nesting structures. This is great news for wetlands, waterfowl, waterfowl hunters, and all Manitobans.

Amount: $75,000

Project Name: Prairie Habitat Restoration Project

Project Description: Ducks Unlimited Canada will use incentive-based, long-term partnerships with landowners to complete the proposed Prairie Habitat Restoration Project. The project will restore 17 ha of wetland and 211 ha of grassland habitat in the southwestern pothole region of Manitoba. The project will also maintain and improve the EG&S offered by the provinces’ natural infrastructure by conserving an additional 128 ha of wetland and 192 ha of grassland habitat.

Amount: $250,000

Project Name: Accelerating Adoption of Regenerative Farming to Enhance Manitoba’s Natural Infrastructure: Phase 1

Project Description: This project will enhance soil health and ecological services on thousands of acres of land. It will build the capacity of farmers to implement regenerative agricultural practice that improve ecosystem function for the benefit of current and future generations of Manitobans.

Amount: $124,179

Project Name: Streambank Stabilization on the Turtle River

Project Description: The eroding banks of the Turtle River are an ongoing issue due to clearing, cultivation, and drainage of land, as well as the high velocity of flows from the RMNP. By armouring up to 3 miles of unstable banks of the river and some landowners establishing a riparian area including planting trees, this should reduce further bank erosion. These activities will improve water quality, increase carbon sequestration, reduce agricultural land loss, and reduce sedimentation of spawning habitat.

Amount: $147,500

Project Name: A New Approach to Restoring Profitability, Wildlife Habitat and Soil Health on a Watershed Basis

Project Description: Project partners are taking a new approach to restoring profitability, wildlife habitat and soil health on a watershed basis. The project provides financial incentives, extension support and equipment that will allow producers to overcome the challenges of converting marginal crop land to grassland. Unique program options are available for both livestock and grain producers with the goal of restoring 2,600 grassland acres while securing 400 wetland acres, both under long term agreements.

Amount: $113,000

Project Name: Expansion of natural riparian zones for wildlife and watersheds

Project Description: Provide grassland habitat to wildlife while at the same time providing flood mitigation to the Souris River. The project will act as a natural buffer between annual crop land and natural riparian zones. Both wildlife and agriculture will benefit from increased grass production while the carbon capture from the grasslands will work towards carbon draw down.

Amount: $28,333

Project Name: Manitoba's First Shorebird Scrape

Project Description: Shorebird populations have decreased by 40% in Canada since 1970, with loss of suitable habitat being a key contributor in Manitoba. This project increases high-quality habitat available for large concentrations of shorebirds by 30 acres through the creation of Manitoba's first shorebird scrape (a shallow depression in the earth that is seasonally wet) and restoration of habitat used by Endangered Piping Plovers and Red Knots, currently severely degraded by the presence of invasive plants.

Amount: $8,000

Project Name: Hay, Forages and Shelterbelts for Wildlife Habitat in the Souris River Watershed

Project Description: The establishment of wildlife habitat through hay, forage and shelterbelts will provide habitat niches for numerous wildlife species as their habitat ranges are dwindling and are ever more fragile do to expansion of agriculture, industry and urban areas.The Souris River Watershed District intends to establish 800 acres of wildlife upload habitat within the watershed. This will be achieved by planting of a diverse forage seed mixture along with six miles of multi-species shelterbelts planted.

Amount: $40,000

Project Name: Restoration & Conservation of Land and Water in Agro-Manitoba

Project Description: This project will secure, restore and enhance critical habitat for wildlife and other biodiversity within ecologically significant working landscapes. Activities planned and implemented within an adaptive management framework will enhance and increase biodiversity and support the provision of ecological goods and services across more than 40,000 acres of habitat in partnership with private landowners, producers and other conservation organizations and agencies.

Amount: $250,000

GRANTEES