Local conservancy partners earn provincial award

The Ontario Trillium Foundation presented Great Grant Awards to six non-profit and charitable organizations in the region Friday in Thunder Bay.
Among those was the local partnership of the Rainy Lake Conservancy, Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists.
Groups across the province were being recognized for their outstanding work and lasting contributions to their communities.
“The Great Grant Awards celebrate the vision, commitment, and energy of Ontario’s volunteers and the community organizations,” noted Foundation CEO L. Robin Cardozo.
Phyllis Callaghan, representing the Rainy Lake Conservancy, the lead applicant for the $48,900 grant awarded to the Northwestern Ontario Conservation Partnership in 2004, accepted this special award on behalf of the group.
“We were thrilled and felt very honoured because it recognizes the conservation work that we have done in the past couple of years,” Callaghan noted.
The awards are presented every two years in the following categories: Arts and Culture, Sports and Recreation, Environment, and Human and Social Services.
The Grant Review Team Chair’s Award and a special 25th-Anniversary Award also were handed out.
The Rainy Lake Conservancy, Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists earned the award in the environment sector, specifically for:
•spearheading a strategy to identify and preserve significant natural heritage features within the region;
•completing the first phase of the Cranberry Peatlands Interpretive Trail (a wetland bog walk) in the Township of Alberton; and
•establishing the Nature Conservancy of Canada in Northwestern Ontario.
“A tremendous amount was accomplish,” Callaghan enthused. “I think there was a lot of support from other groups because of the Trillium grant.
“For example, Alberton Township was very supportive, as well as the Rainy River Future Development Corporation (FedNor), Ministry of Natural Resources, the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club Get Outdoors Club, Ducks Unlimited and volunteers from the local community.”
She felt once they had received the grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, they had gained some credibility as an organization, which is why some of the other groups joined in their initiatives.
“In particular, the bog walk was greatly supported because it would be an added tourist venue, a way of helping to educate people on the value of conservation, and just a nice place for people to go talk a walk,” Callaghan remarked.
And now that they have been presented with the Great Grants Award, she felt it will be an incentive for more conservation work to be done in the area.
Their next project is another conservation plan developed by the partners and the Nature Conservancy for Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods.
“That will just target a few areas that are really important in terms of biodiversity and then make a plan to protect those areas,” she explained.
Callaghan admitted the local groups were very surprised to have been acknowledged for their efforts through the Great Grants Award and were happy to travel to Thunder Bay for the recognition ceremony.
“It was a real celebration of the volunteer work of people in this area,” she noted.
“This was our second grant that had been awarded to the Rainy Lake Conservancy, so we’ve been very in touch with the [Ontario] Trillium Foundation over the last few years and they’ve really helped us to achieve our conservation goals.
“We’re just a volunteer organization, so it’s hard to do it on your own,” she added.
The other award recipients included Visions and Light Film Festival (Arts and Culture), Boys and Girls Clubs of Thunder Bay (Sports and Recreation), Equay-wuk Women’s Group (Human and Social Services), Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay (Grant Review Team Chair’s Award), and the PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise (25th-Anniversary Award).