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COMMON GROUND VOL. 13 No. 3 JULY- SEPTEMBER 2002
<br />,CORPORATE N •
<br />Dupont 's land
<br />and easement
<br />donations nov,
<br />total 60,000 acres,
<br />valued at $100
<br />million.
<br />Cargill has agreed
<br />to sell 16,500 acres
<br />of salt ponds in the
<br />an Francisco Bay.
<br />C�
<br />■ DuPont recently donated 855 of open
<br />space surrounding the historic company
<br />town of Louviers, Colo., to Douglas County.
<br />The land, valued at $3.7 million, provides
<br />habitat for elk and black bear and recreation
<br />opportunities for town residents. Dupont's
<br />land and easement donations now total
<br />60,000 acres, valued at $100 million. Through
<br />DuPont's Land Legacy program, The Conser-
<br />vation Fund helps identify company prop-
<br />erty that has important habitat, and designs
<br />and implements long -term conservation
<br />strategies. Dupont, now in its 200th year,
<br />founded Louviers in 1908 to provide housing
<br />for its employees.
<br />■ In the largest wetlands restoration project
<br />in California history, Cargill has agreed to
<br />sell 16,500 acres of salt ponds in the San Fran-
<br />cisco Bay for $100 million to the state and
<br />federal governments. Cargill also agreed to
<br />donate salt - making rights on an additional
<br />8,000 acres in the future. Acquisition funding
<br />will come from the state ($72 million), four
<br />foundations ($20 million), and the U.S. Fish
<br />and Wildlife Service ($8 million). The agree-
<br />ment, announced May 29, also calls for a
<br />five -year, $35 million stewardship and resto-
<br />ration program for the bay front and tidal
<br />marsh habitat along the southern end of the
<br />bay and the Napa River. The land is valued
<br />at $243.3 million, and Cargill plans to donate
<br />the excess above $100 million. Closing is
<br />planned for December.
<br />■ For the first time, the Washington Busi-
<br />ness Journal (bizjournals.com / washington)
<br />has recognized a conservation project —the
<br />preservation of the Holly Beach Farm along
<br />the Chesapeake Bay —in its annual "Best Real
<br />Estate Deals" awards. The Conservation
<br />Fund acquired and protected the 300 -acre
<br />farm last year in partnership with the Mary-
<br />land Department of Natural Resources, Na-
<br />tional Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Founda-
<br />tion and a conservation - minded landowner.
<br />■ The Keystone Center has honored officials
<br />from American Water Works and DuPont
<br />for their leadership in consensus building
<br />and creative problem solving. Marilyn Ware,
<br />chair of the board at American Water Works,
<br />received the Leadership in Industry Award;
<br />and Paul Tebo, vice president for safety,
<br />health and environment at DuPont, received
<br />the Spirit of Keystone Award at a ceremony
<br />June 17 in Washington, D.C. The center
<br />(keystone.org) is a public policy and educa-
<br />tional group based in Keystone, Colo.
<br />■ Avista Utilities of Spokane, Wash., and
<br />The Conservation Fund have purchased a
<br />716 -acre property on the Bull River in north-
<br />west Montana to help fulfill the company's
<br />mitigation obligations needed to relicense
<br />hydroelectric dams on the Clark Fork River.
<br />A portion of the property is expected to be
<br />protected with a conservation easement,
<br />while the remainder will be transferred to the
<br />state or federal government for preservation.
<br />The land includes several miles of riverfront
<br />and provides habitat for three threatened
<br />species —the bald eagle, bull trout and griz-
<br />zly bear. It also adjoins the Cabinet Mountain
<br />Wilderness Area. In April, the National
<br />Hydropower Association honored Avista
<br />in its annual Outstanding Stewardship of
<br />America's Rivers report for the company's
<br />conservation work on the Clark Fork River.
<br />■ Research on MeadWestvaco timberland
<br />in South Carolina suggests that forested cor-
<br />ridors may help maintain populations of
<br />reptiles and amphibians on intensively man-
<br />aged forests. Beginning in 1997, company
<br />researchers have monitored these species
<br />on four 50 -acre tracts on loblolly pine plan-
<br />tations. Three were clearcut except for a 330 -
<br />foot forested corridor. The fourth was un-
<br />harvested. Sixteen months of preharvest and
<br />50 months of postharvest monitoring found
<br />59 species and more than 15,000 individuals
<br />on the four sites, with similar numbers and
<br />species in the corridors as in the unhar-
<br />vested stand. Researchers speculate that in-
<br />creased soil and litter depth may help main-
<br />tain the populations on the fertile coastal
<br />plain sites. One family of salamanders also
<br />may be more resistant to habitat changes
<br />than others previously studied. Overall
<br />forest management had very little effect on
<br />populations of reptiles and amphibians in
<br />these intensively managed pine plantations.
<br />MeadWestvaco maintains an extensive
<br />forested corridor system throughout the
<br />485,000 acres it owns in the state. Company
<br />officials suggest that future research should
<br />focus on examining the scale and time of
<br />harvest in various habitat conditions; as well
<br />as the width, spacing and position of corri-
<br />dors on the landscape. For more information
<br />on the research, contact Mac Baughman, PO
<br />Box 1950, Summerville, SC 29484.
<br />■ Earthshell Corp. and DuPont have an-
<br />nounced an alliance to boost sales of biode-
<br />gradable products in the $1 billion food
<br />service packaging market. Earthshell (earth
<br />shell.com) makes disposable packaging,
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