March 22, 1999
(Forest Resources and Agrifoods)

Province establishes Legacy Nature Trust

The establishment of a conservation foundation for the province, to be known as the Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust, was announced today by Kevin Aylward, Minister of Forest Resources and Agrifoods.

Mr. Aylward said that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is providing the Legacy Nature Trust with $1 million in seed funding as a legacy of the 50th Anniversary of Confederation.

The establishment of the Legacy Nature Trust is the work of a committee with broad community, environmental, business and research interests and experience. Work on the concept of a conservation foundation for the province began in 1997 as a joint initiative of Wildlife Habitat Canada and the Newfoundland and Labrador Inland Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council. The Founding Committee, chaired by John C. Perlin, came together in 1998 to pursue establishment of the trust.

The minister said: "The Legacy Nature Trust will fill an identified need for a non-governmental organization that can attract significant additional resources for conservation activities in Newfoundland and Labrador by accessing new sources of funding." He noted that the main thrust of the new agency will be to assist the conservation efforts of environmental and community groups in the province by providing funding from sources that these groups are not currently able to access. Mr. Aylward noted that much of the funding is expected to come from outside the province.

The Legacy Nature Trust will not compete for funding with other conservation groups in the province. Rather, it will work with other groups to identify conservation priorities for the province and then seek to match those needs with sources of funding.

Programs and projects that the Legacy Nature Trust will support will not be decided until the agency has consulted with stakeholders throughout the province.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust will be incorporated and registered as a charitable non-for-profit agency in Canada and the United States. The Founding Committee will constitute the interim board of directors. However, government will be seeking the involvement of others to ensure that all regions of the province are adequately represented and that the board has all the skills and interests required to ensure the Trust is successful.

The $1 million provided by the government is intended to fund the basic operations of the trust over the first five years or so, and the trust will be permitted to draw down the funds at a maximum rate of $200,000 per year. The trust will raise all additional funds required for the trust operations and programs.

Media contact: Cynthia Layden-Barron, Communications, (709) 729-6183.

BACKGROUNDER
The Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust

VISION

From time immemorial, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador have been nurtured by the land and sea. Nature's bounty has always been, and continues to be, the key to our personal and cultural well-being. Our people have a strong desire to care for our unique natural environment, which still remains relatively wild and undisturbed despite generations of human activity.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust envisions the province as an oasis of exquisite natural wilderness and beauty in a world where natural environments are rapidly surrendering to human domination.

The members of the Founding Committee are:

Mr. John C. Perlin (Chairperson) St. John's
Mr. Paul Antle St. John's
Mr. A.C. (Chip) Bird Rocky Harbour
Mr. George Bradbury St. John's
Ms. Edna Hall St. John's
Mr. Thomas Humphrey Corner Brook
Dr. Jon Lien St. John's
Mr. David Moores Bay Roberts
Mr. John Pratt St. John's
Mr. Gordon Slade St. John's
Mr. Stuart Weldon Corner Brook

MISSION

The Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust is dedicated to conservation and protection of the natural environment. It invests in the efforts of groups and organizations that develop worthwhile programs and initiatives to conserve, enhance and restore the quality of the unique natural environment of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The vision and mission statements indicate:

• province-wide mandate and approach;

• recognition that our natural environment is a legacy that we inherit from our forebears and our resolve to bequeath it, unimpaired, to our children;

• Recognition that we are stewards who hold the province's natural environment "in trust" for the world and for future generations;

• The Trust as a tangible, living legacy of the 50th Anniversary of Confederation with Canada;

• The importance of the natural environment in sustaining us, culturally and economically;

• The strong attachment of our people to the natural environment;

• The importance of the province as an increasingly rare and appreciating environmental, cultural, and economic asset in the world; and

• An approach that stresses supporting the efforts of non-governmental environmental and community groups, thereby increasing conservation capacity and investment in the province.

1999 03 22