The Jurassic Classic fund was established among all user groups and is to be used for sheep conservation projects in the province of BC. The committee is continually looking for projects which put boots on the ground and do meaningful work for sheep conservation efforts.
From 2017-2019, the Jurassic Classic committee committed over $50,000 to various projects in the province, supporting both thinhorn and bighorn populations. While we are awaiting some of these projects to commence, we will update this site as projects evolve to provide an update where your fundraising dollars will go.
Some projects that the Jurassic Classic committee has funded in the past include:
Psoroptes Treatment Trail – Southern Bighorns
Some photos of the Psoroptes Treatment Trial:
Cassiar Herd Health Assesment
Crater Mountain Burn
On April 2nd, the largest prescription burn in 33 years in the Okanagan occurred. The fire on Crater Mountain went off flawlessly achieving the full scope of th…e burn plan. This initial burn is in the heart of the struggling Ashnola Bighorn herd and will help to pave the way for future prescribed burns in the immediate area and throughout the Okanagan.
The Wild Sheep Society was asked to support the burn funding the ignition sources (Dragon balls and torch fuel) for this burn and your Board of Directors approved a $10,000 budget for this. The Wild Sheep Jurassic Classic also committed a further $4,000 in funding. This project was lead by Okanagan Nation Alliance, Lower Similkameen Indian Band, along with BC Wildfire, Ashnola Outfitters, and Valley Helicopters.
ONA’s Cailyn Glasser states: “The Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys have been fire suppressed for decades, and have been reaping the consequences of fuel loading, forest ingrowth and habitat loss. Our fire dependent landscape has been without the fire it needs to thrive for many years. My time on this initiative dates back only to 2014, although for many of you it goes back much further. I can only speak to what I’ve experienced since then. We have developed new relationships, worked our way around road blocks and bureaucracy, and collectively developed a process and program that, for the first time in a long time, saw First Nations, Government, Non-government groups and the BC Wildfire Service putting fire on the landscape TOGETHER. It is apparent to me that collaboration, even when it’s hard and we have to work through difficult issues, is the key to success.”
A big thank you must go out to Okanagan Nation Alliance, Lower Similkameen Indian Band, BC Wildfire, Ashnola Outfitters, and Valley Helicopters for all their hard work on this project. As always, thank you to the dedicated FLNRORD Regional Biologists that are an integral part of these projects.
We look forward to future collaboration for the benefit of wild sheep
UBC-Okanagan Bighorn Collaring Project
Jurassic Classic conservation dollars at work in the province! Jurassic Classic fundraising efforts have allowed us to contribute $15,000 in 2018 of the $133,238 budget towards this important project. WSSBC has also donated an additional $9112 to this project
WSSBC Director Naomi Weeks is pictured here with MSc Student Sultana Majid and FLNRORD Biologist Craig McLean collaring a ewe through this UBC-Okanagan Bighorn Sheep Study.
The collaring initiative is lead by and carried out by the Government of BC (Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development – FLNRORD). Sultana Majid, a Master (MSc) student, is working with data collected by FLNRORD for her study. The MSc student is volunteering with regional biologist as a learning component, helping the student understand where the data she is processing is coming from and how it is collected.
