The Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund Management Committee (NEEF MC) has amended a decision from 2012, to help organizations in the area access more funding for environmental projects.
The area covered is specifically the Nechako and Cheslatta watersheds, including areas around and south of Burns Lake, extending from east-west from Prince George to Prince Rupert, and north-south from New Hazelton to just south of the Nechako reservoir.
NEEF was formed in 1997 when Rio Tinto (then Alcan) and the Province of BC signed an agreement stating Rio Tinto would provide up to $50 million on a matching basis to environmental projects.
Because it’s a matching program, applicants have to ensure they can find 50 per cent of their project funding elsewhere.
NEEF MC reviews the proposals, then puts them to the Province and Rio Tinto, who ultimately decide whether to go ahead with it, said Shawn Rice, NEEF MC member, and Resource Manager at the Prince George Natural Resource District for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
The amendments have simply made a large amount of money more available, he said.
“So back in 2011 and 2012, there was a bunch of consultations done with the public, and with stakeholders, and First Nations, and other subject matter experts, on how this would work. And through that is how they identified the 2012 decisions,” said Rice.
“One of the big decisions in there was that 80 percent of the money would be allocated toward a water release facility. And that came with some timelines. And when those timelines weren’t met… hence the reason we had to redo the decision,” he said.
After the 2012 decision, no one applied to build the water release facility so the money went unused for years. It’s now been reallocated to other areas for various projects to apply for, and possibly access if they’re approved.
NEEF MC’s new decisions outline three critical areas the funding has been placed into, which will now be available until 2050 (also a longer period of time than it was before), or longer if need be. The press release states: $7.4 million total, at $200,000 per year, is allocated to Cheslatta Watershed; $27.2 million, at $850,000 per year is allocated to Nechako Watershed; and $6.4 million, at $200,000 per year is allocated to post-secondary research.
And they’ve also left room for the possibility of combining all three amounts, if a large enough project comes up.
“There is wording in there that should a bigger project come forward, such as a water release facility, and the decision is made to move forward on that, we would go back to those parties to have a conversation about whether we can then release some of that money towards that other project,” he said.
“The biggest part was that other money was sitting out there and we couldn’t use it unless it was strictly used for a water release facility,” he added.
Some of the projects funded by NEEF over the years include the White Sturgeon Conservation Centre and Facility in Vanderhoof, which was provided with $4 million ($400,000 per year for 10 years), two projects with universities given $500,000 from NEEF, and a project with the Cheslatta Carrier First Nation using a high tech way of surveying (called lidar) to examine waterways in their territory, said Rice.
They hope to see more applications come forward with the new funding available, he said.
