DUBOIS – The Great Lakes region recently received a boost when Nature Abounds, a national, non-profit based in DuBois, was awarded a grant from Freshwater Future.
This marks the second Climate Change grant that Nature Abounds will receive from Freshwater Future, which focuses on building the environmental community in the Great Lakes region to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. They do so by providing financial assistance, communications and networking and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin.
Over the past year, Nature Abounds has been working with trained community volunteers in the Lake Erie basin (Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York), reaching out to the public, local officials and leaders, as well as the media informing them about climate change and adaptation in the Lake Erie Watershed Basin.
Nature Abounds held two trainings for the project, one in Erie and one in Buffalo, NY. In addition to the in-person trainings, the group is also offering a correspondence course for citizens that want to become involved but were not able to make it to one of the trainings in person.
With the new grant, Nature Abounds will continue to work with citizen volunteers in the Lake Erie Watershed Basin in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. They’ll also be expanding the project to the Lake Ontario Basin.
Melinda Hughes-Wert, Nature Abounds president, said, “Climate change is already impacting our region in almost all aspects – public health aspects like asthma and allergies, low water tables, decreasing wildlife habitat, diminishing fishing and recreational opportunities and even shipping transportation costs. People don’t realize that as costs rise for goods in the stores and for medical costs, some of that rise can be directly attributed to climate change and they’re not going to see those costs drop anytime in the near future.”
Hughes-Wert added, “With support from Freshwater Future, through our Climate Change Ambassador opportunity, we are getting the word out about changes that have already happened, what to expect in the future and what people can do to help. Also, if municipal officials want to work with us on planning for climate change, we’re more than happy to meet with them and discuss what can be done.”
The mission of Nature Abounds is to bring people together for a healthy planet. For more information on this project, contact Nature Abounds at either 814-765-1453 or at info@natureabounds.org.
