Premier Brian Pallister speaks to the media on Monday, August 12, 2019 in Winnipeg. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski)
WINNIPEG — Twenty new conservation projects will receive more than $5.6 million from the Manitoba government to help preserve the province’s watersheds.
Premier Brian Pallister made the funding announcement Wednesday, which comes from the Growing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) Trust and the Conservation Trust.
Through GROW, watershed districts in Manitoba will deliver 16 projects that improve resilience to the effects of climate change. Landowners will work with watershed districts and receive capital costs or annual payments to support new conservation projects.
Some of the projects to receive funding include:
- $750,000 to the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District in southeast Manitoba to support projects that reduce peak flows during floods, retain water during dry periods and capture nutrients in identified ‘hotspot’ areas that would otherwise end up in Lake Winnipeg;
- $440,000 for the Souris River Watershed District projects to reduce peak water flows, conserve at-risk shallow wetlands, improve soil health, conserve wildlife habitat and sequester carbon;
- $500,000 for the Inter-Mountain Watershed District, located east of the Riding and Duck mountains, to address flooding and severe water erosion that occurs along the edge of this region and the Manitoba escarpment; and
- $250,000 to the East Interlake Watershed District, on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, to focus on wetland and riparian area enhancement projects that reduce water flow and capture nutrients before they can enter Lake Winnipeg.
Pallister noted the GROW and Conservation Trust projects will also leverage more than $9 million in matching funds.
