Environment Foundation awards more than $100k in grants
The Environment Foundation recently awarded more than $100,000 in grants to 18 projects protecting the environmental quality of the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond.
Since its inception, the foundation has donated more than $1.7 million to 341 projects. The foundation is funded by Aspen Skiing Company employee contributions with substantial support from the Aspen Community Foundation and Aspen Skiing Company’s Family Fund.
Grants made this April include more than $12,000 in matching funds from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Aspen Skiing Co.’s official coffee sponsor. Green Mountain Coffee is committed to improving the environment and communities in which it operates.
In the last six months, Aspen Skiing Co. employees donated $40,000. The 15-member Environment Foundation board of directors, made up of Aspen Skiing Co. employees, determines which qualified applicants receive a grant. Funded projects represent a broad range of environmental issues facing the Roaring Fork Valley:
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, environmental education school program support, $10,000
Basalt Elementary School, edible garden, $5,000
Basalt Middle School, public monitoring system for 7.1 kW solar array, $1,500
Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, Capital and Pyramid peaks trail maintenance project, $5,138
Colorado Mountain Club, restoration from Maroon Lake to Buckskin and Willow passes, $5,000
EcoFlight, Thompson Divide overflights, $4,000
Mount Sopris Nordic Council, new trail linkage, trail realignment and improvements, $3,828
New Venture Fund, Western energy project, $7,500
Protect Our Winters, general operations for 2011-12 winter season, $5,000
Roaring Fork Conservancy, snow science curriculum, $5,500
Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers, 2011 trail projects, $5,000
Ruedi Water and Power Authority, invasive aquatic species control at Ruedi Reservoir, $3,000
Solar Energy International, replace energy cycle, $3,600
Town of Carbondale, air quality monitoring program to establish baseline conditions should natural gas drilling occur in nearby areas, $5,000
Western Colorado Congress, gasland justice project, $5,000
Western Resource Advocates, moving Tri-State Generation and Transmission to a sustainable future, $4,000
White River National Forest, increased seasonal wilderness trail crew staffing, $14,000
Wilderness Workshop, oil and gas defense, $8,000
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