USFWS and Illinova to Reforest Lower Mississippi River Valley
12/13/99
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Title: Reforestation Partnership with Illinova Corporation Will
Bring 50 Million Trees to the Lower Mississippi River
Valley
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service media release
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 13, 1999
VICKSBURG, Miss., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresh from ``collaring'' a
threatened Louisiana black bear, President Teddy Roosevelt's great-
grandson, Theodore Roosevelt IV, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service today announced the largest private reforestation effort in
the nation.
Illinova Corporation, an energy services company headquartered in
Illinois, will give the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation $13.7
million to reforest more than 100,000 acres in the Lower Mississippi
River Valley over the next 5 years.
``The magnitude of this historic gift is overwhelming,'' said Sam D.
Hamilton, Southeast Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. "It means that all of the present reforestation needs on
national wildlife refuges and other public lands in the Lower
Mississippi Valley are taken care of, and at no expense to the
taxpayer. It's a great day for conservation."
Illinova will provide the funding to the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation, which will work with Environmental Synergy, Inc. to
reforest 20,000 acres per year for the next 5 years in five states,
including Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
The completed project will produce 100,000 acres of reforested
bottomland hardwoods with 50 million new trees. The reestablishment
of the bottomland hardwood forest will create quality habitat for
migratory waterfowl, black bears, and neotropical birds. The 13
refuges will be planted with native hardwoods that will enhance
natural biodiversity.
``There are a multitude of benefits to reestablishing this critical
habitat, and we at Illinova are pleased to play a role in making it
possible,'' said Richard Eimer, Vice President for Illinova. ``And
since trees naturally extract and store carbon, it also represents a
recognizable, positive, and proactive approach to environmental
concerns for the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. We encourage our counterparts around the country to
consider partnerships like this for their environmental efforts.''
``This is a fantastic day for wildlife and for the American people,''
said Theodore Roosevelt IV, an investment banker who is also active
in several conservation efforts, including being the Chairman of the
League of Conservation Voters and on the governing council of the
Wilderness Society. ``The combination of forward-thinking
corporations, conservation-minded agencies, and smart, innovative
environmental groups and individuals has led us to the point where we
can give something back to nature. It's a great Christmas present for
the United States.''
The Illinois-based power company is one of several groups that
received recognition and awards from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for their support of reforestation efforts for the
Mississippi Valley.
``Illinova's investment is a model for the kind of innovative
partnerships between corporations and federal agencies that the
Foundation actively seeks to promote,'' said Alex Echols, Acting
Director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The Service also recognized the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
for its matching grant of $50,000 to support the reforestation on
Upper Ouachita and Overflow National Wildlife Refuges. In addition,
the Foundation has facilitated corporate partnerships that have led
to reforestation on substantial acreage of public lands in the Lower
Mississippi Valley, which has helped migratory birds and the
threatened Louisiana black bear.
Utilitree Carbon Company, a consortium of more than 40 utility
companies, was recognized for its sponsorship of more than 2,400
acres of reforestation on marginal farmland on four national wildlife
refuges in the Lower Mississippi River Ecosystem as part of its
Global Climate Challenge Program. This effort, as well as Illinova's
reforestation commitment, will also be important in reducing
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through carbon sequestration. In
addition, both the Utilitree and Illinova projects will significantly
improve biodiversity on the refuges. Carbon sequestration is the
conversion of carbon dioxide gas into plant material.
Environmental Synergy Inc. was awarded for its sponsorship of
combined biodiversity enhancement and carbon sequestration projects
through reforestation on public lands in the Lower Mississippi
Valley. This commitment will improve wildlife habitat and create
significant benefits to water resources.
Hamilton pointed out that one of oldest partnerships is with American
Forest Products and their Global ``Releaf'' Program, which has
contributed more than $400,000 worth of seedlings and special funding
that have allowed the Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate
reforestation on many national wildlife refuges and public lands in
the Lower Mississippi River Valley.
The awards were announced at the historic Old Courthouse in
Vicksburg, MS, Dec. 13, 1999, following a series of environmental
awareness events with Theodore Roosevelt IV, including capture and
collaring of a threatened Louisiana black bear at Tensas National
Wildlife Refuge that morning. Roosevelt will also retrace several
areas of his great grandfather's famous bear hunts in 1902 and 1907
that resulted in the creation of the ``Teddy Bear,'' an American
icon.
Background:
* The original bottomland hardwoods were cleared for agricultural
use in the early 1980s.
* Decreased agricultural prices and the frequent flooding led to
abandonment of the lands. These lands are now national wildlife
refuges of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but funding is
inadequate to restore the bottomland hardwoods.
* Mississippi River Watershed drains 41 percent of the continental
United States.
Lower Mississippi River Valley:
* Riparian corridor 600 miles long and up to 100 miles wide.
* 22 million acres of forest floodplain.
* 5 million acres of coastal wetlands.
* Migratory bird habitat of hemispheric significance.
* Most productive freshwater and estuarine fisheries in North
America.
* Important agricultural production area for cotton, rice, and
aquaculture.
* $9 Billion dollar flood damage reduction and navigation
infrastructure.
Locations of reforestation at national wildlife refuges in five
states:
Cache River NWR, AR
Felsenthal NWR, AR
Holla Bend NWR, AR
Cypress Creek Refuge, IL
North Louisiana Refuges, LA
Bayou Cocodrie NWR, LA
Catahoula NWR, LA
Tensas NWR, LA
Lake Ophelia NWR, LA
St. Catherine Creek NWR, MS
Mississippi Wetland Management District, MS
Yazoo NWR, MS
Reelfoot NWR, TN
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife
and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National
Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife
refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management
areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and
wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services
field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws,
administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird
populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign
governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the
Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars
in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife
agencies.