The FishAmerica Foundation, in conjunction with the Brunswick Public Foundation, has selected four grassroots organizations that are working to improve water quality and aquatic habitat for funding under this cooperative partnership. The FishAmerica Foundation is the research and conservation arm of the American Sportfishing Association (ASA). These projects are:

• The Building Conservation Trust, the national habitat program of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), will leverage its funds to prepare and deploy the Lady Philomena Artificial Reef along coastal Volusia County, Fla. This will create habitat for marine life and an immediate resource for the county’s coastal community.

• The Loon Lake Property Owners Association in Columbia City, Ind. will use its funding to support the Loon Lake Island Shoreline and Shallow Water Restoration efforts. Restoration of eroding islands will reduce sediment input into Loon Lake, improve water clarity and help to permanently improve habitat for fish and other aquatic life.

• The Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy in Fremont, Ind., will apply its funding to the Kasota Island Stabilization efforts that will improve water quality and protect one of the relatively few remaining cool/coldwater fisheries in the state.

• The Trout Unlimited Driftless Area Restoration Effort will use its funding to re-slope and stabilize eroding stream banks on Tainter Creek near Westby, Wis., thereby restoring and enhancing water quality for trout populations in this popular fishing stream.

• A $50,000 commitment from the Brunswick Public Foundation was matched by $12,000 from the FishAmerica Foundation for a combined investment of $62,000 from the sportfishing industry into these projects.

“The projects being funded through FishAmerica’s partnership with the Brunswick Public Foundation will improve conservation and benefit local communities who depend on healthy and accessible fisheries,” remarked ASA’s President Glenn Hughes.

These funds will be further leveraged with more than $330,000 from the project organizers, plus extensive in-kind volunteer labor that is characteristic of all FishAmerica efforts. Conservatively, more than $500,000 of project work is being conducted with this investment into the fish and water resources of this nation.

Projects were selected from a pool of more than 15 projects that sought assistance through the special funding initiative made possible by the Brunswick Public Foundation. Project proposals were reviewed by a selection team that included fisheries and aquatic resources professionals, and each project received the endorsement of that state’s natural resources agency, ensuring that they not only met stringent technical standards for improving the resources but were in line with the management objectives of state agencies.

“A core component of the Brunswick Public Foundation’s mission is to support community development through contributions to pre-selected grassroots organizations working to enhance the country’s water resources for the recreational use by the public,” remarked Kevin Grodzki of the Brunswick Public Foundation. “Our support of the FishAmerica Foundation for the past two decades has forged a strong partnership to identify and invest in worthy efforts such as these four projects that improve water quality and enhance fisheries so that generations to come can benefit and enjoy healthy and stable fishery resources.