DETROIT (June 17, 2020 ) — Seven projects have been selected by Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund partners to receive $1.45 million in grant funding to benefit communities and wildlife habitats in southeast Michigan. These community-driven investments will strengthen regional resilience by installing green infrastructure and reducing the threat of flooding and other intensifying environmental stressors. Additionally, projects will restore critical habitat for wildlife— including the least bittern, Karner blue butterfly, and wavy-rayed lampmussel—and create or enhance public access to and use of natural areas and parks across four counties.
The Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund is a public-private partnership that increases the resilience of communities and natural resources in Southeast Michigan by reducing the impact of stormwater, improving water quality, enhancing habitat, and increasing the accessibility and usability of public green space and natural areas. These actions help communities prepare for intensifying environmental stressors related to development, climate, invasive species, nonpoint source pollution, and other factors.
The grants awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will leverage $1.85 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of more than $3.3 million.
The projects supported by these grants will:
- Add 1.35 million gallons of stormwater storage
- Restore and enhance 100 acres of wildlife habitat
- Plant 380 trees for increased stormwater storage and habitat
- Help restore the quality and connectivity of the region’s unique habitats
- Improve the quality of life for residents by increasing public access to natural areas and parks for communities through six new access points
- Reach more than 22,000 people through direct engagement or education
“Investments that help restore habitat, improve water quality and enhance access to natural areas are vital to the quality of life and the future of human and wildlife communities,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “The grants awarded in the second year of the Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund will help make that future possible, and will support dynamic and meaningful conservation work occurring across the region.”
Seven corporate, foundation, and government funding partners joined NFWF to create the Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund. The fund is supported by contributions from:
- ArcelorMittal
- The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation
- The Kresge Foundation
- The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation
- The US Environmental Protection Agency
- The US Fish and Wildlife Service
- The US Forest Service.
“By enhancing natural public spaces and addressing the deep needs to control stormwater runoff made worse by climate change in communities, these grants demonstrate the kind of win-win progress we need,” said Kresge Environment Senior Program Officer Jalonne L. White-Newsome. “We can’t separate questions of the equitable deployment of green stormwater infrastructure and flood control from questions of natural habitat; we owe to our humanity to keep public spaces as part of the equation.”
“We are pleased to participate in this high impact public-private partnership,” said Neil Hawkins Sc.D., president of the Erb Family Foundation. “Projects supported in its inaugural two years will remove 2.6 million gallons of stormwater annually through green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), create habitat and improve public access to green space. Untreated stormwater can create combined sewer overflows in Detroit, and almost all of the GSI projects approved to date are designed to address that.”
“The Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund continues to exemplify the strength of public-private partnerships,” said Chris Korleski, director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office. “The fund brings together federal and non-governmental partners, including corporate and non-profit partners that leverage Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds to deliver on-the-ground projects in communities that reduce stormwater runoff, restore habitat and improve water quality in the Great Lakes basin.”
To learn more about the Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund and the seven projects announced today, please visit www.nfwf.org/semichigan.
