Support provided for pollinator habitats, restoration projects, education and more
Merrillville, Ind. — NIPSCO today announced recipients of its 2020 Environmental Action Grant, which will be awarded to 15 local organizations that applied for the opportunity earlier this year.
In its fifth year, NIPSCO’s Environmental Grant has donated $250,000 to date, helping 74 projects come to fruition. This year’s recipients feature 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 such as citizen science at the Dunes, a teen conservation crew at the Fort Wayne Zoo and a water quality monitoring program in LaGrange County, among others.
The 2020 NIPSCO Environmental Action Grant winners include: Clear Lake Township Conservancy, Cyrus Brouse Clean Stream Project Dunes Learning Center, Virtual Citizen Science
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
"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. 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."
Using innovative conservation initiatives, NIPSCO is committed to maintaining its infrastructure while protecting the environment. Among other efforts, NIPSCO works to establish early successional habitat on rights of way, in an effort to create as much pollinator habitat as possible.
To learn more about what NIPSCO is doing to support the environment, visit NIPSCO.com/Environment.
About NIPSCO: Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), with headquarters in Merrillville, Indiana, has proudly served the energy needs of northern Indiana for more than 100 years. As Indiana’s largest natural gas distribution company and the second-largest electric distribution company, NIPSCO serves approximately 835,000 natural gas and 473,000 electric customers across 32 counties. NIPSCO is part of NiSource’s (NYSE: NI) seven regulated utility companies. NiSource is one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 4 million natural gas and electric customers through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. More information about NIPSCO and NiSource is available at NIPSCO.com and NiSource.com.