Adirondack Garden Club Awards 2024 Grants to Local Groups

The Adirondack Trail Improvement Society was among 14 grantees from the Adirondack Garden Club. The ATIS grant supports trail maintenance in the High Peaks. Shown here, a professional crew builds a stone staircase.

The Adirondack Garden Club has awarded fifteen grants from the club’s Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund, the 1928 AGC Founders Fund, and the Francesca Paine Irwin Conservation Fund to nonprofits making a positive impact on the Adirondack environment.

Established in 2005, the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund gives financial assistance to individuals and not-for-profit organizations and schools involved in programs whose purpose is to study, protect and enjoy the natural environment within the Adirondack Park.

The 1928 AGC Founders Fund was established in the 1980s to give grants to not-for-profit organizations, including schools, involved in programs whose purpose is to create an impact in a specific area within the Adirondacks.

The Francesca Paine Irwin Conservation Fund was created in 2013 and is used for project-based funding requests that are focused on conservation.

The Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund grants were awarded to:

Eagle Island Camp, for microscopes, nature ID Books and ID cards.
Adirondack Land Trust, for their Blue Bird Project on three of ALT’s conserved properties.
Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm, to create a hedgerow to support wildlife.
Saranac Lake Central School, to repair and rehabilitate the Petrova School Garden.
Essex County Historical Society, to eradicate invasive plants in the Adirondack History Museum’s Colonial Garden.
Creative Kitchen Garden, to support two workshops teaching how to grow, harvest and use native plants in the home landscape.
Paul Smith’s VIC, to help re-wild one of the primary access points to the VIC with native plants.
Mountain Lake Services, to create a permanent flower garden with a focus on plants to attract beneficial insects, butterflies and birds.

1928 AGC Founders Fund grants were awarded to:

Ausable River Association (now the Ausable Freshwater Center), to increase AFC’s capacity to collect, process, store and propagate native seeds used in restoration projects in the Ausable River watershed.
Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (ATIS), to support trail maintenance on public hiking trails in and around the High Peaks Wilderness area. This grant specifically supported enhancements to the trails on Gothics, designed to prevent erosion and preserve vegetation.
ADK Action, to support the planting of native pollinator habitats at the High Peaks North and High Peaks South rest areas along the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87).
Crown Point Central School, to establish a school garden providing fresh produce for students and their families, while teaching about gardening and healthy eating habits.
Garden Club of America, as a contribution to the GCA scholarship fund.

The Francesca Paine Irwin Conservation Fund grants were awarded to:

The Adirondack Mountain Club, to establish an alpine-focused teaching herbarium for the Summit Stewardship program.
Champlain Area Trails (CATS) to support the purchase and transaction costs of the Coot Hill Conservation and Trail Project.

Founded in 1928, the Adirondack Garden Club’s mission is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to aid in the protection of native plants and birds, and to encourage civic planting, and the conservation of our natural resources. Its purpose is the conservation of the plants, shrubs, and trees native to the Adirondack region, and the making of both wild and cultivated gardens characteristic of the environment in which they are placed, the furthering of the cultivation of gardens throughout the Adirondack area, and the promotion of civic conservation and beautification. The Adirondack Garden Club is a 501 c(3) nonprofit organization. More information is available on the club’s website.