DAYTON — A new, permanent Dayton Foundation endowment will support organizations and programs that help protect the region's natural environment, the foundation said in advance of events on Earth Day, which is Sunday.

The idea for The Greater Dayton Conservation Fund is to encourage education, land acquisition, restoration and scientific research. It also is meant to encourage collaboration and regional land conservation.

The fund, now with $30,000, has awarded its first grant to the University of Dayton's Rivers Institute project. In that project, students will work with youth from the Dayton Early College Academy, explore the region's waterways and careers in natural resources.

Irv Bieser, Dayton Foundation Conservation Fund steering committee member and a fund founder, said he hopes to grow the fund's assets with fundraisers, including one this fall.

"We look at it as a field of interest fund that will give this community a chance to respond to conservation needs as they arise," he said.

Bob Jurick, executive director of the B-W Greenway Community Land Trust Fund and a member of the steering committee of the new fund, said, "The Greater Dayton area has tremendous natural assets."

Jurick said development is transforming the area from agricultural to residential and urban, even though the population has experienced modest growth.

"Without proper land management, we will lose significant agricultural resources and wildlife habitats, while adding to our communities' costs for infrastructures and creating competition for water resources," Jurick said.

"Our challenge is to get people in touch with the land and to educate them about what can and should be done now before our natural treasures are lost."

Said Marvin Olinsky, former chief of Five Rivers MetroParks and a Conservation Fund steering committee member: "Our natural areas are diminishing rapidly, and once they're gone we seldom can reclaim them. It's much more expensive to tear down structures and remove concrete than it is to preserve existing natural areas."

Those interested in contributing to the fund may contact Janice McLefresh at (937) 225-9971 at The Dayton Foundation.