NEWS

Friday, Feb. 27

Community Conservation Grants given to six groups

Six groups in the Grand River watershed are sharing grants worth a total of $10,000 given out under the new Community Conservation Grant program of the Grand River Conservation Foundation.

The foundation is a charitable organization that supports projects of the Grand River Conservation Authority.

The grants will be used for a variety of conservation projects such as tree planting, trail improvement, schoolyard naturalization, wetland restoration and river access improvement.

The money comes from the foundation's Grand Champions Endowment Fund and the GRCA's Thiess Riverprize Endowment Fund. The grants were awarded at the GRCA's annual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26.

The Thiess Fund was created in 2000 when the GRCA won the Thiess Riverprize for River Management in a worldwide competition sponsored by Thiess Environmental, an Australian company. The interest earned on the $85,000 prize is being used for the Community Conservation Grants.

The winners of the first Community Conservation Grants are:

· Ducks Unlimited Canada - $2,000 to support the Healthy Wetlands for the Upper Grand project in Dufferin County. The project promotes wetland preservation by setting up a series of demonstration sites that illustrate the methods and benefits of wetland preservation.

· Friends of the Grand River - $1,000 to support this group's stream enhancement work in the Fergus-Elora area. They will be planting trees along Swan Creek, an important coldwater tributary of the Grand.

· Ancient Mariners Canoe Club - $1,800 to help this Cambridge-based club improve canoe access points in Ayr, Cambridge, Kitchener and Glen Morris.

· Upper Grand Trailway Association - $2,000 to plant trees and shrubs along a rail-trail in the Grand Valley area.

· Ryerson Public School, Cambridge - $2,000 to help parents, staff and students with a schoolyard naturalization project that includes planting trees.

· Brantford Community Foundation, partnered with the Brant Waterways Foundation and Trout Unlimited Canada - $1,200 for the Exceptional Waters program, which aims to develop improved river access and promote awareness of the stretch of the Grand River between Paris and Brantford.

Further information: Dave Schultz, GRCA Coordinator of Communications
Phone: (519) 621-2763, Ext. 273 Fax: (519) 621-4844
E-mail: dschultz@grandriver.ca Website: http://www.grandriver.ca