Blue Heron Nature Preserve plans to restore 2.5 acres of wetlands on its Buckhead property with $71,000 in grant and other funding the nonprofit recently received.
Blue Heron was chosen out 250 nationwide applicants to receive a $30,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for urban wetlands restoration, a Dec. 4 press release announced.
Another $41,000 in matching funds was provided by local groups, including Blue Heron itself, the Atlanta Audubon Society, the Amphibian Foundation, the Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, Hands On Atlanta, Beech Hollow Farms and Marcy Scott, a local ichthyologist, according to the release.
The nonprofit expects to use 300 volunteers to help with the work, which is planned to include removing invasive plant species and planting native ones. A new dock is planned to be built for research and educational programs like children’s camps, the release said.
“This is a unique opportunity to not only restore a critical and disappearing habitat in an urban environment, but also to engage the community to allow them to discover for themselves why efforts like these are so important,” Brooke Vacovsky, project and operations manager at Blue Heron, said in the release.