2011
Arts and Culture
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Online Learning and Teaching Resources
The online learning project will be tested through 2012 and fully launched in 2013, providing educational resources to communities, artists and classrooms as part of the new Weston Family Learning Centre's outreach and networked communications. Online teaching and learning will use multiple modes of information exchange and delivery providing fresh ideas for community art making, teacher training and art education and making the AGO's galleries and programs accessible online to any individual with access to the Internet. First of a 3-year grant.
Cape Farewell Foundation, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Carbon 14 Project
The Carbon 14 project will come together as a collaboration among scientists, economists, artists and other professionals to create an issue-based, thematic exhibition on the challenges of climate change. The resulting dialogue between science and art will be exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum from February to June 2014 after which it is expected to go on tour to a number of other city centres, promoting a cultural response to climate change. First of a two-year grant.
Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland $3,500
A joint project with Memorial University's Folklore and Language Archive, the Hiram Silk collection of tapes made for the CBC from the early 1950s to the 1980s will be fully digitized into an audio archive. Digitization of the original tapes will allow for safe storage and easy access to this rich spoken source of regional and local heritage, history, folklore and personal stories. These archival records will provide a sampling of a life that is fast disappearing in Newfoundland and in some cases is now lost.
London Regional Childrens' Museum, London, Ontario $15,000
Arctic Discovery Gallery
Canada's Arctic is rapidly becoming an international focal point for sovereignty, resource and environmental issues. The new 1500 square foot Discovery Gallery will provide children with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the history, wildlife, people, geography and science of the Arctic. The exhibit will feature four theme areas of which the Salamander grant will be directed to: Land, Sea and Ice.
Tides Canada Initiatives, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts is a web-based information hub and social network to help build community art programs, resources, organizations and projects in under-resourced communities across Canada. Art Bridges/Toile des Arts aims to inform and connect people about community arts in Canada and how the arts can benefit community identity, community development, and social change. Connecting those who have arts resources with those who need them, Arts Bridges/Toile des Arts has collaborated with some 400 arts projects, programs and organizations Canada-wide in inner cities, rural areas, the far North and on reserves.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The Dictionary of Old English defines the vocabulary of the English language from approximately 600 to about 1150, well after the Norman Conquest. The period between 1100 and 1500 is covered by the Middle English Dictionary. Together with the Oxford English Dictionary (first published in 1884) these three resources provide us with a full description of the vocabulary of the English language.
Environment
Arctic Athabaskan Council, Whitehorse, Yukon $25,000
Arctic Biodiversity Assessment
The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) was authorized by Arctic Council as a contribution to the UN Environment Program/Convention on Biological Diversity target of halting or significantly reducing biodiversity loss. The Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) seeks to ensure that the ABA deals directly with the impacts of biodiversity loss on the interests and rights of the 76 communities of Athabaskan peoples as well as their way of life, including the critical value of ecosystem services and the effect climate change may have on barren-ground and woodland caribou herds. Traditional Ecological Knowledge gathered locally and regionally will provide an essential contribution to scientific research collected for the ABA. Together these will provide a baseline for regional and global biodiversity assessments and for informing policy recommendations from the Arctic Athabaskan Council for the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. First of a 3-year grant.
www.arcticathabaskancouncil.com
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Protecting Water Bodies from the Impacts of Mining
Working with community groups, First Nations, and a broad coalition of environmental organizations the Canary Institute continues to participate in multi-stakeholder environmental reviews to promote responsible mine-waste management, and to inform the Canadian public of long-term risks to watersheds, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems, fish and animal habitat when natural water bodies are proposed or used as tailings impoundments. The Institute continues to support remote communities in their bid to be listened to by Federal and Provincial authorities in calling for legal protection of local water resources. Second of a 2-year grant.
Climate Action Network Canada, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
Key public policy issues related to climate change will be pursued by Climate Action Network over the next year. These include ending federal subsidies and tax breaks to the oil industry, restoring federal support for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, and reinforcing clean energy initiatives and efficiencies at the provincial, territorial and local level. As lead voice of some 50+ member-organizations, Climate Action Network continues to coordinate strategy, information flow, joint news releases, meetings, conferences, and shared learning to deliver a coherent and forceful message on climate change and how to address it.
Environmental Defence, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Strengthening and Expanding Ontario's Greenbelt
Over the next two years Environmental Defence will work with municipalities to add target areas to the Greenbelt. This will extend protection to more of Ontario's essential food-growing regions, green spaces and ecologically important wetlands plus areas of archeological, historical and cultural interest. Environmental Defence will enlist citizen support through direct engagement and outreach and strengthen the Greenbelt Alliance, a watchdog coalition of over 80 member organizations. First of a 2-year grant.
Équiterre, Montréal, Québec $15,000
Greater Reductions in the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides in Québec
Équiterre will promote awareness of alternatives to synthetic pesticides both among the public and among professionals working in the field of ornamental horticulture. In addition to public awareness and outreach, Équiterre will advocate for strengthening the provincial Pesticide Management Code in order to provide greater protection for human health and the environment. Advocacy tools and lessons learned will be shared with other jurisdictions to facilitate standards-based reductions in the cosmetic use of pesticides across Canada. First of a 3-year grant.
Great Lakes United, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Great Lakes Water Conservation Collaborative
This two-year collaborative has brought together lead partners Great Lakes United, the POLIS Project, Environmental Defence and the Alliance for Water Efficiency to formalize a strong role for reduced water use at the regional level so that Ontario, Québec and US. states on the Great Lakes deliver robust state and provincial water conservation plans. The bi-national coalition of environmental groups will work to increase public awareness of water efficiency and conservation strategies, build recommendations for sustainable water use in 3 pilot communities: Hamilton, Waterloo and York Regions so that research, data and 'best practices' can be shared across the border and throughout Québec and Ontario, while later launching a social marketing campaign around improved understanding of individual water use habits, both in Canada and the US.
Hamilton Naturalists' Club, Hamilton, Ontario $15,000
Natural Areas Inventory Project for Hamilton
Partnering with the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Conservation Authority and with assistance from regional agencies, government ministries and other organizations, the Natural Areas Inventory Project will build on two earlier 10 and 20-year inventories in order to update information on species, vegetation communities and site boundaries. A systematic look at changes that have occurred in average weather conditions or changes due to urbanization and environmental pollution will allow decision-makers to plan for enhancement of these natural areas, with corresponding protection measures. Action on the ground will include the expansion of some areas, the creation of new habitat and rehabilitation projects in local natural areas. First of a 2-year grant.
Kawartha Heritage Conservancy, Peterborough, Ontario $18,000
A Natural Heritage Strategy for the Kawartha Region
The Natural Heritage Strategy offers a science-based vision and plan for identifying and implementing conservation efforts throughout the Kawarthas. Using a multi-stakeholder approach the Natural Heritage Strategy will address policy gaps while identifying common goals for conservation, land-use, biodiversity, and cultural heritage. KHC will use its strengths in GIS capacity, mapping and data layering to coordinate management plans for the protection and stewardship of wetlands, valleys, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest, riparian habitat, woodlands, wildlife habitat, and agricultural lands. At the community level, the Natural Heritage Strategy will support active stakeholder engagement in local stewardship initiatives.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Documenting Biodiversity in the Caledonia Gorge Protected Natural Area
Bioblitz 2011 is the third year of a long-term project established in 2009 by the New Brunswick Museum's Centre for Biodiversity Research to investigate the biological diversity of the province's 10 largest Protected Natural Areas (PNAs). The Caledonia Gorge is the smallest of these. Biodiversity specialists from Canada and the United States will spend 2 weeks intensively investigating the biodiversity of this poorly known conservation area. Information collected will support the development of an environmental management plan for the Gorge and will inform future research projects and ecosystem monitoring in the province's PNAs. Specimens collected will be deposited in the New Brunswick Museum and associated data made widely accessible through online databases and global biodiversity initiatives. Involvement and interaction between the local community and the Bioblitz team will promote continued public stewardship of the Gorge going forward. Third of a 3-year grant.
Société de conservation des milieux humides du Québec, Québec, Québec $10,000
To address the deterioration and major loss of wetlands along the St. Lawrence River and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the Quebec Society for Wetland Conservation works to safeguard the biodiversity and preservation of species at risk in significant marshes, swamps and peatlands. Its network of protected natural areas include wetlands in Quebec's Appalachian ecoregion, in the St. Lawrence Lowlands and freshwater estuaries, the Canadian Shield, and saltmarshes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des Chaleurs. This grant is directed to updating the organization's website with additional web design and programming as well as an update of the GIS database for the administration and management of the QSWC's network of nature reserves.
Société pour la Nature et les Parcs du Canada - Québec, Montréal, Québec $20,000
Promoting a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Shared by 5 provinces, the Gulf of St. Lawrence requires an integrated management approach to marine conservation as a single ecosystem. Under increasing pressure to develop offshore oil and gas in the Gulf, this calls for effective coordinated action to move marine conservation forward. CPAWS - Québec will promote the establishment of Marine Protected Areas using a 'whole ecosystem' approach to marine conservation. This will be carried out through partnerships and public engagement at the local and regional levels along with an interprovincial coalition including federal and provincial agencies. First of a 2-year grant.
Sustainability Network, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Enhancing Online Learning Opportunities
Throughout 2010, Sustainability Network used Web 2.0 technology to provide networking and learning opportunities via Webinars, workshops, an enhanced newsletter, archived materials, and meeting space for ongoing Learning Networks (the Boreal, Alberta Water, Ontario Freshwater). In 2011, Sustainability Network continues to experiment with online technology to optimize information exchange, timely access to leadership and management issues, networking opportunities for its Learning Networks, and general feedback from its subscribers in the environment community. Second of a 2-year grant.
WWF Canada, Toronto, Ontario $60,000
Marine Spatial Planning, Inuvik, NWT
WWF is a participating member of the Beaufort Sea Partnership, the primary forum for stakeholder engagement in the integrated ocean management of the Beaufort Sea Large Oceans Management Area. WWF's Marine Spatial Planning adviser will assemble and analyse spatial data to support Indigenous and local communities in protecting social and cultural priorities as well as economic and environmental values for this remote and ecologically fragile area. As climate change increasingly allows greater access to resource development, integrated ocean management of the Beaufort Sea is of vital importance for the people who live there and for safeguarding the environment. First of a 3-year grant.
2010
Arts and Culture
Tides Canada, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts
For Canadians living in remote, isolated, or under-resourced communities, Art Bridges/Toile des Arts will provide web-based services, art resources and an online forum to help build a network of communities and individuals engaged in arts projects across Canada. It will function as an interactive information hub for community art projects, programs, and organizations delivering art services, resources and education. While a scan of each province and territory across Canada has identified over 300 community art services, there is a critical unmet need for resources and information to be shared among those who have resources with those who need them. First of a three-year grant.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The DOE defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries of English from around 600 to 1150 using the technology of the 21st century. It is based on an electronic Corpus of 3 million words comprised of at least one copy of each surviving text in Old English. This includes parchment writings, stone carvings, and inscriptions on metal. More than 60% of the total number of entries to the DOE have been written to date. Editors are currently drafting entries for the letters H, I/Y, L, M and N and assigning spellings to headwords for the letter O. Also published online is a bibliography of Old English texts and Latin sources cited in the Dictionary.
Environment
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
Advancing Marine Protected Areas for the Bay of Fundy
CPAWS-Nova Scotia will continue to promote key sites in the Bay of Fundy for National Marine Conservation protection in support of the Federal Government's commitment to set up a national system of marine protected areas. Once representative marine areas have been identified, extensive local consultations and feasibility studies will help determine the most suitable sites. Digby Neck and Islands are prime candidates for protection, where community engagement and active participation from fishermen groups working with CPAWS is building a robust local community conservation plan. The goal of the conservation plan is to integrate social and economic values with biodiversity protection and ecological conservation in preparation for potential designation as a marine protected area.
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Protecting Water Bodies from the Impacts of Mining
The Canary Institute will continue to lead a broad coalition of environmental NGOs in seeking to protect Canadian watersheds, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems from the impacts of mining. The Institute continues to promote responsible mine-waste management as opposed to the convenient use of fish-bearing streams and lakes as tailings impoundment areas. In addition, the Institute supports remote communities in their bid to be listened to by Federal and Provincial authorities to apply legal protection to local water resources. First of a two-year grant.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $15,000
Biodiversity - Putting Nature Back in the Equation
In the context of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, the CCNB is undertaking a number of initiatives to promote a national dialogue on the need to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how to tackle the growing biodiversity crisis. Biodiversity conservation will be brought front and centre as the overriding objective of fisheries management, forest management, pesticides management, land-use planning, and overall environmental planning and assessment.
Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Planning Program and Strategic Restoration Project
The Ecosystem Recovery Planning Program integrates numerous different data layers and GIS techniques at various scales to help prioritize habitat restoration within the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's jurisdiction. The program uses both coarse and fine filter analysis not only for locating priority geographic areas but also to identify priority vegetation communities and target species for ecosystem recovery. 2010 will see the analysis used in a number of different restoration plans and projects across the TRCA. Third of a three-year grant.
Earth Rangers Foundation, Woodbridge, Ontario $14,500
Earth Rangers' United Nations Biodiversity Project
Core elements from the Global Biodiversity Outlook (May 2010) released by the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, will be incorporated into Earth Rangers' messaging and communications on biodiversity. The 2002 target of significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, agreed to by governments worldwide has not been met. Multiple indications demonstrate that biodiversity has continued to decline across the three main categories of genes, species and ecosystems. In this International Year of Biodiversity, Earth Rangers' analysis and dissemination of key elements of the 2010 Global Biodiversity Outlook will help educate children and inform the public of the critical importance of protecting biodiversity and safeguarding it with effective public policy measures.
Great Lakes United, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Great Lakes Water Conservation Collaborative
This cross-border collaborative of Canadian and American NGOs seeks to formalize a strong role for reduced water-use at the regional level so that Ontario and US. states on the Great Lakes deliver strong state and provincial conservation plans due December 2010, setting new standards for regional water conservation going forward. Regional strategies will link closely with municipal and public outreach initiatives already underway. Through 2010 Great Lakes United will carefully monitor the implementation of the Annex Agreements, and the Polis Project on Ecological Governance will track how the pumping and treating of water can be reduced along with the high electricity costs and greenhouse gases these produce. First of a two-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Bioblitz 2010: Documenting Biodiversity in the Jacquet River Gorge (2)
The 60 identified Protected Natural Areas on Crown Land in New Brunswick are representative of the province's different ecoregions. Each one requires an environmental management plan to ensure its biodiversity is documented and maintained. Representative specimens gathered in the 2010 Jacquet River Gorge Bioblitz will be deposited with the Museum and fully documented. Associated specimen data will be added to Internet databases maintained by the Museum and this, in turn can be fed into broader global biodiversity initiatives. The 2010 Bioblitz will be carried out by approximately 25 volunteer biodiversity specialists who, in the months following will prepare and fully document material found. The Jacquet River Gorge is the largest of New Brunswick's Protected Natural Areas, one of the most remote, and one of the least known. Second of a three-year grant.
Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, Georgetown, Ontario $25,000
Flowing Waters Information System
The web-based FWIS will provide a common, accessible and reliable means for managing raw data associated with waters flowing into the Great Lakes. The new system will allow for an integrated, simplified and streamlined approach to assessment, and will facilitate prioritization of stewardship activities. As a networked communication tool, the FWIS will allow water management stakeholders to comprehensively monitor basin tributary conditions and contributions to the Great Lakes, and to develop adaptive management strategies for the whole basin.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Completing the Greenbelt, with Protection for the Oak Ridges Moraine Watershed
Sierra Club continues to promote the protection of environmentally sensitive lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine watershed: Durham Region's Carruthers Creek and Duffins Creek watersheds, both of which are subject to significant development pressure as well as natural areas and lands in the Credit River watershed, covering parts of both Peel and Halton Regions. Since these key water resource systems have a functional relationship to the Ontario Greenbelt, their inclusion in the Greenbelt would provide them with permanent protection and help sustain the ecological integrity of the region. Second of a two-year grant.
Sustainability Network, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Online Learning Opportunities with Web 2.0 Technology
The use of Web 2.0 technology will facilitate bringing people together online, providing learning and networking opportunities and a means to keep connected between gatherings. Sustainability Network will pursue its core mission to strengthen the management skills of environmental leaders using Web 2.0 online workshops, Webinars, an enhanced e-newsletter, and online meeting space for Learning Networks. First of a two-year grant.
The Natural Step, Ottawa, Ontario $25,000
Communications Strategy 2010
To support the launch of a new strategic communications strategy, marketing and outreach, with improved content and functionality for the TNS website, a network exchange, new toolkits and materials, and targeted communications for each of the organization's program areas. The new communications strategy will include stories about emerging leaders and change agents in municipalities, organizations and businesses explaining how change happens, using a systems approach to sustainability to achieve better decisions, upstream solutions and lasting change.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
Sustainable Prosperity's network of academics, business leaders and policy experts provide research and policy options for market-based approaches to transforming Canada's energy systems into driving a strong, competitive, low-carbon, green economy. Developing and promoting pragmatic, economically sound policy and market models will help move Canada in the direction of greener, more sustainable development. Third of a three-year grant.
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario $5,000
Alternatives Journal
The October 2010 issue of Alternatives is devoted to biodiversity in this, the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity. Biodiversity and species loss continue apace at the global, regional and national level and Canada is no exception in failing to meet its 2002 international commitment to halt the decline in biodiversity and degradation of habitat with solid recovery strategies and action plans.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Conservation, Mapping and Public Engagement in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion
WCS continues to promote landscape-scale conservation and ecological connectivity through mapping and GIS capacity, building community stewardship and informed decision-making both locally and regionally in this Northern Appalachian and Acadian Ecoregion. Second of a two-year grant.
2009
Arts and Culture
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario $55,000
Learning Through the Arts: Literacy, Ecology, and Aboriginal Programming, Northwest Territories
Introductory workshops held in Yellowknife in May 2009 successfully demonstrated the capacity of Learning Through the Arts to deliver core curricula in the classroom using interactive arts-based approaches. This was followed by a full week's LTTA conference in November 2009 to reach a broader number of teachers, artists, and elders. Arts-based learning techniques combined with active ecology and Aboriginal programming provide more experiential and culturally relevant education for Aboriginal students, arriving at a time when the new NWT Dene Kede curriculum has begun to incorporate Aboriginal life practices and values along with traditional art forms. Enhanced learning opportunities and greater student engagement arising from LTTA will help address specific educational needs and mandates in NWT, simultaneously promoting special learner needs, academic success, and Aboriginal cultural values. Second year of a two-year grant.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario $100,000
Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis
This grant supports the Great Lakes/Freshwater ecosystem exhibit within the Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis. The Great Lakes represent the largest freshwater lake system in the world, to which human activity over the past century has introduced nearly 200 species of plants, invertebrates and fish. While many wetlands in the Great Lakes Basin have long been altered or destroyed, those remaining are subject to pollution, invasive species and further degradation from activities related to transportation, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture. While examining cumulative impacts to the functional integrity of the ecosystem, the exhibit will explore what needs to be done to restore balance to this enormous freshwater resource.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
Having linked electronically on the Web in 2007 with the Oxford English Dictionary, as of this year the DOE is linked to the Middle English Dictionary at the University of Michigan. Readers can now explore online the cultural record of the English language over a period of more than 1,300 years. The writing of the DOE is now more than 60% complete, and a new release of the DOE Corpus was published in October 2009.
Environment
Alternatives Journal, Waterloo, Ontario $5,000
Sustainable Communities, Your Town: Sustainable by Design
The Fall 2009 issue allows several authors to characterize essential elements of community sustainability and how to create sustainability plans from a shared vision using integrated planning, effective performance standards, and adaptive management strategies when new problems arise from ever-changing circumstances. Alternatives Journal is housed within the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $5,000
Health Watch: Making the Pollution-Health Connection
The Health Watch web pages present vital information on six areas of interest: cancer and the environment, children's health and the environment, community health, environmental justice, health briefs, and publications relating to health and the environment. The Conservation Council continues to work on filling the knowledge gap on community and population health - particularly rates of cancer - by examining the health status of 14 specific communities around the province, where industrial pollutants data reported helps to make the health-pollution connection less ambiguous than at a larger geographic scale. Second year of a two-year grant.
Dalhousie University, Eco-Efficiency Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia $20,000
Industrial Park Sustainable Water Management
Using Nova Scotia's Burnside Industrial Park as a case study this project examines inefficient and inappropriate water-use in industrial facilities, particularly those located in large industrial parks where cumulative impacts become significant. The project surveys best practices in Canada and other jurisdictions assessing new and innovative water-related technologies, as well as information gathered by umbrella agencies such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the UN Environment Programme. This research is now summarized in "Industrial Best Practices for Water Management" detailing how a company individually or an industrial park collectively can reduce its water footprint. The guidebook can be downloaded from the Eco-Efficiency Centre's website. There are more than 1,000 industrial parks across Canada.
Ducks Unlimited Canada, Toronto, Ontario $10,000
Headwaters Healthy Wetlands
Rural landowners, municipalities and conservation groups are working in partnership to promote wetland conservation and habitat restoration in the headwaters area of five major river systems, most of which flow from the Dundalk Plateau. During the 2009 field season additional wetland demonstration sites were built, with ongoing outreach to landowners and municipalities providing technical support and guidance on wetland identification and protection. This wetland conservation and enhancement promotes local water quantity and quality in Wellington, Dufferin and Grey counties and ultimately benefits water resources in the downstream urban centres of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Brantford. Second year of a two-year grant.
Ecology Action Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
An Effective Coastal Strategy for Nova Scotia
The EAC continues to take a leadership role in coordinating discussion, information exchange and policy analysis on coastal issues with other public interest organizations, ENGOs and industry stakeholders. To promote a coherent and unified voice on these issues, EAC has facilitated stakeholder and community group communication with government. Broad public interest and community engagement in a sustainable coastal strategy supports the provincial government as it builds a robust and effective framework for sustainable coastal development.
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
The Green Budget Coalition is made up of 21 leading environment and conservation organizations who collaborate in identifying and building support for strategic budgetary and fiscal measures, critical to long-term environmental sustainability. Every year three priorities and six further recommendations are discussed with parliamentarians and federal decision-makers prior to each annual Federal Budget to highlight and prioritize appropriate action for protecting the environment within an economy that does not continue to compromise human and environmental health. Third year of a three-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Documenting Biodiversity in the Jacquet River Gorge
Documenting and collecting representative specimens of fungi, lichens, mosses, vascular plants, insect and other invertebrate groups, amphibians and small mammals, as well as a separate bird survey will together provide vital information on biological diversity in the Jacquet River Gorge, a remote Protected Natural Area (PNA) established in 2003, about which little is known. The 2009 fieldwork formally launches a multi-year program to carry out similar surveys in all of New Brunswick's PNAs so that environmental management plans can be developed for conserving biological diversity. The collections data will be made available to various global biodiversity databases as well as to the New World database, and will otherwise be available to researchers from the Museum's own website. First year of a three-year grant.
Pollution Probe, Toronto, Ontario $20,000
Applying the "net gain" principle to land-use, watershed, and transportation planning in southern Ontario
Working with a core set of sustainability indicators developed by the City of Pickering, Pollution Probe will help inform the design and application of a science-based, environmental "net gain" framework that is effective at the local level, promotes community engagement, and addresses broader regional issues such as air quality, watershed management, transportation and land-use planning. In addition to consulting with experts, this collaborative effort will solicit input from the public, environmental and other stakeholders to help develop a guidance document for measuring, monitoring and assessing environmental "net gain" - documenting what works, how it works and why it should be used. Lessons learned from Central Pickering as a case study will provide policy direction for solving environmental problems and challenges elsewhere in southern Ontario.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
The Path Forward for Climate Action in Canada
Climate Action Network continues to facilitate information distribution to the media and to its 50+ member organizations, promoting upward harmonization of climate change policy to engage all the provinces and territories in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. In preparation for the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December, it developed a strong framework for international action on cutting world carbon emissions. Key inter-provincial summits, and Canada-US. regional climate initiatives were also high priorities through 2009. Second year of a two-year grant.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Completing the Greenbelt, with Protection for the Oak Ridges Moraine Watershed
Sierra Club has worked closely with municipal and provincial officials, with residents, stakeholders and NGOs to expand the Greenbelt so that protection is extended to the entire Oak Ridges Moraine watershed. Municipal proposals to allow for development while saving other lands for the Greenbelt in their own Official Plans will respond to the provincial government's challenge to 'grow the Greenbelt'. This process was launched in August 2008 as part of the government's broader plan to protect the environment and strategically manage growth. Second year of a two-year grant.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Plan and Strategic Restoration Program
With the science of restoration ecology being a relatively new field, during the past year the Recovery Plan has evolved into a more comprehensive framework, designed to operate at a greater number of scales than previously anticipated. In addition, newly developed restoration planning tools such as the Habitat-Species database - a vast database of species and vegetation communities - together with new GIS models in progress allow biologists to predict where in the TRCA landscape particular umbrella species can be restored for. Second year of a three-year grant.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
To reinforce the concept of a Green Economy with a broader Canadian audience, Sustainable Prosperity will boost its communications efforts over the next year with high-impact messages on topics such as Environmental Pricing Reform and carbon pricing. How to benchmark and track progress for a green economy will come from Sustainable Prosperity's network of academics and policy experts who provide research and policy options for market-based approaches to strong, green economic growth. Second year of a three-year grant.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Conservation, Mapping and Public Engagement in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion
WCS uses a systems approach to landscape-scale conservation with enhanced mapping and information overlays to illustrate key ecological factors influencing regional biodiversity, sites of conservation importance, and the five critical linkage areas. A landscape connectivity analysis will be done to demonstrate the need for ecological connectivity and for an adaptation strategy to climate change, allowing species and plant communities room to move. Recently developed and regularly updated by WCS, the online interactive Conservation Planning Atlas facilitates decision-making and collaboration at both local and regional levels by providing resources, science data, and GIS support for public and stakeholder engagement across the region. First year of a two-year grant.
World Wildlife Fund Canada, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Mackenzie Valley Protected Areas Strategy (PAS)
WWf continues to work with Dene communities in their bid to have a 25,500 square kilometre area of spectacular mountains and valleys declared a National Wildlife Area. Known as Shúhtagot'ine Néné, this area includes four river systems, primary critical habitat for conservation-status plant and animal species, rare endemic plants, and a significant number of Biological Programme sites including caribou calving grounds and bird nesting sites. The goal of the Protected Areas Strategy is to identify and reserve a network of formally protected areas in advance of the proposed natural gas pipeline and associated industrial development along the Mackenzie Valley. The PAS provides the framework for a 'Conservation First' land-use planning process. Fifth of a five-year grant.