The St. Lawrence River Research and Education Fund will pay for three projects to study the St. Lawrence River ecosystem, acording to the New York Power Authority.

Clarkson University will use $16,606 in funding to study the diversity and abundance of caddisfly in the Grasse and Raquette rivers. Caddislfy is an order of insects that can be used to gauge water quality. The grant will allow student and faculty researchers to measure the insect’s diversity and abundance at four sites and use the research to determine if action is needed to improve water quality.

SUNY Brockport will use a $3,620 grant to study the nesting success of obligate grassland bird species. The money will be used to determine abundance, species diversity, and nesting success of grassland birds at river island sites, including habitat improvement areas at Gallop and Ogden Islands and Whitehouse Point. The work will recommend strategies for enhancing populations of sensitive grassland breeding birds.

Save The River received a $5,445 grant to build on the Riverkeeper Monitoring Program. It trains volunteers to collect data on the St. Lawrence River's general health. The information will be shared with agencies charged with remediating water quality or wildlife issues. The new grant will help create and launch an interactive web-based map of volunteer reports.

The SLRREF was established by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) as part of its 2003 relicensing of the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project.

The SLRREF board consists of representatives of the Power Authority, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Save The River, St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, the St. Lawrence County Planning Office, the Northern New York Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local municipalities.