THE WATERWHEEL FOUNDATION

WaterWheel Donates $289,000

October 30, 2003

The WaterWheel Foundation has donated $289,000 to 14 organizations working on environmental issues affecting Lake Champlain, concluding its grants for 2003. The grants are spread among nonprofits working in four main areas: environmental advocacy, public awareness and education, research, and volunteer-based grassroots activism. Ranging in size from $1,000 to $105,000, these grants bring the total amount WaterWheel has donated to Lake Champlain-related causes to over $1 million since its inception in 1997. WaterWheel is a nonprofit foundation that oversees the charitable activities of the Vermont-based band Phish.

The largest grant is $105,000 to ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. Spread out over three years, the donation is part of ECHO's $14.5 million capital campaign. The grant was specifically earmarked for the ³Under the Lake² exhibit room. ECHO opened its innovative lake aquarium and science center on the waterfront in Burlington, VT on May 31 of this year. Since then over 90,000 guests have passed through their doors and over 6,500 annual passes have been purchased by the local community.

WaterWheel continues its support of the Conservation Law Foundation's (CLF) clean water advocacy with a grant of $80,000. CLF is one of the leading environmental public interest groups in New England. Its Vermont office has been a consistent advocate for actual enforcement of the Clean Water Act and other environmental protection laws, especially with regard to storm water runoff, pollution from factory farms, and wastewater treatment plants lacking adequate pollution control equipment. It also seeks to enhance the economic viability of family farms in Vermont through its New England Farm Defense Initiative.

As part of its clean water initiative CLF launched the Lake Champlain Lakekeeper in October 2002. Affiliated with Bobby Kennedy Jr's Waterkeeper Alliance and under the guidance of Robert Moore, the Lakekeeper's mission is to protect and restore Lake Champlain through advocacy and by enlisting public support for the cause. Its hope is that the high visibility of the Lakekeeper will do much to increase public awareness of the issues facing Lake Champlain. WaterWheel enthusiastically supports the Lakekeeper with a $40,000 grant.

WaterWheel has made its fifth grant to the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), for $30,000. In conjunction with CLF, VNRC won a major legal victory earlier this year when the Water Resources Board rejected the Agency of Natural Resourcesı ³Watershed Improvement Permits², issued the previous year despite the water bodies in question not meeting Vermont's basic minimum standards for water quality. VNRC actively pursues tougher protection of valuable and endangered wetlands in the state, gaining Vermont's highest level of protection for over 2,000 acres of high quality wetlands and adjacent highland. Earlier this year it played a leading role in effecting a landmark settlement to remove the Peterson Dam from the Lamoille River, restoring miles of prime spawning habitat for lake sturgeon, Atlantic salmon, trout, and walleye.

Additional grants of $13,000 have been made as part of WaterWheel's small watershed association program. Grants range in size from $1,000 to $2,000, and are intended primarily for volunteer-led and locally-based watershed groups. These nonprofits galvanize the local community to help with such projects as water quality monitoring, stream bank restoration and garbage clean up. Recent recipients include the Au Sable River Association, Missisquoi River Basin Association, Keeping Track, Voice for the Potash Brook Watershed, Lewis Creek Association, Middlebury River Watershed Partnership, and the Poultney-Mettowee Watershed Partnership.

WaterWheel provided additional support for the Nature Conservancy of Vermont's battle against non-native nuisance species in the Lake with a $10,000 grant. Volunteers and staff have pulled over 200 tons of the plants since 1998, in some areas completely eradicating them. Their success has enabled the Conservancy to create an early detection program, focusing on other nuisance species including Japanese knotweed, bittersweet, garlic mustard, phragmites, and black swallowwort. It plans to develop a landscape survey of entrenched invasive species so as to efficiently direct management efforts in areas of key biological importance.

$5,000 was given to the National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) northeast field office for its efforts to protect and restore fish-dependent birds on Lake Champlain. It aims to promote the recovery of loons, bald eagles, ospreys, and other endangered and threatened bird species through an awareness campaign about the hazards posed by fishing tackle and a lead sinker exchange program. NWF's Montpelier office works across New England and New York to conserve forest, water and wildlife resources through education, advocacy, and collaboration with like-minded groups.

WaterWheel has also donated $6,000 to fund a volunteer water quality monitoring program in the City of Burlington. The project is a collaboration between the City and the University of Vermont's Burlington Bay Project, under the auspices of the Burlington Legacy Project. Volunteers will collect samples from drains emptying untreated water into Lake Champlain after it rains, in order to monitor pollution from storm water runoff. UVM's science lab will analyze the samples and post the results on its website.

The WaterWheel Foundation was established by Phish in 1997 to oversee the band's philanthropic activities. Since then $1,054,700 has been donated to nonprofits and government agencies working on issues related to Lake Champlain. Funding for this program is made possible by the sale of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream. All royalties due to Phish from Phish Food will be donated by WaterWheel to organizations working to improve the environmental well-being of Lake Champlain and its watershed. For more information about the WaterWheel Foundation email or write to PO Box 4120, Burlington VT 05406.

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