WAA - Winnipeg Airports Authority

Province Supports Bid with SDIF Grant

Winnipeg Airports Authority is poised to become the first Canadian airport to achieve leadership in energy and environmental design certification for an air terminal building, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said today, in announcing funding support through the Sustainable Development Innovations Fund.

"Successful completion of the certification process will put the Winnipeg Airports Authority in a unique position as a LEED-registered airport terminal building in North America," said Struthers. "We are very pleased to support this project that will result in a more environmentally-friendly terminal building design."

The green building rating system for leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) is a voluntary national standard for developing high-performance sustainable buildings. LEED certification recognizes building projects that are committed to sustainability by meeting performance standards. The province is providing a $75,000 SDIF grant to support the new Winnipeg facility in achieving an environmentally-friendly designation and becoming a leader among North American airports.

The authority intends to meet the environmental standards with high-performance design, construction and operation. The new terminal building and associated facilities will represent a modern gateway to Winnipeg and Manitoba. A consultant will be hired to document, monitor and verify sustainability initiatives related to the airport site redevelopment project. The project will use the Canadian Green Buildings Council’s LEED standards as a rating system.

The Sustainable Development Innovations Fund (SDIF) supports a diverse range of projects from research studies and demonstration of new technology to community enhancement and environmental awareness.

The LEED project is one of 43 sharing $650,335 in SDIF funding.

Other targeted funding programs under SDIF include:

• the Waste Reduction and Pollution Prevention Fund,
• the Environmental Youth Corps, and
• the Manitoba Climate Change Action Fund.

More information on these programs is available at http://www.susdev.gov.mb.ca.

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INNOVATIONS FUND PROJECTS

• City of Winnipeg, Naturalist Services Branch - $25,000 to plant poplar trees as a way of helping decrease run-off from a refuse cell area of the Summit Road landfill in Winnipeg.
• Cooks Creek Conservation District - $10,000 to restore and extend two nature trails and develop an interpretive program on 45 acres of land the district received as an eco-gift.
• Cooks Creek Conservation District - $25,000 to improve water quality and overall ecosystem health of Cooks Creek by constructing pools and shallows to control sediment and erosion, and improve fish-spawning habitat.
• Croatian Community Centre - $3,000 to involve seniors, parents and youth in creating a sheltered trail system and garden areas, and improve awareness of sustainable development issues.
• Dr. George Johnson Middle School - $5,000 to involve students and community residents in rehabilitating a concrete area into a green space within the school grounds by creating an outdoor classroom, community planter and outdoor fitness circuit.
• Erin Consulting Ltd. - $30,000 for continued research into remediation of salt-contaminated soil using salt-tolerant plants.
• First Nation Forestry Limited Partnership - $25,000 for a non-profit forest stewardship management company to manage the forest land base in the Interlake and southeast region of Manitoba including input from local communities.
• Fort Whyte Centre - $15,000 to construct the first portion of a three-kilometre trail through Fort Whyte’s Millennium Aspen Forest including interpretive signage and landscaping for the Carbon Bluff interpretive hills and rest stop.
• Harvest Moon Society - $5,500 for a pilot project to develop an educational resource guide on an interactive website, highlighting rural projects in the town of Clearwater and surrounding area.
• Kelburn Farm - $18,900 to restore a wetland and provide education programs on the importance of sustaining healthy Red River watershed wetland agricultural landscapes.
• La Salle Redboine Conservation District - $12,800 to remove approximately 1,500 trees damaged by a severe wind storm that blocked flows and fish passage in a seven-kilometre stretch of the La Salle River.
• Little Saskatchewan River Conservation District - $11,000 to implement a woodlot program that is financially and environmentally beneficial to landowners and surrounding landscape.
• Living Prairie Museum - $2,000 to update exhibits and develop educational resources as part of a project to provide a four-season, multi-use classroom for environmental education.
• Manitoba Beekeepers Association and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives - $2,960 to host a workshop to educate beekeepers about alternative forms of controlling varroa mites in honey bee colonies.
• Manitoba Conservation - $10,000 to update, reprint and distribute the publication Biodiversity Perspectives, Manitoba edition.
• Manitoba Conservation Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch and Parkland Mews - $1,500 to support the release of two peregrine falcons from La Barriere Park south of Winnipeg under a captive breeding agreement.
• Manitoba Eco-Network - $15,000 to promote environmentally-sensitive use of Manigotagan River, Manitoba’s newest provincial park, through production of an interactive web-based map and a waterproof map.
• Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program - $3,000 to host a one-day workshop at Oak Hammock Marsh promoting volunteer-based long-term bird conservation in Manitoba.
• Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative Inc., Manitoba Cattle Producers Association and the University of Manitoba - $25,000 to conduct research into best methods using cattle manure as a fertilizer.
  Manitoba Trapper’s Association - $25,000 to revise the Trapper Education Program, and train and certify new instructors.
• Morris School - $5,000 to involve students in developing and maintaining an outdoor classroom to improve awareness and education about environmental issues.
• Organic Food Council of Manitoba - $2,925 to support a conference and workshop to educate consumers, organic farmers and non-organic farmers about production, marketing and other issues in organic agriculture, as well as increasing the production and consumption of organic food.
• Ralph Maybank School - $800 to create a sustainable garden and memory paving stones to improve the front of the school and school grounds in celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary.
• Resource Conservation Manitoba - $15,000 to develop and produce an interactive web-based fuel-saving program for Manitoba workplaces. A made-in-Manitoba greenhouse gas calculator and other resources will be developed as part of this project.
• Rural Municipality of Rossburn - $6,385 to convert a few acres of marginal agricultural land around Patterson Lake into a well-treed parcel of land that will enhance the area, reduce soil erosion into the lake, provide a rest stop and a day camp for travellers and sports fishers.
• School District of Mystery Lake - $4,965 to involve Grade 8 students in creating clay animation videos focusing on topics such as pollution prevention, environmental innovation, waste reduction and environmentally-sustainable practices.
• Shamattawa First Nation and Manitoba First Nation Internet School Inc. - $10,000 to establish the Environmental Capacity Development and Work Experience Program including a community cleanup and youth and elder meetings to share traditional environmental knowledge.
• Spence Neighbourhood Association Inc. - $14,000 for phase two of its five-year green plan including developing agreements with the City of Winnipeg to retain some vacant lots that would normally be used for housing developments and create community gardens, green spaces, children’s parks and walkways.
• St. Paul’s Collegiate, Elie - $1,500 to establish an organic garden at the school.
• Take Pride Winnipeg! - $5,000 to support a program that teaches students about the environment, litter and graffiti control, and taking pride in their community.
• University of Manitoba CRYSTAL (Centre for Research in Youth, Science Teaching and Learning) - $20,500 to develop resources to encourage middle- and senior-years students to make decisions and take actions for a more sustainable world.
• University of Manitoba, Delta Marsh Field Station - $32,000 for continued study of water quality in Lake Manitoba to help guide future residential and agricultural development and evaluate the effects of proposed lake-level management.
• University of Manitoba, Delta Marsh Field Station - $32,000 for additional research into the effects of livestock activity and land-use practices on rural water quality in farm ponds in south-central Manitoba.
• University of Manitoba, department of botany - $13,300 for continuing research within Chitek Park Reserve for park planning.
• University of Manitoba, department of botany - $17,500 to improve tall grass prairie restoration efforts.
• University of Manitoba, department of civil engineering - $25,000 for research into effective ways of reducing nutrients in waste water.
• University of Manitoba, department of environment and geography - $20,500 to track changes in perennial grassland and woody vegetation cover within the aspen parkland region and eventually develop a geographic information system, a computer application used to store, view and analyze geographical information, especially maps. This monitoring tool will be used in conjunction with satellite data for future land-cover change detection.
• University of Manitoba, faculty of architecture, department of city planning - $20,000 to work with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities on water efficiency and develop tools and techniques to encourage efficiency.
• University of Manitoba, faculty of environment, earth and resources - $21,500 for an ongoing research project to collect and analyze information for a strategy regarding all-terrain vehicle use in Duck Mountain Provincial Park while protecting ecologically-sensitive areas of the park.
• University of Saskatchewan - $23,600 for research into striped skunks to predict and possibly prevent conditions from developing that result in high density skunk populations and an increased probability of rabies outbreaks. 
•  University of Winnipeg, department of biology and the Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research - $10,000 for a three-year research project within the Louisiana Pacific Forest Management Licence area between Dauphin and Swan River to assess the condition of the forest, examine the impacts of the livestock industry in western Manitoba and develop management plans integrate to livestock management and forestry in the area.
• Winkler Aquifer Management Plan Advisory Board - $3,200 to demonstrate snow trapping and the use of shelterbelts in filling the Winkler aquifer.

News release used with permission of Government of Manitoba Information Services.