Sweet Water Trust: Recent Grants

Established in 1992, Sweet Water Trust is a foundation whose mission is to support land conservation by awarding grants, owning land, and holding conservation restrictions. In recent years, the Trust has “focused on large, landscape-scale conservation projects, often supported with major, multi-year grants. While we still expect to make a few smaller grants each year, all projects must meet the criteria set out in our grant guidelines. One particularly important requirement is that the land's wilderness qualities be protected by a conservation easement or equivalent permanent legal instrument.”

With assets of more than $25 million, Sweet Water Trust has awarded more than 600 grants, including distributions to:

•  Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, $5,000 in 2001, for support of training program for commissioners

•  Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, $5,000 in 2001, toward acquisition of 50-acre Mercy Lowe Property in Mashpee

•  The Nature Conservancy (Massachusetts Chapter), $2,000 in 2002, for support of Massachusetts poll to assess citizen attitudes toward conservation and their willingness to pay for increased land protection.

•  Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, $10,000 in 2003, for support of a study to develop protocols for ecological restoration of salt marshes on the Lower Cape

•  Massachusetts Audubon Society, $5,000 in 2003, for support of an intern to assist in comprehensive invasive plant survey of Mass Audubon sanctuaries

•  Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, $3,100 in 2003, for support of stewardship and management of the trust's properties

•  Barnstable Land Trust, $15,000 in 2004, toward purchase of 42-acre Furman Property

•  Massachusetts Audubon Society, $5,000 in 2004, for support of a conservation easement training manual