(LEAP) Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership: Conserving Nature for Future Generations

Regional Biodiversity Fund

In 2004, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) approached several conservation organizations about ways to increase grant making in northeast Ohio. They were interested in providing a vehicle for capturing new (or previously unattainable) sources of funding to preserve and restore natural areas within the northeast Ohio region. As a result, a subcommittee of the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership (LEAP) for Biodiversity was formed and is currently in the process of establishing a Regional Biodiversity Fund ("the Fund") at NFWF.

The Fund has the promise of serving the following primary functions:

  • Provide a vehicle for receiving environmental settlements, as well as other funds, and distributing them through a grant process toward projects that protect and restore natural areas within the Lake Erie Allegheny region (including northeast Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania, and western New York);
  • Capture settlement monies that may otherwise be leaving the region;
  • Advance a common conservation agenda for the region by enabling strategic investments in environmental restoration and conservation needs as identified by the community; and
  • Provide a collaborative process for fund allocation through a Local Advisory Committee. Priorities and criteria for fund allocation are to be established by a Regional Biodiversity Plan (see below).

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will coordinate with the Local Advisory Committee to operate a conservation grants program that will award funding on a competitive basis to eligible grant recipients, including state, tribal and local governments, educational institutions, and non-profit conservation organizations. An initial Local Advisory Committee (see below) has been established to coordinate setting up the Fund with NFWF, determine governance of the Fund, develop a formal grant application process, and to recommend projects for funding to NFWF. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) has agreed to enter into an agreement with NFWF and act as the signatory agent on behalf of the founding Local Advisory Committee members in setting up the Fund.

The U.S. Attorney General's office in Cleveland, as well as representatives from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, have been engaged and are interested in working with the Local Advisory Committee to steer environmental settlement fees to the Fund and to allow the Local Advisory Committee to determine grant recipients.

In anticipation of the Fund being set up, pre-proposals were solicited by the Local Advisory Committee in December, 2005 to identify the types of conservation projects that are pending but need additional funding and to pre-qualify projects so that when monies do become available, eligible projects can immediately proceed through a formal grant application process. Of the 32 pre-proposals submitted, the majority primarily consisted of land acquisition and restoration projects aimed at protecting or restoring natural areas within the Lake Erie Basin. Pre-proposals were received from several areas throughout the Lake Erie basin including Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Lake, Medina, Portage, and Summit Counties. In total, the proposals called for nearly $18 million for the preservation or restoration of approximately 2,067 acres in Northeast Ohio.

The 32 project proposals received were then packaged and submitted to the U.S. Attorney General's office in Cleveland and to NFWF. Although none of the projects were selected for funding by the US Attorney General, an important relationship has been established between the environmental community and the US Attorney General's office. The great diversity of proposals offers the opportunity to protect and restore important habitats in this region and will serve as a significant demonstration of the need for the Fund. As we move forward with establishment of the Fund and become positioned to receive and distribute funds to local organizations, we will use these projects as an initial pool for funding consideration.

Initial Local Advisory Committee Members

  • Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Inc.
  • Cleveland Metroparks
  • Cleveland Museum of Natural History
  • Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan/American Heritage Rivers Initiative
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park
  • EcoCity Cleveland
  • Grand River Partners, Inc.
  • Metro Parks Serving Summit County
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • The Trust for Public Land
  • Western Reserve Land Conservancy
  • Western Reserve Resource Conservation & Development Council

For additional information about the Regional Biodiversity Fund, contact either:

Carol Thaler
Local Advisory Committee Chair
(216) 443-3708 or cthaler@cuyahogacounty.us

or

Kay Carlson
Local Advisory Committee Coordinator
(216) 631-0878 or kcarlson@tnc.org