Great Lakes Local Action Fund
Learn how we’re supporting projects that protect and restore the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund.
Overview
The Ontario government’s Great Lakes Local Action Fund is supporting community projects that:
- benefit local communities
- help protect and improve the health of the Great Lakes
Since 2021, we committed $3.7 million through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund to support 80 projects in communities across Ontario.
Projects funded by the Great Lakes Local Action Fund are led by:
- community-based organizations
- municipalities
- conservation authorities
- small businesses
- Indigenous communities
The projects focus on protecting and/or restoring the Great Lakes and/or their connecting rivers, and addressing at least one of the following priorities:
- naturalization and restoration
- protecting habitats
- shoreline cleanup
Projects receiving funding
On October 13, 2022, we announced that the second round of the Great Lakes Local Action Fund will support 38 projects with up to $1.9 million in funding.
Some of the 2022 recipients and their projects include:
- Friends of Second Marsh, who will remove invasive Phragmites from the Second Marsh Wildlife Area and the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve in the Lake Ontario watershed with the help of community volunteers and professionals
- Georgian Bay Forever, who will work with students and volunteers to collect 1,000 pounds of plastic litter through at least 10 shoreline cleanups around Georgian Bay
- Watersheds Canada, who will work with local communities, including Mohawks of Akwesasne and landowners, to plant 2,000 native trees, shrubs and wildflowers to reduce shoreline erosion and safeguard wildlife habitat along the St. Lawrence River shoreline
- Oakvillegreen, who will provide local youth with hands-on training in building several rain gardens that will help soak up heavy rains and provide native plants for pollinators in the Lake Ontario watershed
More information about round two projects will be posted on this page when it becomes available.
Round one projects
In the first round of the Great Lakes Local Action Fund (2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022), the following 44 projects received a total $1.9 million in funding:
Organization name | Project name | Project description | Funding amount |
---|---|---|---|
A Greener Future | Love Your Lake | Engage communities to conduct 100 litter clean ups along the shores of Lake Ontario between Niagara-on-the-Lake and Kingston. | $30,000 |
ALUS Norfolk | Reducing Agricultural Runoff Across Farms in Norfolk County | Reduce agricultural runoff flowing into Lake Eric by working with farmers to create natural restoration throughout the Long Point Watershed in Norfolk County. | $50,000 |
Bagida'waad Alliance | Ziibiins Revitalization - Little Port Creek in Neyaashiinigmiing | Shoreline clean up, restoration and water quality improvements through engaging the local Indigenous community in Little Port Creek in Neyaashiinigmiing. Community members will also engage in water monitoring activities and learning about the native plants along the shoreline. | $50,000 |
Catfish Creek Conservation Authority | Catfish Creek Stream Bank Restoration at Archie Coulter Conservation Area | Enhance ecological and shoreline remediation along nine creeks and rivers in the Lake Ontario watershed through scalable classroom engagement. | $47,577.15 |
Credit Valley Conservation Foundation | Rogers Creek Online Pond Mitigation Project | Restore a portion of Rogers Creek within the Town of Erin to improve the cold-water fish community and habitat. | $50,000 |
Environment Network | Sunset Point Eco-Shoreline Project | Applying and studying the technique of anchoring large woody debris (LWD) used in coastal protection to stabilize the Georgian Bay shoreline from the impacts of high water levels and bigger waves. | $49,520 |
Friends of the Rouge Watershed | Youth and Community Action to Improve the Health of the Rouge River Watershed and Lake Ontario | Education and engagement of youth and community volunteers to reforest municipal park land in the Rouge Valley watershed | $35,000 |
Garden River First Nation | Revitalizing and Protecting First Nation Ecotourism and First Nation Lands | Creating an elevated boardwalk within Ojibway Park to stimulate eco-tourism solutions while protecting the Great Lakes wetlands. | $46,047.31 |
Georgian Bay Forever | Georgian Bay Plastics Free | Removing plastics from Georgian Bay shorelines and using analysis of collected plastics to educate the public and businesses on the challenges of plastic in the environment. | $49,715 |
Haldimand Stewardship Council Inc. | Engaging community members to enhance and protect ecosystems and species through afforestation of marginal and abandoned lands in the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario watersheds. | Protect habitats and species and enhance biodiversity through reforestation of privately owned and marginally operable or abandoned agricultural lands within the Lake Erie and Ontario watersheds. | $47,971 |
Haliburton County Community Co-operative | Tri-Region Community-Based Benthos Biomonitoring Project | Creating a sustainable, citizen-based model of benthos biomonitoring in the Haliburton, Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes areas to identify early indicators of lake issues. | $50,000 |
Invasive Species Centre | Reducing Invasive Species from Shield Lake Shorelines in the Great Lakes | Increase community awareness of and engagement in active invasive species reduction and monitoring in multiple watersheds. | $49,744 |
I-Think | Youth agency creates waves on the Great Lakes | Enhance ecological and shoreline remediation along nine creeks and rivers in the Lake Ontario watershed through scalable classroom engagement. | $49,996.80 |
Kawartha Conservation | Enhancing nearshore water quality and aquatic plant management in the Kawartha Lakes, Lake Ontario Drainage Basin | Improve water quality and aquatic plant management through citizen science and implementing cost-effective recommendations to improve nearshore conditions along waterfronts. | $44,500 |
Kettle Creek Conservation Authority | Kettle Creek Wetland Restoration Project | Engage community and youth leaders from the Lake Erie watershed to become Guardians by conducting water quality tests, planting trees and shrubs, and collecting litter along shorelines. | $36,280.93 |
Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy | Francis Hilb Preserve Wetland Boardwalk and Woodland Trail | Protecting while providing public access to a rare wetland in Goulais Bay, Lake Superior, with a new boardwalk, trail and educational opportunities. | $49,987.90 |
Lakehead Region Conservation Authority | Fisherman's Climate Change Awareness Park | Turning an existing undeveloped municipal parkland into a Climate Change Awareness Park that incorporates wetland enhancements, shoreline remediation, revegetation and pollinator gardens, while providing a space to educate and address environmental and climate impacts on Lake Superior | $47,400 |
Lakehead University | Lakehead University’s First Climate Change Park: Restoring the McIntyre River Through Awareness and Action | Implement low impact developments (LIDs) to improve water quality and riparian habitat on the shoreline of McIntyre River at Lakehead University.This project also creates a recreational and educational opportunity as a demonstration Climate Change Park. | $47,483.50 |
Lambton Shores Phragmites Community Group | Lambton Shores Coastal Wetland Restoration and Enhancement – Wood Drive | Invasive phragmites removal in the Wood Drive Coastal Wetland in Lake Huron. | $50,000 |
Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association | Smith Bay Creek Stream Restoration Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory | Restoring in-stream habitat, planting, removing invasive species and shoreline cleanup in the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory | $50,000 |
Matawa First Nations Management | Building capacity in water quality monitoring in Long Lake/Lake Superior for Matawa Member First Nations | Build capacity of four Matawa member First Nations in the Lake Superior watershed to conduct water quality monitoring and integrate traditional knowledge with scientific data to support restoration actions. | $44,700 |
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne | Advancing Shoreline Restoration in Akwesasne: Re-situating Data and Planning for the Future | Using scientific data to prioritize shoreline restorations in Akwesasne through shoreline characterization and community engagement | $50,000 |
Muskrat Watershed Council | Muskrat Watershed Agricultural Best Management Practices Assistance Project | Assist and educate farmers residing within the Muskrat Watershed in implementing agricultural best management practices. | $50,000 |
Nature Conservancy of Canada | Pelee Promenade: a boardwalk and restoration on Pelee Island | Protecting species at risk while providing public access to and education about Peele Island by installing a boardwalk, new trail, bird viewing spaces and educational signage. | $50,000 |
Niagara Chapter Trout Unlimited Canada | Bring Back the Brookies | Engage local community groups and residents in a restoration and learning discovery program (Bring Back the Brookies) to preserve and protect aquatic habitat in Upper Twelve Mile Creek, a tributary of Lake Ontario. Participants will engage in planting vegetation and cleaning up shorelines to support improvements to water quality, reduce erosion and sedimentation, expand habitat connectivity, and mitigate climate change. | $47,875 |
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority | Niagara's Visual Assessment Survey Tool (VAST) | Launch a citizen science initiative to fill data gaps for nuisance algae and shoreline erosion rates and water level changes in the Niagara area. | $48,940 |
NORDIK Institute | Community-based monitoring pilot for Garden River and St. Marys Area of Concern | Led collaboratively with the Garden River First Nation this project brings Indigenous and Western ways of knowing together by training Indigenous community members to monitor water quality that will inform local and regional water management in the St. Marys River Area of Concern. | $50,000 |
Norfolk County | Phosphorus Loadings Impact on the Receiving Waters | Monitor phosphorous loadings from the Simcoe wastewater treatment plant which discharges into Lynn River and then into Lake Erie. A local school will be engaged in the monitoring program and learning about water quality protection. Monitoring results will be made available to Norfolk County residents and businesses and be used to assess impacts of point source loading contributions and support changes to the local sewer use bylaw. | $43,000 |
North Shore Steelhead Association | Birch Beach Migration Corridor Improvement Project | Creek restoration to improve cold-water fish populations along the north shore of Lake Superior. | $44,397.50 |
Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters | Working with Communities to Prevent and Respond to Aquatic Invasive Species | Support and build community capacity to remove invasive species in the Lake Ontario watershed. | $27,090 |
Ontario Streams | Lake Ontario Headwater Tributaries Rehabilitation Plan 2021 | Improving headwater tributaries in the Humber, Rouge, Credit, and Don River watersheds, by increasing fish habitats, improving fish passages and planting native trees and shrubs to increase riparian cover. | $50,000 |
Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre | Restoring the Ecological Health of the Great Lakes Through Turtle Conservation Action | Conserve Ontario's at-risk turtle species through conservation and monitoring actions, community engagement and stewardship in multiple watersheds. | $50,000 |
Ottawa Riverkeeper | Reducing road salt run-off in the Ottawa River watershed | Mobilize individuals and institutions in Ottawa to collectively reduce quantities of salt used over at least 150,000 m2 of impervious surfaces by engaging and educating citizens and volunteers on water quality monitoring and reductions of road salt consumption, and targeting facility managers on efficient road salt use through Smart About Salt training. | $36,000 |
Raisin Region Conservation Authority | Restoring Riparian Habitat and Enhancing Forest Cover in the St. Lawrence River Watershed | Restoring riparian areas by working with farmers to plant native trees and shrubs which will also serve as riparian planting demonstration sites to the community. | $50,000 |
Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) | Riparian Restoration of Lake Huron Watershed | A hands-on activity for the local youth and community where 400 shrubs will be planted along the Thessalon River to slow down erosion and 375 meters of fence installed to keep out 20 head of cattle from the river. | $15,660.52 |
Severn Sound Environmental Association | Health Soils = Healthy Watersheds in Severn Sound | Connect the local farming community with soil health experts and champions to encourage adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to improve soil conditions over the long term in the Severn Sound. | $50,000 |
St. Clair Region Conservation Authority | Building boardwalks and engaging landowners in habitat restoration in the St. Clair Region | Restore a boardwalk in the Coldstream Conservation Area within a provincially significant wetland to provide safe public access while minimizing impacts on the natural feature. Local landowners in the Sydenham River watershed will be engaged in habitat restoration projects to help reduce impacts to water quality. | $50,000 |
St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences | The Great River Rapport - Community Action Initiative | Mobilize people to help protect the St. Lawrence River through monitoring and citizen science activities and learn more about freshwater protection and restoration. The project is conducted in partnership with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. | $50,000 |
The City of Pickering | The Litter and Plastics Challenge: Every Piece Counts | Litter clean ups of Pickering shorelines through community and youth engagement and education. | $14,679.14 |
The Halton Region Conservation Authority | Flamborough Centre Park Wetland | Transforming an underutilized recreational park into a productive marsh and swamp ecosystems and restore the wetland along the Grindstone Creek watershed. | $49,875 |
The Township of Tarbutt and Tarbutt Additional | Environmental and Recreational Restoration of Women’s Institute Park, Tarbutt Township | Improve public access to Lake Huron in Tarbutt Township and enhance public awareness through signage and web-based activities about the ecological importance of the Great Lakes. | $7,020 |
Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy | Four-Directions Shoreline Cleanup: Engaging Indigenous Communities through Action | Host shoreline clean ups that integrate Indigenous community members and teachings in four culturally significant locations. | $15,662.40 |
Water Rangers | Lake Erie Guardians | Engage community and youth leaders from the Lake Erie watershed to become Guardians by conducting water quality tests, planting trees and shrubs, and collecting litter along shorelines. | $49,955 |
Wellington Water Watchers | Take Two Watershed Clean-Up | The Take Two Watershed Clean-Up project aims to engage approximately 500 individuals and youth around the Speed and Eramosa Rivers to clean up the watershed through independent trail and shoreline clean-ups. Participants will gain awareness of the impacts of litter on the environment and how they can be part of the solution. | $29,500 |