| IP to share info on rare species
(Note: "Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread.") August 26, 2003 By Bill Finch Environment Editor, The Mobile Register Mobile, Alabama To submit a Letter to the Editor: fcoleman@mobileregister.com International Paper Co. has struck a national agreement with a conservation organization that could help identify rare plants, animals and habitats on its 1.2 million acres in Alabama. The agreement, made with the Arlington, Va.-based NatureServe, includes all of the paper and timber company's 9 million acres in the United States, and requires the company to share information about its lands and work to develop more information about imperiled species and habitats that might exist there. Alabama has a greater diversity of species than any other Eastern state, national inventories show, and is one of North America's hot spots for endemic species -- species that occur no place else. It is also one of the national hot spots for endangered or critically imperiled species, and has suffered more extinctions than any other continental state. At least some of these imperiled species are already known from IP land in southern Alabama, including the Red Hills salamander, the red-cockaded woodpecker, Wherry's pitcher plant and the pot-of-gold lily, according to NatureServe scientists. But those same scientists note that large areas of IP land have never been carefully surveyed by botanists, so it's not clear how many rare species they contain. Dennis Grossman, NatureServe's vice president for science, said the agreement stems, in part, from a recent mandate by the forest industry-supported Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which required that forest producers make an effort to identify and protect endangered species and ecosystems on their forest lands. Some large wood products retailing chains, including Home Depot and others, have pushed wood producers to ensure that harvesting of timber does not endanger rare species or communities. "One part of International Paper's commitment to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program has been to lead the paper and forest products industry by example in the area of biological diversity protection," Sharon G. Haines, director of sustainable forestry and forest policy for Stamford, Conn.-based IP, said in a news statement. "We already have a long history of working with state natural heritage programs to identify imperiled species on our forest lands. This agreement will build on that record by facilitating the sharing of information between IP and the entire NatureServe network." NatureServe officials in Arlington acknowledged that many details have yet to be formally worked out, including who will pay for the inventories of the forest lands, how quickly they will be done, and what IP will do with the lands that support imperiled species or communities. "It's a pretty big step for IP," said Grossman. "The industry has been relatively slow in picking this (Sustainable Forest Initiative) up, but IP is one of the most aggressive in showing they want to leap over the bar." NatureServe has its roots in the Nature Conservancy, an international land preservation trust, but has numerous private and public partners, according to organization literature. NatureServe coordinates the activities of state Natural Heritage Programs, which collect and provide research and information on species and habitats. |