 Grants Request |
Grants Request
Terry Savaloja was a well-known, respected Minnesota birder and T.S. Roberts Award recipient who died in 1992. Each year, the MOU considers funding requests for bird-related projects from the Savaloja Memorial Fund. In 2018, eight projects received a total of $14,600 in Savaloja Grants:
- Two similar education projects in NW Minnesota were selected. Thief River Falls Rotary Club received $2000 so that bird watching, monitoring, and study can be included as program activities for all 180 seventh graders in Thief River Falls. Marshall County Central High School received $2480 to incorporate these same activities into their existing outdoor education program for their seventh graders. Both projects share the necessary ingredients for success: competent and available mentors (Agassiz Audubon and Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge staff), skilled and enthusiastic teachers, ongoing bird instruction, citizen science involvement, and the support of their school and community.
- St. Paul Audubon was awarded $3100 to train five to ten community “lay leaders” in conducting spring and fall public bird hikes in 2018 (and beyond). A resource tool kit developed from the training sessions will be available to guide future training sessions. These community lay leaders will be able to reach community members, especially in the targeted minority communities, who would otherwise be difficult to engage through the traditional approach of transporting potential birders to the birds.
- Brainerd Lakes Area Audubon Society received $520 for twice-weekly bird hikes at the Northland Arboretum for five weeks in spring 2018. These hikes have a proven track record of attracting novice birders to an interesting natural area, with the bonus of training Audubon members, local bird club members, and Master Naturalists in becoming more accomplished and knowledgeable leaders.
- Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory was awarded $2000 to do public outreach and education during their spring raptor monitoring in Duluth. This project will allow Hawk Ridge to reach more people, in a different area of the city than during their fall count, increasing visitors’ appreciation, understanding, and enthusiasm for migration and birds.
- Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center received $2000 to construct nesting/roosting towers for chimney swifts at Wolf Ridge ELC in Finland and William Kelly School in Silver Bay. It’s hoped the migrating swifts currently using the Silver Bay School’s chimney, which is in disrepair and likely to be torn down, will adapt to this new tower, providing an educational opportunity for the school’s teachers and students.
- University of Connecticut grad student Lauren Albert received $1500 to study the effect of temperature on host resistance to parasitic nest flies in resistant (Tree Swallow) and non-resistant (Eastern Bluebird) species. This well-designed study near Itasca State Park could establish a baseline for how temperature and climate change might affect the relationship between nest parasites and their host birds.
- Friends of Mississippi River was awarded $1000 to conduct breeding bird surveys in 2018 on up to six restored grasslands in Dakota and Washington Counties. Grasslands provide habitat for a number of declining species, and these surveys will help establish which species use restored grasslands.
2019 Savaloja Grants: Individuals or organizations undertaking projects in Minnesota that increase our understanding of birds, promote preservation of birds and their natural habitats, or increase public interest in birds, especially in minorities currently underrepresented in Minnesota's birding community, may submit grant applications to MOU. Application information can be found here, or by emailing grants@moumn.org.
The deadline for receipt of grant applications is January 20, 2019. Grant recipients will be notified during April 2019.
Previous Grant Reports
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