Plans to restore grasslands in the Cranbrook area and control and contain invasive plants are among the projects in British Columbia sharing $5.5 million in federal Community Adjustment Fund cash.
The CAF money, announced Monday, includes $3.415 million in federal contributions toward a $6.83 million invasive plant control project across “multiple B.C. communities.”
The invasive plant project is expected to create 200 jobs and “help restore local ecosystems,” the government said Monday.
Invasive plant “action crews” will undertake invasive plant “control and containment activities” on high-priority species and sites, the government said.
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The project is also expected to include an educational component, in which key audiences learn how to decrease future spread of such plants.
Second-year funding, the government said, is dependent on a review of project outcomes over its initial 12 months.
As well, the CAF will put up $876,705 for a $1,367,280 grassland restoration project in the Cranbrook and Invermere areas, to be run by the Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society.
The society will hire 24 workers to restore grassland, promoting the production of natural grasses and other vegetation for the habitat benefit of local wildlife and domestic cattle, the government said.
The CAF is a two-year, $1 billion federal fund supporting local-level projects to create jobs and maintain employment in communities.
