Weston Family Prairie Grasslands Initiative

The Weston Family Prairie Grasslands Initiative is a five-year collaboration to celebrate, steward and protect one of Canada’s most ecologically valuable and threatened ecosystems. Nearly $25M has been committed to five organizations to accelerate the implementation of sustainable practices and achieve landscape-level impact: Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation, Grasslands National Park (Parks Canada) and Meewasin Valley Authority.

Each organization brings additional funding and in-kind donations for a total of $70M going toward this collaboration over the next five years. The Initiative aims to improve species-at-risk habitat, enable wildlife movement, expand the amount of land protection in the prairies and ultimately increase long-term ecological and economic stability. Dozens of partners will support this work that will affect nearly four million acres of priority native grasslands in one of the largest conservation efforts in Canadian history.

For more information, please refer to the links below:

Media Release

FAQs

Qu otes

Megan McCafferty

Megan McCafferty (she/her) joined the Weston Family Foundation in September of 2019. She is a member of the Operations team and oversees the Foundation’s team of Grants Coordinators, while supporting the grants process for several programs, including assistance with budgeting and financial reporting.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Megan worked as an Administrative Assistant at KPMG LLP and as a Programme Administrative Officer with The Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Megan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Development Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Diploma in General Social Work Studies from Renison University College.

Meghan MacDougall

Meghan MacDougall joined the Weston Family Foundation in 2016 as Program Director of Northern Science and Knowledge, before moving to her current role in 2019. She is responsible for the oversight of all programming related to Environmental Stewardship.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Meghan spent over a decade working with a variety of state and federal agencies in the US, managing conservation programs for critical wildlife habitat and farmland, and led strategic investments to help preserve and enhance open space for the State of Colorado.

Meghan received her Bachelor of Science degree at Michigan State University.

Healthy Ecosystems

The Challenge

Canada is losing biodiversity at an alarming rate as a result of land practices, pollution and climate change. Biodiversity is an indicator of ecosystem health and plays a critical role in providing food, water, energy and medicine. Global decline in biodiversity is now understood to be one of the most serious environmental issues facing humanity. If we continue to lose biodiversity, we will see devastating effects on our climate, water quality, flood control, and our ability to produce food.

A small motorized boat being piloted on a lake

Our Goal

To significantly restore and protect biodiversity in Canadian landscapes leading to environmental outcomes with long-term impacts. Specifically:

We aim to enable land and water practices and behaviours that increase ecological sustainability.
We aim to encourage increased awareness, knowledge and appreciation of ecosystem services provided by Canadian landscapes.

Our Approach

Our Healthy Ecosystems Strategy aims to restore and protect biodiversity in Canada’s wild, agricultural and urban lands. We seek out organizations that have the potential to grow to address the changing environmental needs in Canada. And we look for landscape-scale opportunities for maximum impact in biodiversity conservation.

We also support emerging and established Canadian researchers to further our understanding of how we can protect and restore the most ecologically valuable lands across the country.

We have determined three approaches to help guide our work:

Identify landscapes that have significant ecological value and are highly threatened
Advance knowledge and awareness of biodiversity and ecosystems
Support opportunities for improved stewardship of Canada’s landscapes

Our Healthy Ecosystem Initiatives

Environmental Stewardship

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Landscape photograph of forest and mountains in the north of Canada

Northern Science and Research

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Environmental Stewardship

What We Do

Environmental Stewardship has been at the heart of the Foundation for more than three decades. Early conservation projects like Waterton Park Front, Old Man on His Back, Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie, Musquash Estuary and Backus Woods taught us the importance of science-based conservation and engaging communities to ensure long-term outcomes and impact.

As a part of our Healthy Ecosystems Strategy, we aim to enable organizations and private landowners to be good stewards of our most valued ecosystems across Canada. To achieve this, we look for opportunities in intact wild lands, agricultural lands, and urban greenspaces to protect species at risk habitat, restore degraded landscapes and engage Canadians in the natural world around them.

Landscape photograph of Waterton Park in Alberta, Canada. — Waterton Park Front, Alberta

What We Fund

Although our work is continuously evolving, currently we have three priorities for our funding:

Key Biodiversity Areas
Increased protection and improvement of highly-threatened, ecologically important biodiversity areas
Sustainable Agriculture
Increase in acres of agricultural lands managed with sustainable and ecologically-based practices that support biodiversity
Biodiversity research and education
Increasing our understanding of contributions to ecosystem health, and increasing the number of Canadians who understand and value biodiverse ecosystems

On April 11, 2022 we launched the Weston Family Soil Health Initiative. Please see our Grant Calls page for more information.

Featured Projects

Weston Family Soil Health Initiative

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The Great Lakes Challenge

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