It is with great sorrow that I inform you that Dan McDermott—a dedicated, long-time environmental advocate—passed away last week at a Toronto hospital, after battling an illness. Dan was a Greenbelt Foundation grantee with Sierra Club Ontario, and served as a steering committee member for the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance. He will be missed by the many people who had the pleasure of working with him over his 30 year career.

#GreenbeltPride 2016
Travel Gay Canada
$20,125 (1 year)
visitgaycanada.com

Travel Gay Canada will build on recent efforts to promote the Greenbelt as a tourism destination for the LGBTQ community, through building relationships with tourism providers, hosting workships and offering inclusiveness training to Greenbelt tourism operators.

Getting the Most Out of the Growth Plan to Protect the Greenbelt
Ryerson City Building Institute 
$39,804  (1 year)
citybuildinginstitute.ca

The project promotes the need to better align growth planning and transportation infrastructure in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and advances key policies needed to achieve this goal.

Study on Land Use Planning in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and its Impact on the Future of Agriculture
Ontario Federation of Agriculture 
$25,000  (1 year)
ofa.on.ca

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture will partner with Environmental Defence to produce a study on farmland protection outside the Greenbelt, and identify policy tools to improve preservation.

Ecological Enhancement Action Plan
Living City Foundation (CAMC)
$72,500  (1 year)
trca.info/camc

The Conservation Authorities Moraine Coalition (CAMC) will identify a suite of more than 100 actions across the Greenbelt to improve watershed health, and develop an action plan that includes timelines, partners, monitoring and fundraising needs.

Neptis Geoweb 2.0
Neptis Foundation
$50,000  (1 year)
neptisgeoweb.org

The Neptis Geoweb is an online platform that allows users to visualize regional land use in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This grant supports an update to the Geoweb to improve its storytelling functionality, data layers, and user experience.

Engaging Hamiltonians in Phase 2 of the 2015 Review
Environment Hamilton
$12,000  (1 year)
environmenthamilton.org

Environment Hamilton will educate and engage Hamilton residents about the Greenbelt and smart growth to ensure a successful outcome for the Coordinated Land Use Planning Review.

2016 was a busy and significant year for the Greenbelt. We put together 12 highlights, in celebration of the 12 days of Christmas and the upcoming 12^th anniversary of the Greenbelt in February 2017. Happy Holidays!

Photo by Dan Copeland, Highway 16, Hamilton

By: Tom Bowers, Senior Research and Policy Analyst

The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is pleased to release our latest report, Ontario's Good Fortune: Appreciating the Greenbelt's Natural Capital produced by Green Analytics. The report assessed the value of final services provided by the Greenbelt that Ontario residents benefit from, including, flood protection, recreational opportunities and clean drinking water. It finds that in addition to storing over $11.17B of carbon, the Greenbelt provides $3.2B annually in ecosystem services to residents of the region (approximately 9 million people).

The holidays are almost here! We’ve compiled our top tips for eating local and exploring the Greenbelt this season. Plus, take a look at a year in the Greenbelt with our Annual Report – including new protections for water and engagement with new partners and communities – and read our highlights from the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance's visit to Queen's Park!