Alberta Ecotrust announces fall grants. Alberta's water, wilderness and air were $152,500 to the good last week as Alberta Ecotrust's grant review committee gathered to choose which of 23 proposed projects would receive the foundation's support. The deliberations of the review committee — a gathering of two dozen representatives from the foundation's corporate and environmental nonprofit partners — eventually winnowed the applications down to just ten projects.

According to Ecotrust program manager Kim Kiel, the committee's deliberations were particularly difficult this round. "Not only did we have even more strong proposals than usual, but we know funding for environmental groups is in very short supply this year, and that adds a lot of pressure to the process." Despite its challenges, however, the committee was pleased with its results. "They settled on a great mix of projects," Kiel reports. "As a result, we're supporting work from one end of the province to the other, and everything from green building retrofits in Edmonton to beaver restoration in the Oldman watershed."

Alberta Ecotrust supports a spring and fall round of funding each year. Combined, the spring and fall rounds for 2009 have yielded a total of $302,353 awarded to 18 projects. The foundation also sponsors a separate program for innovative projects proposed by Young Environmental Stewards (YES) under 30. In 2009, the YES program awarded $54,150 to 11 projects.

For a complete description of the projects funded in the fall round, click here.