Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape has announced new awards totaling more than $86,000 in mini grants to advance the goals of land conservation and restoration, outdoor recreation, community revitalization through green infrastructure, and environmental education throughout the two-county region of Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley Greenways Mini Grant Program is a reimbursement grant program funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and administered by the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. The purpose of the Lehigh Valley Greenways Mini Grant Program is to protect and promote natural resources through the implementation of ready-to-go, single-year projects.

The 2023 Lehigh Valley Greenways Mini Grant application period closed on March 16 and attracted a large group of applications requesting just shy of $120,000. Lehigh Valley Greenways has awarded $86,500 in support of 13 projects.

Recipients include:

• Lehigh Carbon Community College, $6,900, to support delivery of Field Biology classes to ten Promise Corps participants in collaboration with Promise Neighborhoods.

• Lehigh County Conservation District, $4,700, to support the improvement of a pocket park adjacent to Trout Creek Harrison St. Trailhead, installing a pollinator garden, nature journaling benches, wooden cave, magnifying station, boulders, tree stump seating, edible and aromatic native trees and shrubs, and signage.

• Lehigh County Conservation District, $10,000, to support stabilization and fish enhancement along 730’ of the Little Lehigh Creek in the Lehigh Parkway off Keystone Avenue in Allentown, upstream of the Lil Le Hi Fish Hatchery.

• Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, $3,200, to support the production of illustrated Lehigh Valley watershed maps in poster and brochure-sized formats.

• Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, $5,000 to support a Walnutport Buffer Walking Tour installation with demonstration plots on a D&L Trail spur.