To provide opportunities and resources within Thickson’s Woods Nature Reserve to develop baseline documentation on the Reserve biodiversity so that changes can be monitored. To Increase awareness and if necessary, to take appropriate steps to protect and improve the biodiversity of the Reserve for future generations.

The Matt Holder Environmental Research Fund was established by Phill and Sue Holder in memory of their son who died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2011.

Matt Holder was passionate about nature and passing on his knowledge. He loved bird watching at Thicksons’s Woods and was an expert birder and published scientist, including the co-authorship of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Algonquin Park. It is fitting that the creation of a fund in his memory provides a unique local opportunity for a hands-on approach to learning about the environment and the opportunity to publish the scientific findings.

The Holders hope that the fund will provide resources that will ignite Matt’s passion for nature in the many promising young students of today, to ensure future generations learn about and protect the environments.

The fund will provide equipment, knowledge and/or project-related activities, as long as the projects contribute to the natural inventory of the biodiversity of the Reserve and results are published in some widely accessible format. The scope is wide-ranging and varied and provides opportunities that could be life-changing while contributing to local environmental protection and benefiting the community.