Wildlife Management Fund

ABOUT THE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT FUND

Since 2008, APOS' Wildlife Management Fund (WMF) has contributed nearly $2 million to wildlife stewardship and conservation projects throughout Alberta. Historically funded through a surcharge on the annual Allocation Use Fees and Waterfowl Renewal Fees, the WMF underwent a significant change in 2022, when APOS’ new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Alberta discontinued the surcharge and instead earmarked the entire Allocation Use Fees back into the resource, which will provide over $1 million annually to support stewardship projects, such as population surveys, species studies, management software and technology, and more.

WMF grant requests are reviewed and approved annually by a committee that includes Government of Alberta staff, members of APOS, and a representative from Safari Club International (SCI). Recommendations from the WMF Committee are forwarded to the APOS Board of Directors for approval. Under the new MOU, the APOS Board may also expend WMF funds through collaboration agreements with other like-minded organizations, including the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA).

Forms

WMF Expressions of Interest may be submitted anytime. Applications are not reviewed by the committee between September-November. If you have questions about the WMF or would like to submit an Expression of Interest, please email grants@apos.ab.ca or call 780-414-0249. 

WMF Expression of Interest Form

Reports on Past Projects

2024 University of Alberta – Ian Gazeley/Mark Boyce

APOS was proud to be asked to support the Bighorn Ram Movement Ecology and Disease Risk Project from the University of Alberta. This project started in 2022 with 35 GPS collars placed on rams between the Waterton National Park boundary and Canmore. In 2024 there were a total of 17 additional collars to deploy. For more information on this project, please visit grad.biology.ualberta.ca/boyce/ian-gazeley.

2023 Lethbridge Polytechnic Wildlife Analytics Lab

The Alberta Professional Outfitters Society (APOS) has been proud to support the launch of Lethbridge Polytechnic’s Wildlife Analytics Lab (WAL), the first lab in Canada to use cementum analysis to help determine the age, reproductive history, and even migratory patterns of wildlife species. For more information on the lab, please click here.

2020 Redcliff Adopt-a-Tree

Redcliff Cypress Regional Waste Management Authority is planting trees throughout the northeast portion of their landfill. This project is intended to create a functioning ecosystem that can provide food/water sources, shelter, nesting, fawning and reproduction opportunities for all wildlife species in the surrounding area. Click here to learn more.

2020 ALUS Canada Partnership

Four ALUS communities will receive funding for nature-based enhancement projects such as new habitat for wildlife. To read the press release click here. To learn more about ALUS click here.

2020 Alberta Conservation Association: Hunter Survey App

The ACA is expanding the moose hunter app (2012-16), partnering with iHunter to capture citizen science wildlife observations from hunters on all wildlife species. To learn more about ACA click here.

2020 Alberta Conservation Association: Landowner Survey

An online survey was developed to collect information from Alberta landowners about their perspectives on allowing hunting on their private land. To learn more about ACA click here.

2018 Elk Count Survey

APOS provided funding to support an elk count survey in the Hinton-Cadomin winter ranges (WMUs 342, 344, 437, 438, 439) to record observed abundance and composition. The survey found that elk were of lower abundance in these areas compared to 2008, except in the Hinton Town Vicinity. However, it also observed that productivity (number of calves in relation to cows) was very good. Click here for more information.

2018 Aerial Moose Survey

An aerial survey for moose was done in WMU 351 in 2018. The most recent survey for this area had been from 2009-10 and had produced a population density of 0.48 moose/km². In the 2018 survey, a total of 171 moose were observed and the final density abundance was estimated to be 0.36 moose/km². Click here for more information.

2016-17 Wildlife Population Simulator Software: ALCES Online PopDyn

APOS provided support for the development of ALCES Online PopDyn. ALCES Online PopDyn contains current and historic information on wildlife populations, hunting, habitat, land-use, and natural disturbances for all of Alberta. It also has different population dynamics models that allow the user to run future ‘what-if scenarios’ and produce maps, figures and tables of the results. Click here for more information.

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