SAMPLE PROJECTS
ISAAK OLAAM- Glass Longhouse Assessment
This assessment explored the feasibility of producing food, flowers medicines or herbs in a greenhouse at the ISSAAK OLAM Clayoquot Campus, located at the Naa’Waya’Sum Coastal Indigenous Gardens for use on site and sale to local markets. Project goals were to 1) explore the applicant’s vision and to produce a final report which will either be used directly to attract investors/financing or will be built on to develop a detailed Financial or Business Plan and to 2) determine what resources (human, financial, infrastructure etc.) will be required to initiate food production at the site and what are the best and most well-suited opportunities to the applicant’s interests and capacity.
The project included a project kick-off meeting, a site visit/assessment, review of any available organizational documents and key informant interviews, development of 2 possible crop scenarios, a SWOT analysis and a summary of market opportunities. Estimates for infrastructure and other start-up costs for the enterprise (based on similar size/scale of enterprises in B.C) were determined.
BC-ACARN Podcast Series
BC-ACARN is the BC Agricultural Climate Action Research Network. BC-ACARN fosters collaboration among researchers, government, and producers in order to catalyze effective, research-backed climate solutions for B.C. food producers.
Charlton Consulting coordinated and executed 4 interviews for a podcast series. This project included writing the scripts, confirming and organizing the interviews, conducting background research, writing the podcast introduction and summary and hosting the interviews.
Farmland Advantage- Wildfire Risk Reduction program management
Charlton Consulting was contracted to the Investment Agriculture Foundation to manage the wildfire risk reduction (WRR) piece of the Farmland Advantage program from 2022-2025. Charlton Consulitng is responsible for program planning, logistics, site and contractor identification and supervision, budgeting , reporting and performance tracking in partnership with IAF). We also coordinate a joint management committee who oversees the program, with the funder, BC Wildfire Service and IAF members.
The program works with farmers to enhance natural values on their land through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) model. ‘Ecosystem services’, are the benefits that a natural environment provides to people.
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WRR as an ecosystem service is when an area can act as a firebreak, or defensible area, or an area that slows the spread and intensity of a fire to adjacent communities or critical infrastructure. Through the wildfire risk reduction stream of FLA, the program works with farmers and ranchers in strategic locations to establish fuel treatments through reducing the forest fuel (tree/wood/brush) and the fine fuels (grasses) through a combination of forestry treatments and targeted grazing.
Stz'uminus Agricultural Opportunities and Action Plan
This project completed an assessment of opportunities for food and agriculture activities for the Stz’uminus First Nation (SFN) through: a site assessment, community engagement by way of a survey and a workshop and background research which culminated in a Food Security Action Plan. Before the time of this project, the Nation’s Emergency Coordinator had been working with Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council’s Food Security Advisor to explore a few specific projects/infrastructure related to food production on the 4 SFN reserves.
While food security is connected to community health, land management, education, youth programs and elders’ programs, the COVID -19 pandemic highlighted the importance of food security for the community, as an element of emergency management during times of community isolation. The purpose of this Assessment and report was to both further explore and ground truth the ideas that SFN was already envisioning, largely driven by the Emergency Management Coordinator, while also conducting some wider engagement to develop an overarching strategy and tie these ideas into a coordinated Action Plan.
Robson Valley Market Opportunities
A Robson Valley Market Opportunity Analysis and Implementation Plan was completed for Community Futures Fraser-Fort George to improve our understanding of which markets need to be considered by the Robson Valley agriculture sector, to identify challenges and gaps, and to provide recommendations for overcoming these challenges/gaps.
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The report provides a contextual overview of production, processing and sales within the Robson Valley, and describes the barriers and assets to expanding production and broadening sales channels. Market trends and potential consumer demand are described. The project culminated by identifying 5 market opportunities accompanied by a detailed implementation plan.
Vancouver Island Pest Assessment
With climate change, shifts in the distribution, lifecycles, and prevalence of agriculturally relevant pest, pollinator, and biocontrol species are anticipated. It is important that proactive agricultural adaptation occurs to mitigate impacts. Strategic adaptation will help reduce the vulnerability to these impacts while building capacity to adapt and respond, minimizing production losses and cost increases from changing pest pressures, pest management, and pollination in the Vancouver Island region.
In collaboration with Pollinator Partnership Canada, this project reviewed and summarized related current resources, monitoring activities, and research. A gaps and opportunity analysis was completed and a two-year project outline was developed.
Project Management, Te'mexw Treaty Association
Since October 2019, Charlton Consulting has been providing project management services for Te'mexw Treat Association Treaty Related Measures projects. These projects relate to all aspects of Treaty, from culture, to natural resources, to land use planning.
Services include all aspects of management: project scoping, budgeting, management of deliverables/budgets and reporting. Charlton Consulting also manages TTA referrals and contributes to other TTA portfolios as needed.
Co-management of Non-Timber Resources
This project was both my Master's Thesis and a report for the Wells Gray Community Forest Corporation (WGCFC). The research is a case study involving the WGCFC in Clearwater, BC and the Simpcw First Nation.
The research objectives were to: begin to describe sustainable modes of harvesting Non-Timer Forest Resources (NTFRs) based on traditional and local knowledge, stewardship and protocols; describe First Nations and non-First Nations perspectives on NTFRs and NTFR management and define areas of common interest and potential collaboration; determine factors of and challenges to success in managing NTFRs, through the theoretical framework of co-management; apply the case study method to a unique geographical location, describing NTFRs harvested and threatened NTFRs; and to explore constraints to and opportunities for the use of NTFRs both for subsistence or for economic development.