Recent grants from five foundations are helping GSWA to initiate or extend a variety of activities over the coming year, according to Bill Aiello, GSWA board chairman.

Foundations currently provide a little over a third of the Association’s annual financial support, Aiello said, with most of the remaining funds coming from individual members’ contributions.

"Projects like the ones underwritten by these grants will help expand awareness and understanding of the fragile nature of our local ecosystem," Aiello added. "Without the continuing work of local organizations to conserve land, support ‘smart growth,’ and provide environmental education, the quality of local life will surely be diminished."

The foundations and the projects they will support are:

The Clermont Foundation, based in Chatham: $1,000 to support the ecological restoration of the Watershed Association’s 23-acre conservation area in Harding Township;

The Hyde and Watson Foundation, also in Chatham: $9,000 for the purchase of computers and software to support the Association’s Geographical Information Systems (GIS) initiative, which provides land-use analyses to local public and private organizations;

The Fanny and Svante Knistrom Foundation, Woodland Hills, CA: $15,000 to support the Association’s advocacy of "blue-green technologies" – environmentally sound methods of handling stormwater runoff;