A total of 15 organizations working on assorted projects across Northern Indiana to benefit the environment were awarded grants from Northern Indiana Public Service Co.
The Merrillville-based utility announced April 21 its 2020 Environmental Action Grant recipients included pollinator habitats at Indiana Dunes; restoration projects at Steuben County’s Clear Lake and Carrol County’s Whistler Woods; and multiple youth projects to support outdoor and nature engagement including citizen science at the Dunes; a teen conservation crew at the Fort Wayne Zoo; and a water quality monitoring program in LaGrange County.
“These grants leverage and expand on the environmental work we're already focused on across the communities we serve, ranging from improvements in air and water quality, reforestation, restoration and environmental education,” said John Stout, NIPSCO manager of vegetation management. “The projects that were selected embody the vision of our conservation framework (and) we believe these projects will contribute toward enhancing a local quality of life and provide great value to the places where we all live and work.”
This is the fifth year of NIPSCO’s environmental grant program, which has awarded $250,000 in grants benefitting 74 projects. The 2020 recipients include:
- Clear Lake Township Conservancy, Cyrus Brouse Clean Stream Project
- Dunes Learning Center, Virtual Citizen Science
- EACS Educational Foundation/Paul Harding High School, Nature Trail
- Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Teens for Nature – Conservation Crew
- Friends of Indiana Dunes, Pollinator Gardens
- Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest, Woodland Restoration Project
- Izaak Walton Porter County Chapter, Bat Watch 2020
- LaGrange County Community Foundation/Friends of LaGrange County Parks, Student water quality monitoring
- NICHES Land Trust, Woodland Restoration Project
- Northwest Indiana Paddling Association, East Branch of the Little Calumet River Water Trail Extension Phase II
- Ryan Park Elementary, Nature Trail Improvement and Educational Enhancement
- Shirley Heinze Land Trust, environmental education programming
- TEkVenture Incorporated, outdoor wildflower meadow play area
- IU Kokomo, Camp Persimmon environmental sustainability day camp
- Windsong Pictures, youth environmental project videos
NIPSCO serves approximately 835,000 natural gas and 473,000 electric customers across Northern Indiana.
