(submitted photo)

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the Dominion Foundation last week awarded $30,000 to watershed groups in 15 counties in the Commonwealth (including Armstrong) as part of their Watershed Mini Grant Program.

Awardees included the Crooked Creek Watershed Association of Ford City which received $500 to support the production and distribution of its biannual newsletter.

The organization received its award at the 11th annual Watershed Mini Grant Awards Ceremony Workshop and Luncheon April 8 at Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort and Conference Center in Blairsville (Indiana County).

The grant program provides assistance to the region’s grassroots watershed groups. The awards cover program expenses in three areas: operating costs, watershed restoration and organizational promotion and outreach.

This year’s grants included one showcase project awarded to Tubmill Trout Club Unlimited in Westmoreland County for which a $5,000 grant was awarded for a larger restoration project that focuses on stream corridor and water quality improvement technologies.

Other regional grants were awarded to three groups in Westmoreland County – the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association in Westmoreland County for their educational brochures project, the Monastery Run Improvement Project with monitoring equipment and Westmoreland Cleanways for the Fugitive Tire Round-Up Program two groups in Indiana County the Blacklick Creek Watershed Association to further organizational outreach and promotion and the Evergreen Conservancy for marketing and project implementation and the Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance in Butler for the Thorn Creek Habitat Improvement Project Phase 5

Financial support for this project is provided by the Dominion Foundation, which is dedicated to the economic, physical and social health of the communities served by Dominion companies.