Launched in September 2018 as a partnership between ALUS and the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority, ALUS Chatham-Kent is the 23rd ALUS community in Canada. 

Located in southwestern Ontario along the Thames River, a Canadian Heritage River, Chatham-Kent is Canada’s number-one producer of tomatoes, carrots, seed corn, black tobacco, pumpkins and cucumbers, and Ontario’s number-one producer of green peas, broccoli and cauliflower. The region covers nearly 2,500 square kilometers with a population of more than 101,000 residents.

ALUS works closely with landowners to develop and support projects that are best suited to local needs and priorities. Through ALUS projects that re-establish and enhance grasslands, wetlands and woodlands, the ALUS Chatham-Kent program aims to help address issues such as deforestation, habitat loss and nutrient loading in Lake Erie.

The ALUS Program Coordinator works with farmers and ranchers to help establish these projects, while participants receive annual, per-acre payments for the management and maintenance of these projects on their land.

Through their projects, ALUS Chatham-Kent participants will help to produce cleaner water, cleaner air and more biodiversity, including pollinator habitat, for the benefit of everyone in surrounding communities.