Conservation Trust contribution: $100,000 

Total Project Budget: $242,175 

In 2019, one of the first grants from the Conservation Trust went to Brandon’s Riverbank Discovery Centre for its East Area Interpretive Wetlands project. 

The project helped restore a wetland that was greatly damaged by flooding in 2011 and 2014. Because the wetland is a focal point for visitors and conservation education programs, the Centre also improved interpretive opportunities for the 100,000+ annual visitors by installing an accessible boardwalk.  

Because of the Centre’s project, everyone can now access the restored wetland on the boardwalk and along the improved trails. 

The Centre is near the Assiniboine River in the City of Brandon. In addition to providing conservation education and nature appreciation opportunities, it attracts many visitors from the region and outside of the province. For more information on the Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre, visit their website: https://mbhabitat.ca//riverbank.mb.ca/  

Between 2018 and 2020, the province of Manitoba invested a total of $204.0 in three trust Funds – the Conservation Trust, the GROW Trust and the Wetlands GROW Trust – to support nature-based solutions to the impacts of climate change. The Trusts are established at The Winnipeg Foundation and annual revenues flow from the Foundation to the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy, which administers granting programs in support of the objectives of the Trusts. In 2021 a total of $8.3 million was committed to projects. Commitments for 2022 are expected to exceed $10.0 million. 

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Photo by Sandy Black