EPOC Environmental Grant Awards for 2013

The Environmental Professionals Organization of Connecticut (EPOC) is pleased to announce our environmental grant awards for 2013 as follows (total amount of all awards is $9,342):

• Groundwork Bridgeport: Funding will support water quality testing curriculum that is part of their year-round GroundCorps youth environmental education program.  They will be instructing approximately 60 Bridgeport high school students in water quality monitoring and testing along a portion of the Yellow Mill River in Bridgeport’s East Side.  They will conduct water quality tests and be instructed in proper data collection and scientific record keeping. The data collected here will help in making informed decisions regarding clean-up and stabilization of 2,000 ft. of the Yellow Mill River.
• Litchfield HS Envirothon: EPOC’s grant will help fund a three-pronged educational/environmental project that complements efforts already in place with the neighboring White Memorial Conservation Foundation land. The project will include the following goals: removal of damaging invasive flora on the school campus; ecological restoration of campus habitats with native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers; and, construction and erection of permanent informational signs describing habitats, ecology of native flora, and management techniques. Students will be able to observe the ecological interactions within these meadow, wetland, and forest habitats.
• Norwalk Land Trust: Funds will support a habitat-protection project with the construction of a wild bird habitat and sanctuary on Hoyt Island at the mouth of Village Creek in Long Island Sound. Project goals include the establishment of a thriving colony of thrushes and demolition of an existing ruined structure, and with its replacement with native, natural species to contribute to Norwalk’s open spaces.

The EPOC Grant Program provides non-profit and not-for-profit environmental advocacy groups, community based groups and environmental education organizations, funding for local projects that benefit the environment on an annual basis. For further information, see our Grant Program page.