Grant Round Opens for Ice Mountain Environmental Stewardship Fund: June 1 – July 15, 2024
Fund support conservation, environmental, academic, and governmental organizations with projects that benefit Muskegon River Watershed quality.
STANWOOD, Mich. – May 31, 2024 – The Ice Mountain Environmental Stewardship Fund (IMESF), which provides funding for projects that benefit the health of the Muskegon River Watershed, will accept grant request applications from June 1 through July 15, 2024, through Fremont Area Community Foundation for the 2024 funding round.
Grant requests are accepted online for projects or programs that help sustain the waters and water-dependent natural resources of the Muskegon River by supporting conservation, enhancement, or restoration.
The fund provides up to $50,000 annually and typical grants range from $5,000 to $20,000.
Managed by Fremont Area Community Foundation, the IMESF since 2002 has provided more than $850,000 in funding to support dozens of projects to multiple organizations throughout the area. The IMESF is instrumental in helping groups advance natural resource protection, improve wildlife habitat, create, and promote outdoor recreation and education, reverse or prevent erosion, create raingardens, and support and promote recycling and household hazardous waste collection.
In 2023, grant recipients included:
County of Newaygo to support trail and bridge construction on Michigan’s Dragon at Hardy Dam;
Grant Public Schools to support students planting a rain garden at Ed Henning County Park;
Mecosta Conservation District to support free of charge hazardous waste collection for residents of Lake, Osceola, and Mecosta counties; and
Muskegon Conservation District to support tree planting for stream bank stabilization in the Muskegon Creek Game Area, and an ecology study of wood turtles conducted in partnership with the Michigan Department of Natural Sources Wildlife Division, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, John Ball Zoo, and Grand Valley State University.
Projects considered for grants must be located within the Muskegon River Watershed, which is one of Michigan’s largest and spans 2,700 square miles from its headwaters near Higgins and Houghton lakes to where the river empties into Lake Michigan at Muskegon. Projects associated with Muskegon River tributaries also are eligible for funding.
For more information about the Ice Mountain Environmental Stewardship Fund or to begin an online grant application, visit facommunityfoundation.org/icemountain. Applications can be submitted June 1 through July 15th. Recipients will be notified by the end of the year and funds will be distributed in early 2025.
For questions about the fund, please contact Greg Poches, FACF, at 231.924.7616 or gpoches@facommunityfoundation.org.
