The Invasive Species Council of BC will receive over five hundred thousand dollars from the Province’s Community and Employer Partnerships program.
The funding will give a total of 9 people in Williams Lake, Ashcroft, and Salmon Arm the opportunity to gain skills and work in invasive species management and awareness.
Executive Director with Invasive Species Council of BC, Gail Wallin, said this is very beneficial to help some workers who were affected by mill curtailments.
“It’s actually a great career opportunity and business opportunity to help remove and reduce invasive species here. So a lot of them threaten our ranch lands, our grasslands, and making sure we that have trained operators who actually know how to identify and remove them is actually a work employment skill in this area. It’s a great opportunity for people to move into a new career.”
The project will train participants in invasive species identification, management and monitoring, rehabilitation and site restoration, including reseeding and invasive plant management.
Wallin said this isn’t the first time it’s being offered in Williams Lake and in the past has been very beneficial to those who took part.
“Almost all the people that we put through our training program end up employed at the end. Most in the field of invasive species, sometimes they work a for a private company, sometimes they work for local government and some people set up their own private business and operate that way so it has a really good success rate for finding employment afterward.”
Wallin says successful participants will receive a range of employment skill training plus practical work experience and to apply they can visit their local WorkSafe BC Office or you can send an email to [email protected] .
The project runs from July 2020 to March 2021.