bat house project?

["Kathleen M. Brosemer" <kathie@cleannorth.org>]

Hi all,

I met with Neil McLean this morning, he came in with the paperwork for a
Canadian Tire small grants program.  We haven't accessed this before, but
it's been around awhile.  Basically they give away ten grants of $1000
(ten across the whole country) to do local hands-on environmental action. 
Each application must be sent in by a CTire employee.  Neil's sister works
at our local CTire store and gave the info to him, has promised to send in
our application for us if we do this.

Most small granters prefer to fund something concrete (materials costs,
etc) rather than promotional ads or staffing to plan and carry out things.
 Of course, Canadian Tire would want something that had their own logo,
visibility for a local store, etc.

Neil and I went over a few ideas for projects.  One that seems to fit is
the idea of promoting bat houses.  It addresses a hot-button issue, it
gives us a positive profile on that issue, and a chance to do some
education about non-toxic ways to control the mosquito population.

I thought of a multi-stage plan:

1.  develop a brochure about mosquitoes and WNV and other mozzie-borne
illnesses, non-chemical mozzie control techniques, like our flea brochure.
 Office volunteers with review by pest committee
2.  develop a brochure about bats, bat-habitat on your property, and
bat-houses.  Office volunteers with review by Sault Naturalists? or
vice-versa?
3.  research a bat-house design that is simple to create.  CN vol. with
wood skills.
4.  Hold a house-building party at CTire, in late May, under our shade
tents on the grassy strip.  Have some high school youth there building
houses, have kits that people can purchase and build their own on the
spot, or purchase a completed house that the youth have constructed.  Give
away mozzie brochures, bat brochures with or without a bat house purchase.
Publicity and slogans for this would be really fun and easy - holy
mosquitoes, Batman!  Quick, to the Bat-tent!  Black vinyl bat-silhouettes
on the shade tents...

Would need to have a work party in advance to cut wood to proper lengths
so it's just nailing that happens during the bat-house party.

CTire would get their logo on the brochures and the visibility of the
party-day.

We'd budget for wood and nails, some work gloves and a few hammers,
printing of brochures, and refreshments for volunteers.  Houses would be
sold, not given away, to increase the likelihood they would actually be
used, and to provide the funds for continuing the project (CTire $ would
thus be seed money for an intermittent-ongoing project).

Someone (Neil, your sister?) should find out whether CTire will be selling
bat houses in the garden centre this year.  If they don't already plan to,
maybe they'd sell ours after the Bat-house-day?

Of course, this is just one idea.  If any of you think another idea would
be also a good candidate (a bike project comes to mind), or know of any
reason we shouldn't pursue this idea at this time, please speak up.  We
have a 31 March deadline on the application.

Neil and I have set a date to work on this - March 20th, 7:30 pm, the CN
office.  Help wanted.

k


--

I awake each morning torn between a desire to save the world, and a desire
to savour the world.  This makes it hard to plan my day.
                           -  E.B. White