Youth Climate Action Fund

The students on St. Mary’s High School Eco Team aimed to improve endangered bird habitats that are at risk due to climate change, development and other impacts. This was accomplished by learning about affected bird species, habitat needs and impacts, building and installing bird houses for at risk bird species, and educating youth and adults by distributing information pamphlets and birdhouse installation kits.

Students will run numerous bike-to-school events for students and parents, as well as a bike repair workshop, with the goal to encourage more cycling and active transportation habits among students. Training on bike safety and engagement of adult supporters will enhance safety of this initiative. Wiarton Bike Bus is supported by the Peninsula Shores Ontario Federation of Home and School Associations.

Students will assist in the design, installation and planting of several new community garden spaces at St. Mary’s High School in Owen Sound. Students will explore vegetable gardens, pollinator and flower gardens, and will learn about and implement First Nations cultivation methods. The project will engage diverse student volunteers and invest in tools for ongoing garden upkeep.

Youth with non-profit organization Water Speaks will work with Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority to restore a section of the Nottawasaga River within The Blue Mountains boundaries following NVCA’s 4-step river restoration procedure, enhancing stream health and resilience to climate change. A volunteer riparian planting event will engage community members and educate participants.

Students at Owen Sound District Secondary School will procure and develop new educational materials suitable for engaging younger students at Hillcrest Elementary on climate change, sustainability, outdoor education and Indigenous teachings. Earthkeepers is a model of mentorship and peer learning between different ages of students that will build educator and youth leadership capacity. Earthkeepers will also seek to collaborate with Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s Environment Office to include Indigenous cultural education.

The youth-led EcoFlow project will raise awareness of various options for sustainable period products through educational materials and a workshop, and will provide free access to compostable and other low-waste options via local and regional partners. Supported by Period Equity Alliance, a non-profit organization that aims to improve access to period/menstrual products.

The youth leads will run a climate tent at Banditfest (a for-youth by-youth music event), along with a climate change scavenger hunt and video interviews to ask youth about climate action. They will also take steps to improve the overall sustainability of the event and will document these efforts to improve the sustainability of future events. This project is sponsored by United Way of Bruce Grey. 

Students at Grey Highlands Secondary School will design and build bird houses that are appropriate for providing habitat to threatened bird species, and will distribute these to students for installation in their communities, working with younger students at Beaver Valley Community School. Youth leads will also run presentations on birds and will prepare informational signage.

Students at Georgian Bay Community School will work with younger Beaver Valley Community School students to build and install insect hotels and bat boxes on school grounds and for students to install at their homes. Students will learn about pollinators and will receive information and pollinator friendly plants to bring home.

Students at Walkerton District Community School will research endangered Ontario species and under the guidance of their art teacher will create a mural to raise awareness of these endangered species. The mural a permanent installation at the Bluewater Outdoor Education Centre in South Bruce Peninsula, which is a destination for many Bluewater District School Board students, and will be unveiled at a youth-led educational event.

Youth leads supported by Beaver Valley Outreach and Pollinate TBM will aim to design and build several awareness-building installations, including a mural and sculpture, to raise awareness of pollinators and pollinator gardens in The Blue Mountains. These installations aim for aesthetically pleasing, high-visibility and impact, and permissions from some property owners have already been secured. Youth will also share information on pollinators and distribute native seeds and plants.

Youth will co-design and help to install a new community area, featuring shade and seating space, at the CMHA Grey Bruce Community Garden in Owen Sound. Youth leads will also identify educational content for presentations on local food and climate change that will be delivered to participants in the new space, and will explore other creative opportunities to educate and engage visitors at the site.

The Youth Climate Action Conference (YCAC) is an annual event that started in 2022, which typically engages with students in grades 6-8. This project allowed the YCAC to deliberately engage with older students in high school to attend, volunteer and serve as role models for the conference attendees.

Youth leads: Ethan Young, Owen Menominee, Kelsey Roote

Sponsored by: Bagida’waad Alliance

The Aki Guardians planned four events, including two guided educational nature walks, and two litter cleanups. A guided interpretive hike at Margaret Paull Side Trail in Clarksburg, and a guided birding hike at George Christie Nature Trail in Collingwood, provided hikers with outdoor education and connected their learning to climate change where possible. The first litter cleanup recovered broken glass, cigarette butts, plastics and other materials from the shoreline at Northwinds Beach. The second cleanup event was cancelled due to weather, and so the Aki Guardians pivoted to providing an educational presentation at the L.E. Shore Library in Thornbury on Species at Risk (SAR) and the role of The Blue Mountains and the escarpment as a wildlife corridor for bird migrations.

Outputs and Outcomes:

• Two guided educational hikes and one Species at Risk presentation to residents of The Blue Mountains and surrounding area
• More than 27 kg of litter recovered from Northwinds Beach
• Improved knowledge of the area’s natural environment for event participants

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Youth leads: Atticus Russwurm and Katie Stewart

Sponsored by: Beaver Valley Outreach

Using the grant funds, Katie and Atticus produced the Green Grey Blue 4-episode mini-series, highlighting climate action in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation traditional territory with a focus on The Blue Mountains community. The series showcases local organizations and community members’ sustainability initiatives, such as circular economy efforts, renewable energy, and sustainable tourism, and features over 19 interviewees. By highlighting local inspiration and success stories, the video series demonstrates actionable steps to contribute to a cleaner, greener community. 

Outputs and Outcomes:

• 21 youth between ages of 15 and 24 were engaged in filming or are featured in the video series
• 4 videos were produced with 19 interviewees showcasing 18 community sustainability features. Visit the Green Grey Blue Miniseries Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@green.greyblue/videos
• Improved knowledge of local sustainability and climate initiatives for viewers

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Youth Lead: Zoe Cadieux

Sponsored by: Beavery Valley Outreach (supported by Jacob Proctor)

This project involved testing four plant berries found in the region as viable marker ink alternatives. Schools contributed spent white board markers to enable experiments with the natural ink prototype. Georgian Bay Community School helped build awareness and identified potential youth volunteers for community & project collaboration, and also demonstrated the natural ink prototype for high school students. A small-scale tie dye workshop with six youth participants further promoted natural inks/dyes, and additional time was spent learning from and connecting with various community organizations to identify native dye sources and for future up-scaling of the project, as well as tying it to the naturalization movement of our local spaces.

Outputs and Outcomes:

• Four native/invasive plants were tested for their viability; one invasive plant was selected as most viable to proceed with further testing
• Engaged approximately 30 youth (15-24) in presentations and workshops to learn about natural-sourced dyes

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Youth lead: Jaden Slowiak

Sponsored by: Beaver Valley Outreach (supported by Climate Action Now Network)

Jaden worked with a local arborist and climate action organization Climate Action Now Network to design and plant a tiny forest. This tiny forest follows the ‘Miyawaki method’, a Japanese method that involves planting diverse varieties of trees and shrubs in a small space to spur competition and rapid growth, and to provide much needed habitat for insects and pollinator species. A community planting event brought together youth and adult volunteers to plant trees and shrubs, and to provide participants with information on how tiny forests work and their many community benefits.

Outputs and Outcomes:

A tiny forest is a more effective way to reduce the heat island effect. They are more likely to survive and are much denser than typical tree plantings spaced further apart. 

• 180 trees planted in the Tiny Forest method.
• 40 volunteers participated in an activity relating to climate action.
• The tiny forest will improve local biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and can provide future educational opportunities for students and other residents.

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Youth leads: Lindsay, Kennedy, Sydney and Natasha – High school students with St. Mary’s Highschool Eco Team (Envirothon)

Sponsored by: Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board

The St. Mary’s Highschool Eco Team applied their funding into the production, implementation, and sponsorship of bat boxes to improve endangered bat habitat in The Blue Mountains. Under the supervision of their teacher, Jacqueline Otterbein, the students visited The Blue Mountains and identified nine possible bat box locations at Peasemarsh Conservation area. The little brown bat faces several threats to its habitat, including climate change, and is a voracious consumer of mosquitoes. Three large bat boxes and six small ones were safely and properly installed with the help of Grey Sauble Conservation Authority staff. The students then produced magazines describing the project and sharing information about the bats to raise awareness.

Outputs and Outcomes:

• 15 youth (15-24) were engaged
• Nine bat boxes (3 large and 6 small) were installed to improve little brown bat habitat at Peasemarsh Conservation Area
• 50 environmental information magazines were created

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Youth Leads: Abbey Dunlop

Sponsored by: Events for Life

Events for Life received YCAF funding to engage and educate individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities on climate action and to share their learnings with the community. The funds enabled Events for Life participant to research different climate topics each month and speak with local eco-friendly movements and businesses on these subjects. These topics included:

• September: pollinators and planting gardens for pollinators
• October: waste, including simple waste audits and 2 community clean ups 
• November: recycling and compost, including learning about compost methods
• December: sustainable living, thrift shopping and how to repair items

From these experiences, the youth lead and Events for Life participants created monthly articles that were published in the Blue Mountains Review, a local newsletter. 

Outputs and Outcomes:

• 42 youth (15-24) were engaged
• 4 workshops were held, 4 newsletters were published, 2 community clean-ups
• Engagement and enrichment of youth who are often not included in climate change conversations and activism

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Youth Leads: Sage Fry

Sponsored by: Escarpment Corridor Alliance

The youth lead hosted a small summit for youth looking to be engaged with environmental activities, as well as supporting high school environmental club initiatives. The summit event also screened an episode of the Green Grey Blue Miniseries for attendees. Through the extension granted to this project, a survey was developed to better understand drivers behind youth engagement and what initiatives they wish to see in their community.

The youth lead also used the survey and related outreach as an opportunity to provide information on Round 2 of the Town's YCAF program. A key finding from the survey was that it can be difficult for many youth to identify how they can take action on climate change, and that it can be difficult to find the time or energy to pursue a project - challenges that the YCAF program aims to help address.

Outputs and Outcomes:

• 30 youth engaged between the summit and survey
• Raised awareness of local climate action opportunities and learned about engagement challenges and opportunities directly from youth. 

Youth Leads: Ethan Parker 

Sponsored by: Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association 

The grant funds went towards purchasing water level loggers as part of the youth lead’s master’s research on lake hydrology in Bruce Peninsula National Park. The loggers were installed at Cameron Lake to record water level changes in the national park to help determine the accuracy of a new NASA satellite (SWOT - Surface Water and Ocean Topography) which also measures water level, but from space. Ultimately the study will help assess SWOT as a reliable tool for long term monitoring of inland lake water levels, which is important in the context of climate change and its impacts on the water cycle. 

Deploying loggers under the ice allows for understanding how SWOT measurements are affected by ice cover. An additional logger will monitor ambient barometric pressure. In summer 2025, loggers will record water levels in several park lakes with varying sizes and differing amounts of emergent vegetation, expanding the lake level dataset. Gaining a deeper understanding of how lakes respond to climate change and other hydrological shifts is essential for the adaptive management of these ecosystems and their resources. 

Outputs and Outcomes:

• 10 water level loggers installed and/or available to be deployed for ongoing climate research at Bruce Peninsula National Park
• The Town will receive further updates on the research outcomes when the student’s research is complete.