City council awarded $2,000 to the British Columbia Chapter of the Wildlife Society (BCTWS) to support a conference coming to Williams Lake.
At their regular meeting on March 4, in city hall council chambers, council supported a motion by Coun. Scott Nelson to give a reduced amount of grant funds to the BCTWS.
The organization is planning a three-day conference in September with the theme of Forestry, fire and First Nations: Working together to co-manage landscapes and wildlife. The organization had submitted a late application for $5,000 to help make the conference happen.
Nelson moved to approve staff's option two of awarding a reduced amount instead of the first option to award the full $5,000.
Over 150 guests are expected to spend four to five days in the city for the conference, Sept. 24-27, on topics related to ecosystem management.
Students, biologists, First Nations representatives, naturalists and other professionals will be invited to attend the organization's events.
Events will take place in the Gibraltar Room of the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Centre, at the Tourism Discovery Centre, and at Fox Mountain Brewery.
The talks will focus on managing forested ecosystems using a collaborative approach, according to the application to the city.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor made a request at the meeting for organizations to try to meet the city's deadlines for these types of applications.
"Please try to abide with the policies," said Rathor, noting while some late applications can't be avoided, he said it helps the city manage their allocation of funds. Rathor said while the city had set a precedent by approving other late applications, they also allocated reduced amounts. The city has awarded funds to five late grants for events in 2025, to a maximum of $2,000.
Funds available in the grant in aid budget were just over $5,000 and the council voted unanimously to award the reduced amount of $2,000 to support the BCWTS conference.
In their application, the organization noted if they did not receive the full amount of $5,000 they would likely be adjusting their budget to reduce the support they could provide for students hoping to attend.
