Kawartha Land Trust has received $7 million in funding from the federal government to support the land conservation organization’s work to protect land in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
Two federal politicians were at Jackson Park in Peterborough on Thursday afternoon (July 18) to make the announcement on behalf of environment and climate change minister Steven Guilbeault.
The funding comes from Canada’s $1.4-billion 10-year Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, which aims to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by supporting projects that conserve, restore, and enhance the management of ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, peatlands, and grasslands.
“Protecting nature is one of the best and easiest ways that we can fight climate change,” said federal small business minister Rechie Valdez on behalf of Guilbeault. “These vital ecosystems, like those here in Peterborough, absorb carbon and increase our communities’ resilience to the effects of climate change.”
Kawartha Land Trust protects 39 properties comprising more than 7,250 acres of diverse types of land and assists in the management of one additional property. In February, the charitable organization announced the largest protected property purchase in its 22-year history: the new 1,411-acre Hammer Family Nature Preserve on the east shore of Pigeon Lake west of Lakehurst in Trent Lakes.
The $7 million in funding from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund helped Kawartha Land Trust protect the Hammer Family Nature Preserve and its intact temperate forest and freshwater coastal habitat that supports 28 species at risk. The organization also received private donations and a $2.9-million investment from the Ontario government’s Greenlands Conservation Partnership, a $38-million program conserving ecologically important natural areas and protecting wetlands, grasslands, and forests that help mitigate the effects of climate change.
The funding announced on Thursday is in addition to other funding Kawartha Land Trust has received from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. In 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada announced the organization would receive $1.7 million over five years, which Kawartha Land Trust has been using to protect other properties.
“We are making progress toward Canada’s important conservation goals in our collective effort to halt and reverse the alarming global decline of biodiversity,” said Adam van Koeverden, parliamentary secretary to Guilbeault, on behalf of the minister. “Working collaboratively with communities across the country is essential to making progress. The work being done through this funding is an excellent example of the benefits of working together, including connecting Canadians with nature and bringing us closer to our biodiversity goals.”
During Thursday’s announcement, Valdez also announced almost $1.6 million for Conservation Ontario, which represents Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities, to protect ecosystems from destruction and fund activities that protect at-risk species.
This story has been updated to clarify the funding Kawartha Land Trust has received from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund.
