Communities focus on environmental grantmaking
June 21, 2004
By Christine Buttkus and David Samm
When Liz Palmieri started talking to environmental groups in
Ontario's Niagara region, she quickly discovered that many were working
in isolation. While the region is home to some very strong organizations
undertaking significant initiatives, other groups had minimal or no
staff and were not aware of the mandate and activities of others working
in the same sector.
"We found that environmental organizations really wanted to visit each
other and understand each other's projects, sites and facilities," says
Palmieri, executive director of the Niagara Community Foundation
(NCF).
Now, thanks to a joint program developed by the J. W. McConnell Family
Foundation and Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), Niagara
and seven other Canadian communities are better able to respond to these
and other issues faced by environmental organizations.
Roving environmental forum
With a grant from McConnell, eight community foundations are addressing environmental issues in their communities through granting, endowment building, and community convening.
In Niagara, instead of holding the usual community forum to bring environmental groups together, NCF decided to take an innovative approach - a Roving Environmental Training Forum.
"We rented a bus for the day, toured two environmental projects, and provided some volunteer training on the bus while we travelled," says Palmieri. Sixteen representatives from ten different environment groups in Niagara participated and the roving forum will be offered again this year and next.
Dealing with drought
Other communities participating in the program include Victoria, Whistler, Brandon,
Hamilton, the Greater Kingston area, Saint John, and Alberta's Battle
River district.
The Battle River, located in east central Alberta, is a key watershed
covering more than 25,000 square kilometres. The river is exceptional
in many ways. Unlike most of Alberta's rivers, its water supply is derived
entirely from local surface runoff (rain and snow melt) and groundwater
flows, rather than the mountain/foothill snow pack and glacial melt. The
Battle River watershed is also part of Parkland Natural Ecosystem, the
richest ecoregion in Alberta in terms of its biodiversity.
Increasing pressure on the Battle River's water supply is presenting a
challenge for residents of the watershed. As demand for water meets or
exceeds the river's natural supply social, ecological, and economic issues
become apparent. And, after several years of drought, the main environmental
issue in the area is definitely water quantity and quality.
During its first year in the program, the Battle River Community Foundation
focused on building local capacity to better understand the importance
of the water issue to communities in the Battle River Watershed. A grant
was given to the local municipal counties to assist with assessing the
riparian health along the shore of the Battle River downstream from Dried
Meat Lake, which is the water source for the City of Camrose.
Stakeholders organize first water conference
Under the program, the first-ever water conference was held for communities, organizations,
and local governments situated within the Battle River Watershed. The
community foundation organized a planning committee that represented the
major stakeholders in the watershed. For example, ATCO Energy was an active
member of the planning committee as they have a coal-fired power generation
station that uses water from the Battle River.
The conference, held in March, drew people from every part of the watershed.
The conference speakers included local experts, as well as internationally
renowned speakers such as Rob Ferguson, author of The Devil and The
Disappearing Sea: A True Story about the Aral Sea Catastrophe, and
Dr. Hans Scherier, who is considered one of the world's experts on watershed
management. The information provided at the conference was exceptional
and more than 100 participants went home with a lot more insight into
the Battle River's current situation and what future steps are needed
to improve water quality and quantity.
During his remarks, Dr. Scherier noted that the unique nature of the Battle
River means it is well positioned to serve as a model for watershed management
in Western Canada. The next steps for the community include establishing
a Battle River users group that will take a long-range view to maintaining
this valuable watershed.
Protecting habitat, increasing citizen knowledge
In Whistler, habitat conservation was the shared goal identified by a group of
eleven environmental partners during a dialogue session convened by the
Community Foundation of Whistler (CFOW) in 2003.
The newly formed Community Habitat Resources Project, or CHiRP,
then used a $63,000 grant from CFOW to start a virtual community resource
library and focus on capacity building. CHiRP is collating data that may
not have been readily accessible, so citizens can increase their knowledge
about the environment in Whistler. In the future, the data may also be
used for broader applications, such as making better decisions concerning
land use.
CHiRP officially launched its web site in May and currently has eleven
data collection projects completed or underway. Visitors to the site (www.CHiRPwhistler.info)
can obtain baseline information about the area, such as the location of
roads, rail lines, building footprints, and aerial photographs. It also
includes a listing of 230 bird species mapped according to ten different
habitat types, plus the location of Habitat Improvement Team (HIT) Projects,
spawning data, fish counts, and stream classifications.
During the coming months additional data will be added, such as assessment
and ranking for bear denning habitat within the Resort Municipality of
Whistler, location of cultural and historic sites in the Whistler Valley,
bear corridors and potential human bear conflict areas, forest history,
mountain bike trails, and historical glaciology maps. Through a partnership
with Natural Resources Canada, local stories can now be added to the map.
The project is having a tremendous impact, both formally and informally,
on the capacity of the area's environmental organizations. Individually,
the CHiRP partners have improved their management skills, learned GIS
mapping techniques, and how to work together as partners. The networking
between groups is also invaluable and CHiRP's mapping application is now
being used as a template for other communities.
As a participant in the McConnell-CFC environmental program, the CFOW
has also focused its energy on building environmental endowments. As a
result, existing funds have grown and three groups involved in environmental
projects - AWARE, JJ Whistler Bear Society, and the Whistler
Museum and Archives Society - have each created Registered Charity
Funds as a way to sustain resources for the future. CFOW assists with
marketing and management of the fund, leaving the charities free to focus
on the work of the projects themselves. Recently, the foundation also
made a socially responsible investment option available to donors and
fund holders.
For more information on the McConnell-CFC Environmental Grantmaking initiative please visit www.community-fdn.ca/environment.
Christine Buttkus is the Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Whistler and David Samm is the Environmental Program Coordinator at the Battle River Community Foundation
