Photo: iStock, T. Meake
95 Total 2022–2023 Projects
30 Coastal Region Projects
40 Columbia Region Projects
25 Peace Region Projects
In 2022–2023, our regional boards approved ~$9.8 million for 95 fish and wildlife projects. Our Coastal Region board approved 30 projects, our Columbia Region approved 40 projects, and our Peace Region approved 25 projects.
A wide range of species and ecosystems will benefit from the projects approved in our Coastal, Columbia and Peace regions. Some projects will result in immediate benefits to species, others will fill important data gaps that will help define future conservation actions, and some are multi-year projects that build on work and results year-over-year. Regardless, all projects support our vision of thriving fish and wildlife in watersheds that are functioning and sustainable.
Learn more about the projects we’re funding in our Coastal, Columbia, and Peace regions. Explore our interactive project maps to learn more about the projects we fund. See our project map.
Apply anytime for a community engagement grant up to $1,000. These grants can help stewardship groups and others take tangible actions to benefit fish and wildlife in any of our regions.
More
If you currently have an FWCP grant, access our online grant management system here.
See our information kit for approved grant recipients.
See our user guides for grant recipients:
User Guide for Submitting a Change Request
User Guide for Submitting a Progress Report
User Guide for Submitting a Progress or Final Statement of Account Task
User Guide for Submitting a Draft Final Report
Contact us if you have questions.
Manage your grantThe Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP) is a partnership between BC Hydro, the Province of B.C, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations, and public stakeholders to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife in watersheds impacted by existing BC Hydro dams.
The FWCP was established to compensate for impacts to fish, wildlife, and their supporting habitat, resulting from the construction of existing BC Hydro dams.
BC Hydro has water licence obligations in the Columbia and Peace regions, and has made voluntary commitments to address the impacts of dams in the Coastal Region. BC Hydro fulfils the applicable obligations through the work of the FWCP.
The FWCP is funded annually by BC Hydro. The FWCP directs those funds towards projects that address priority actions across its three regions to fulfil its mission, and work towards its vision of thriving fish and wildlife populations in watersheds that are functioning and sustainable.
We fund projects that align with our Action Plans, which reflect regional conservation priorities and priority actions. An independent Board in each region reviews all grant applications and project funding decisions. Our Boards include representatives from BC Hydro, the Province of B.C., Fisheries and Oceans Canada, First Nations and public stakeholders.
Learn more about our grants and projects we fund, subscribe at fwcp.ca/subscribe.
The Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP) conserves and enhances fish and wildlife in watersheds impacted by BC Hydro dams. The FWCP is funded annually by BC Hydro. The FWCP directs those funds towards priority actions across its three regions to fulfil its mission and work towards its vision of thriving fish and wildlife populations in watersheds that are functioning and sustainable.
By funding projects to support fish and wildlife populations in our Coastal, Columbia and Peace Regions, the FWCP is fulfilling BC Hydro’s applicable water licence obligations and voluntary commitments to compensate for fish and wildlife impacts.
We fund and support the following types of actions, which are consistent with our mandate:
We do not fund or support the following activities, which are beyond our mandate:
Our annual intake of grant applications is now closed. The next grant intake cycle will open in August 2022.
Each FWCP region has a set of ecosystem-based action plans that identify the priority actions eligible for FWCP grants (see the action tables in each action plan).
We fund five types of projects and our action plan tables identify priority actions by project type:
Your proposed project must align with one or more priority action(s) in any of our regional action plans.
Each priority action is identified as OPEN, OPEN/DIRECTED, or DIRECTED.
DELIVERY METHOD/Eligible for a grant
OPEN Eligible for a grant. Go ahead and apply!
OPEN/DIRECTED Eligible for a grant. Go ahead and apply!
DIRECTED Not eligible for a grant. Do not apply for a grant for this action. Our regional boards will address DIRECTED projects through other funding mechanisms.
Eligible grant applicants include First Nations, consultants, agencies, non-government organizations, individuals, and academic institutions.
All successful grant applicants must be able to provide:
Our action plans guide FWCP investments in fish and wildlife projects, and are referenced annually by our regional Boards to track progress toward implementation, set annual priorities, and guide decision-making in setting out and approving the annual operating plan for each region. Actions in our action plans are eligible for FWCP funding and align with our vision, mission, and geographic scope.
Each region has its own set of action plans. If you are applying for a grant in our Peace Region, be sure to review our updated 2020 action plans.
The FWCP’s annual intake encourages grant applicants to apply for a Seed or Large grant through our online grant management system by Friday, October 29, 2021.
Our Community Engagement Grant is available year-round on a first-come, first-served basis and you may apply anytime.
Seed Grants are aimed at helping you explore the feasibility of your project idea and could be the first step toward submitting a grant application in a subsequent year.
Seed Grants are intended to offset costs to fill information gaps, explore project feasibility, and prepare technical information that may be required prior to developing an application for a Large Grant in a subsequent year. Use our Seed Grant to grow your idea into a future Large Grant application. Up to a maximum of $5,000 is available from the FWCP.
All grant applicants ready to implement a proposed project that aligns with our regional action plans should apply for a Large Grant regardless of the total cost.
The total project cost includes funding from all sources, including, but not limited to, the FWCP, other funders (if any), the total value of all in-kind contributions (if any), and applicable taxes.
You will be asked to submit a written project proposal (maximum six pages) as part of your online grant application.
Our regional action plans identify the priority actions eligible for FWCP grants (see the action tables in each action plan). Your proposed project must align with one or more priority action(s) in any of our regional action plans.
Our regional managers can help you align your project idea with a priority action(s) in our action plans.
Develop a project idea that aligns with one or more priority action(s) in any action plan(s) that will achieve the intended outcome(s). Be sure you have selected an OPEN priority action.
Review relevant project reports and outcomes
Before developing your grant application, review our project report list for relevant work already completed. If there is a relevant project report, consider how, or if, the work you propose in your grant application will build on past work. The FWCP has posted more than 500 final reports on provincial databases, making our project results and data available to anyone. A searchable spreadsheet for all final project reports is available at http://fwcp.ca/results/.
You may also wish to review relevant provincial databases for projects not funded by the FWCP to identify recommendations or reports that could support your grant application.
Species Inventory Database
EIRS: Environmental Information Resource System
EcoCat: Ecological Reports Catalogue
CLIR: Cross-Linked Information Resources
Each of our three regions—Coastal, Columbia, and Peace—are unique, and the requirements for grant applicants vary by region. To help with your grant application, we’ve prepared 2021 guidance documents for each region. Review the regional guidance documents and be sure to fulfil any mandatory requirements.
If you are submitting a grant application in our Peace Region, our online grant management system will prompt you to complete and submit the mandatory Notice of Intent (NOI) after you login and start your grant application at fwcp.ca/apply-for-funding.
All grant applicants must use our system to apply. Start your grant application at fwcp.ca/apply-for-funding.
If this is the first time your organization has applied online for an FWCP grant, you must register at fwcp.ca/apply-for-funding.
If your organization is already registered in our online grant management system but you have never accessed the system, please contact our business coordinator, Lorraine Ens, at lorraine.ens@bchydro.com. She will set up a profile for you and link you to your organization.
You’ll find lots of tips and instructions built into the online grant application.
Click on the question mark icon next to each question in the grant application to reveal instructions and more information.
Submit your questions to us from your draft grant application. Click on the “Notes/Questions” tab to submit your question.
Contact our business coordinator, Lorraine Ens, at lorraine.ens@bchydro.com or 604-528-8136.
Be sure to complete all sections of the online grant application and fulfil all mandatory requirements. These requirements vary by region.
Our grant management system will validate your grant application entries immediately after you submit your application and indicate right away if any required information is missing.
We suggest you avoid submitting your application immediately before the deadline in case you need to make corrections or additions. The grant intake closes promptly at 5 p.m. PT the day the applications are due, and we will only review grant applications received by the deadline.
This section provides an overview of our grant applications and what information you’ll be asked to provide.
Project summary: Project title, project summary statement, and project urgency
Project details: Species that will benefit, detailed project description
Applicant information: Proponent organization, project contact, signing authority, collaborators, project supporters, First Nations communications, and project volunteers
Project location information: Map, location description, project coordinates (latitude and longitude)
Alignment with action plan(s): Primary action plan, primary project type, priority action, alignment with priority action and intended outcome(s), and optional alignment with secondary action plan
Single or multi-year project: Project duration, provide overview of project achievements and challenges for ongoing multi-year projects
Project phases: Start-up, fieldwork, data entry and analysis, community engagement (i.e., define how you plan to share your project results and involve others in your proposed project), draft reporting, and final reporting
Benefits: Benefits to fish and/or wildlife
Ongoing maintenance: Is ongoing maintenance required to sustain benefits?
Community engagement: What are your plans to share results and engage with First Nations, stakeholders, and others?
Permits and approval: BC Hydro-owned lands, proximity to BC Hydro facility, landowners, required permits, and approvals
Budget:
Funding: Is this a resubmission of a previously “not approved” application? Have you previously received FWCP funding?
A six-page (maximum) project proposal is required for all Large Grant applications only. No proposal is required for Seed Grant applications.
Letters of support are optional in our Columbia and Peace regions. Letters of support are mandatory in our Coastal Region. See our regional guidance documents for more details.
Project contact experience: It is mandatory to include the experience and credentials of the project contact. We encourage you to provide the credentials and experience of key team members so we can properly evaluate your grant application.
All grant applications go through a three-stage review process that ends with a decision by our three regional boards.
Fish and wildlife technical committees in each region review each grant application for technical merit. In our Peace Region, the First Nations Working Group also evaluates grant applications.
Results from the technical committee and First Nations Working Group (Peace Region only) review are provided to each board to assist in their review and decision-making in stage 3.
During this stage, our technical committees (all regions) will be evaluating grant applications for:
During this stage, our First Nations Working Group (Peace Region only) will be evaluating grant applications for:
The three regional boards review each grant application for projects proposed in their region. The boards consider the results of all stage 2 evaluations and make decisions on which grant applications will be approved with conditions. The regional boards evaluate the grant applications and are responsible for all project and funding decisions in each region.
During this stage, our regional boards will be evaluating grant applications for:
Please share your funding sources with us so we can pass them along to others who are working to conserve and enhance fish and wildlife.