Ontario Construction News staff writer
The Ontario government has identified 44 community-based projects that will share $1.9 million in funding through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund, which supports local projects that protect and restore the Great Lakes.
“The health of the Great Lakes is closely connected to our province’s health and prosperity – supplying water to our communities, sustaining traditional activities of Indigenous peoples and providing healthy ecosystems for recreation and tourism,” said David Piccini, minister of the environment, conservation and parks.
Twenty per cent of the world’s fresh water is found in the Great Lakes, making it the largest lake system in the world.
Ontario launched a call for applications for the Great Lakes Local Action Fund in the fall of 2020.
“This funding allows local organizations and groups to take environmental actions in their own communities – building a better future with clean, green growth.”
The 44 projects are led by community-based organizations, municipalities, conservation authorities and Indigenous communities and organizations across Ontario, from Ottawa to Thunder Bay. Projects were selected following a competitive review process.
Recipients include:
- ALUS Norfolk will work with farmers to restore land throughout Long Point Watershed in Norfolk County to reduce agricultural impacts on Lake Erie.
- City of Pickering, in collaboration with 50 community and youth groups, will clean up litter along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the rivers and streams that flow into it.
- Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association, in partnership with Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, will work to restore habitat, improve water quality and clean up the shoreline of Smith Bay Creek, which runs into Lake Huron.
- Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, will turn an existing municipal parkland into a Climate Change Awareness Park that incorporates that incorporates wetland enhancements, shoreline remediation, revegetation and pollinator gardens, while providing a space to educate and address environmental and climate impacts on Lake Superior.
Twenty per cent of the world’s fresh water is found in the Great Lakes, making it the largest lake system in the world.
Ontario launched a call for applications for the Great Lakes Local Action Fund in the fall of 2020.