ALUS Program Earns Minister’s Award for Environmental Excellence
Posted: January 26, 2015
Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members
From ALUS Ontario, a Sustain Ontario Member:
The Alternative Land Use Services program was one of nine Ontario entities to earn the 2013 Minister’s Award for Environment Excellence in January. The honour was designated to those demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental excellence.
“We hope the examples we see today inspire others to be innovators in protecting our natural heritage,” said Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
Recipients of the award collaborated with communities and local volunteers to restore wildlife habitat, conserve water and energy, and prevent pollutants and nutrients from entering the Great Lakes. As an incentive-based program, ALUS helps farmers and ranchers improve their crops and livestock, while conserving and restoring native habitats. Farmers are rewarded for land management practices that create productive agricultural systems and a healthy countryside.
ALUS found a foothold in 2007 in Norfolk County, Ontario, making it the oldest and longest-running program in Canada. With the addition of three other pilot communities, ALUS grew to encompass hundreds of farm families and thousands of acres across the province.
Across Canada, more than 250 farms are currently enrolled in ALUS, participating in 500 projects that cover 1,400 acres of farmland. ALUS projects conserve wetlands, retain soils, provide habitat and increase vegetative cover along streams and rivers. Learn more at alus.ca.