MASSENA - Two projects that will support environmental research and education in and around the St. Lawrence River ecosystem will receive grants from the St. Lawrence River Research and Education Fund supported by the New York Power Authority.

The fund was established as part of NYPA’s relicensing of the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project in 2003. Funding is available to local or state education organizations, tribal education organizations, colleges or universities, and non-profit groups for educational and research projects.

The projects were recently approved by the fund’s board of directors.

Clarkson University in Potsdam was awarded $15,000 to continue research on the Blanding’s turtle to validate whether the turtle’s population in northeastern New York can be detected and monitored using environmental DNA. The turtle is listed on the state’s list of threatened species due to the destruction of its habitat in shallow waters and the building of roads that cross migration routes between ponds.

Nature Up North, a community-based environmental education and outreach initiative at St. Lawrence University, received nearly $15,000 to develop and test a water quality monitoring program called MOW the Grasse – Monitoring Our Water on the Grasse River – in collaboration with Grasse River Heritage, the St. Lawrence Land Trust, and the Massena Nature Center.

To be eligible for financial support from the fund, proposed projects must pertain to the St. Lawrence River, the adjoining terrestrial features or a tributary within the St. Lawrence River Valley. The projects will help education and awareness of the St. Lawrence River ecosystem.

Members of the fund’s board include representatives of NYPA, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Education Services, Save the River, the Northern New York Audubon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Local Government Task Force.

Since its establishment in 2007, the fund has supported 32 projects with nearly $400,000 in NYPA funding.

Additional details and a report on the fund’s activities are available at www.nypa.gov/facilities/stlaw.htm.