Timberwest Renews Commitment To British Columbia Salmon Conservation
Jul 20, 2010
(News Release) VANCOUVER – Forestry company pledges $400,000 in five-year agreement with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
TimberWest has extended its support for wild Pacific salmon conservation by committing to donate $400,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation during the next five years. This continues a nine-year relationship between TimberWest and the Pacific Salmon Foundation, which to date has seen $550,000 channeled into B.C. stream keeping efforts in watersheds that run through TimberWest lands - an area twice the size of Metro Vancouver.
"TimberWest has been a major corporate donor to our flagship Community Salmon Program for nearly a decade," said Dr. Brian Riddell, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. "This latest commitment means that by 2015 TimberWest will have contributed almost $1 million through us to the many community groups on Vancouver Island working to support wild Pacific Salmon conservation."
The Community Salmon Program was established to provide grants to salmon conservation, restoration and enhancement organizations. On average, community groups receiving grants from the Pacific Salmon Foundation leverage the money by a scale of 6:1 with additional donations of money, equipment, goods and time from volunteers.
"This has been a successful partnership in every sense of the word," said Paul McElligott, president and CEO of TimberWest. "Our staff provided technical expertise to the foundation's grant review process and helped facilitate the efforts of the various streamkeeper groups dedicated to the conservation and restoration of salmon habitat within their communities. As with any business partnership, when it's good, you do what you can to keep it going."
Past beneficiaries of TimberWest's support include The Ladysmith Sportsman Club, which received a grant to restore Holland and Stocking Creeks; the annual release of thousands of Chinook fry in Port Renfrew; and programs to teach school children in Port Renfrew about salmon life cycles.