A major donation to the Delta Waterfowl Foundation will help the group expand an environmental initative. The W. Garfield Weston Foundation is donating $1.46 million dollars to help the Alternative Land Use Services Program. This is the second major grant from the foundation in the past year, bringing its total commitment to ALUS to more than $3 million.

Delta will use the money to create two centres of operations to support the national expansion of the program. Spokesperson Jim Fisher says this is the biggest gift the group has ever received and it will allow them to expand ALUS into Ontario and across the prairies. 

There is a local link to the ALUS project, as Portage la Prairie M.L.A. Ian Wishart was part of the original group of people who started the program. The first pilot project was also launched in the R.M. of Blanchard in 2005.  Through ALUS, farmers receive payments for delivering a variety of environmental services that enhance and protect wetlands and increase native grass cover.