November 1999 NEGEF Grantees

Three and one half years and ten rounds of grantmaking behind us, we are pleased to report that NEGEF has received over 524 proposals, has funded 249, and is reaching a very wide spectrum of environmental activists. The average grant is just over $1,837 and most groups are volunteer driven. Listed below are the groups who received support during our most recent grant round.

Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust
New London, NH
$1,000

To help underwrite the costs of a Strategic Planning Retreat for its volunteer Board of Trustees and its support staff.

Bedford Land Trust
Bedford, NH
$2,000

To assist with the production of fundraising materials needed by this all-volunteer group to raise $330,000 towards the conservation purchase of a key open space property in Bedford.

Berkshire Regional Food and Land Council
West Stockbridge, MA
$1500

To fund the design, execution and maintenance of a website to educate the public as well as to facilitate "Berkshire Grown", a program promoting local agriculture in the Berkshire Region.

C-10 Research and Education Foundation, Inc.
Newburyport, MA
$2500

To conduct a mussel study evaluating the impact of radionuclides released into the ocean water from the Seabrook power plant on marine life and the food chain.

Citizens for New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage
Concord, NH
$1,000

To help fund a citizen activist conference in January of 2000 to train local community members in the grassroots organizing skills necessary to support the creation of a new conservation program and to affect local conservation issues.

Clean Water Fund - Western Massachusetts
Northampton, MA
$1,000

conference/training for To help fund a citizen activist conference in January of 2000 to train local community members in the grassroots organizing skills necessary to support the creation of a new conservation program and to affect local conservation issues.

Clean Water Fund - Western Mass.
Northampton, MA
$1000

To fund a conference/training for grassroots environmental activists and organization from Western Massachusetts to connect resources and plan coordinated strategies.

Coalition for Sensible Energy
Bucksport, ME
$2000

To support four projects: maintenance of website, newsletter expansion and targeting, supporting Earth Day 2000 activities, and traveling to stay abreast of the field.

Environmental Action for Northern New Hampshire
Bethlehem, NH
$2500

To help pay for attorney costs associated with the group's participation as "intervenor status" in a court case involving the town of Bethlehem and North Country Environmental Services, a subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems, over a landfill expansion.

Forest Ecology Network
Augusta, ME
$1,000

To help pay for the cost of layout, printing and distributing the next issue of their newsletter, The Maine Woods, the only Maine based publication devoted exclusively to forest issues.

Friends of Muddy Brook Basin
Williston, VT
$2,000

To help defray costs associated with the continued protection of the Muddy Brook Basin and to provide ongoing education to residents of the area about the unique qualities of its land, wetlands and wildlife corridor.

Great Works Regional Land Trust
Berwick, ME
$2,000

To help fund expenses for an outreach program to activate community involvement and increase environmental awareness in order to raise funds for the purchase of 89 acres of land on Bauneg Beg Mountain.

Hampden Citizen Coalition
Hampden, ME
$2,500

To help fund legal and associated costs of the campaign to stop the expansion of the Sawyer Environmental Recovery Facilities landfill, the largest special waste landfill in Maine.

Irish Hill Ridgeline Conservation Project, Inc.
Berlin, VT
$1,500

To conduct a fund raising campaign for the purchase of three major ridgeline watershed lots and to obtain conservation easements from adjoining landowners.

Londonderry Neighborhood Coalition
Londonderry, NH
$2,500

To fund the printing and mailing of a brochure to educate residents about the legal and political options open to them in the appeal of the state decision to site a gas fired power plant in Londonderry.

Maine Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation
Camden, ME
$2,000

To support membership development, publicity and outreach needed to build a group of volunteers for the organization.

Marblehead Pesticide Awareness Committee
Marblehead, MA
$1,500

To fund the continued construction, development and planting of a pesticide-free lawn and border gardens on a plot of Town-owned land, and the creation of a model backyard leaf-composting system.

Narrow River Preservation Assn.
Saunderstown, RI
$2,000

To purchase a new computer system so that NRPA may enhance its communications, advocacy and education programs in the Narrow River Watershed.

New Hampshire Council of Churches
Concord, NH
$2,500

To staff an intern to help establish a network of faith-based environmental congregations and groups.

North Rockland Neighborhood Assn.
Rockland, MA
$2,500

To help fund costs associated with the neighborhood's legal costs and campaign to close down and clean up a "recycling" yard which receives waste materials from 17 surrounding towns.

People for the Environment
North Andover, MA
$2,000

To continue to fund efforts to educate the public on the importance of reducing the waste stream in order to negate the need for incineration.

Prudence Conservancy
Prudence Island, RI
$2,500

To establish the first community garden on Prudence Island, including a community compost center.

Regional Environmental Council of Central MA
Worcester, MA
$2,000

To fund costs associated with the maintenance and care of seedlings grown in a newly constructed greenhouse to be used for the community gardening program.

Residents for Northeast Kingdom Preservation
Sheffield, VT
$2000

To help defray the cost of legal and consultant fees in an Appeal to the Vermont Environmental Board of an Act 250 Permit issued to the Barre Granite Quarries.

Salem Power Plant HealthLink
Marblehead, MA
$2,000

To help pay costs associated with the campaign to inform local citizens about the effects of the power plant emissions.

Save Our Water (Merrimack Citizens United)
Merrimack, NH
$2,500

To help pay legal costs associated with an appeal to have the Merrimack Planning Board rehear a proposal to locate a Home Depot on a parcel of land which is located over an aquifer servicing three of the six Merrimack town water wells.

Spirit in Nature
East Middlebury, VT
$2,000

To help fund workshops about how religions are intimately connected to nature and how participants can act on that connection in their local communities.

Stop Any Further Expansion (SAFE)
Cohasset, MA
$2,000

To fund the "SAFE Landfill Closure Campaign" designed to mobilize hundreds of volunteers in Cohasset to make calls, write letters, sign petitions, etc. to make sure the closure of the CHL landfill is conducted properly and to defeat CHL's new application for a landfill expansion.

Topsham's Future
Topsham, ME
$2000

To provide resources so Topsham's Future can secure professional help in gathering data needed to understand the economic, environmental and social impacts of a large housing and golf course development and to participate actively in appropriate town planning processes.

Upper Valley Trails Alliance
White River Junction, VT
$1,000

To help fund a needs assessment of trails and trail resources in the Upper Valley and to create a directory with the compiled information.

Vermont Population Alliance
Norwich, VT
$400

To attend a conference sponsored by the Northwest Earth Institute to learn about forming discussion groups around the issues of sustainable lifestyles, quality of life and environmental quality.

Watchdogs for an Environmentally Safe Town
Westminster, MA
$2,000

To continue work to oppose the expansion of a ski resort on Mt. Wachusett State Reservation and the watchdogging of environmental hazards in central Massachusetts.

Winooski Natural Resources Conservation
Berlin, VT
$300

To fund training at a watershed conference, Working at the Watershed Level.