This year’s $5,000 Women’s Grant goes to Amaya Cherian-Hall, who has planned a five-month, two-person, 5,000-kilometre hiking-cycling-canoeing expedition through the vital wildlife corridor connecting Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon. The challenging two-person expedition passes through the traditional territories and lands of more than 20 First Nations and Métis, allowing Cherian-Hall to engage deeply with the area’s history as she moves across the landscape.

The RCGS has distributed five Major Grants of $4,000-$5,000 each. 

The Monashee Mountains in British Columbia are a popular destination in 2022, with two grantees undertaking unique expeditions to the range, a sub-range of the Columbia Mountains.  

Wildlife biologist and mountain life enthusiast Isobel Phoebus joins a group undertaking a self-guided ski traverse of B.C.’s Monashee Mountains. The team will observe and record the wildlife, human and industrial activity they observe along the way. Pockets of the range are known for tourism — ski touring, heli-skiing and sledding — while others face forestry and mining. Some areas see minimal human presence and are home to old-growth forests, quiet mountains and empty glaciers. The Indigenous territories in the Monashees are the Sinixt, Syilx, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc. 

Meanwhile, grantee Kirk Safford is also headed to the Monashee Mountains, but his team is going underground on a multi-day exploration of the White Rabbit cave system. Their goal is to connect two of the larger caves, pursue unexplored leads and collect scientific data about the unique karst environment.