By Barb Grover, Chair Huplits Wildlife Grants Committee
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
Congratulations to our five awardees! The 22 nd Annual Huplits Wildlife Grants Competition has been completed and the grant recipients notified. A total of six proposals were reviewed. One proposal was denied funding because it did not meet the mission of the Huplits Foundation. A total of $61,544 was awarded.
1. Allegheny Land Trust - Amount: $22,288
Description: The creation of a premier conservation area at the former Churchill Valley Country Club property. The property will be a large greenspace of wildlife habitat in an otherwise urban area. The Golf cart paths provide access to people of all ages and abilities to explore nature close to home.
2. Camp at Elk Tannery LLC & Vets in the Valley Foundation - Amount: $22,979
(over 2 years -8/1/19 – 7/31/21)
Description: Create a Forest Conservation Plot to showcase sustainable forest practices and provide a learning platform for public outreach. This effort will increase an understanding of the importance of conservation efforts for wildlife protection.
3. Lake Erie Group of the Sierra Club - Amount: $1,409
Description: Create a Monarch Butterfly Waystation Expansion at McClelland City Park in Erie, PA
4. Lehigh Valley Group of the Sierra Club -Amount: $5,582
Description: Measure the current metal levels at four mine drainage sites in the Lehigh River as well as a fifth sampling at the Palmerton zinc impaired superfund site. The purpose is to document the potential need for improving streams for wildlife habitat.
5. Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, Inc. Amount: $9,286
Description: Provide long-term protection for a significant cave – Sarah Furnace Cave in Clarion county – and to resume monitoring activities for this site that once housed three species of bats.
General Background
The Huplits Foundation Trust is a small charitable trust established for the purpose of supporting five organizations whose work is related to animal welfare and the protection of wildlife and its habitat. This Trust was created to devote and apply the Trust Fund exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, and for the prevention of cruelty to animals, either directly or by contributions to the organization set forth. The Trust names the Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club to distribute 20 percent of the "income" of the Trust. The four other chosen recipients are the Philadelphia Zoo, Women’s Humane Society of Philadelphia, The Nature Conservancy, and The Wilderness Society. The amount of the first Huplits gift to the Sierra Club, Allegheny Group was $22,600 in 1997. Over the ensuing years the Allegheny Group has received annual gifts from the Huplits trustee of approximately $50,000 each year.
The ALG Huplits Wildlife Committee was created to administer the annual Huplits gifts to the Sierra Club, Allegheny Group in a manner that will help prevent cruelty to animals and protect wildlife and its habitat in Pennsylvania, through public education, grassroots campaign organization, litigation, scientific research, and land acquisition. The seven member committee consists of four members
from the Allegheny Group and three from outside the Group.
2019 Huplits Committee Members: David H Byman; Maren Cook (ALG); Amy E Faivre , Barbara Grover (ALG); Matt MacConnell; Mike Pastorkovich (ALG); Chris Seymour (ALG) Treasurer: Bob Smith (non-voting member)
Barb's been a Sierra Club activist in southwestern PA since her retirement in 2004. In the last few years, she's focused her attention on the local and state political races and working with a group of residents in Wilkinsburg installing Pollinator Gardens.