The Ontario and Manitoba governments are providing transitional funding to keep the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a world-class federal research facility, open and operating in northwestern Ontario.
The Ontario government said Sept. 2 it will commit up to $2 million per year until management of the 27,000-hectare site, located between Dryden and Kenora, is handed off to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Winnipeg policy research group.
The Manitoba government is kicking in $900,000 over six years.
“I am thrilled that the Experimental Lakes Area will remain open,” said Premier Kathleen Wynne in a statement. “ The research performed here provides invaluable knowledge about climate change and helps protect freshwater systems around the world. I want to thank all parties for working together to help make Ontario a world-class destination for scientific research.”
The ELA was slated to be a federal budget casualty as part of cuts at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans until ELA researchers and supporters launched a determined public relations campaign to keep the 58-lake facility open.
During the 1970s, the ELA was involved in research that identified that acid rain could lead to freshwater fish deaths.
