Ontario is investing $1.5 million this year in local efforts to help protect, restore, and enhance the Great Lakes.

Now in its fourth year, the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund is providing up to $25,000 each to fund 69 projects led by not-for-profit organizations, schools, First Nations and Métis communities, and other local groups. These projects have a direct environmental benefit to the Great Lakes and include:

  • Planting trees and other forms of vegetation;
  • Naturalizing stream banks;
  • Cleaning up beaches and shorelines;
  • Creating rain gardens;
  • Restoring wetland habitat; and
  • Controlling invasive species.

Since it was created in 2012, the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund has awarded $6 million to 305 community-based projects in Great Lakes watershed areas, including the St. Lawrence River Basin and the Ottawa River.

Investing in communities along the Great Lakes is part of the government’s economic plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number one priority to grow the economy and create jobs. The four-part plan includes investing in talent and skills, including helping more people get and create the jobs of the future by expanding access to high-quality college and university education. The plan is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario’s history and investing in a low-carbon economy driven by innovative, high-growth, export-oriented businesses. The plan is also helping working Ontarians achieve a more secure retirement.

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