Staples And Home Depot Join Effort To Save U.S.
Forests
Date: 09-Oct-09
Country: US
Author: Andrew Stern
Staples And Home Depot Join Effort To Save U.S. Forests Photo: Peter
Henderson
A view of the Garcia River Forest near Longvale,
California in this July 27, 2009 file photo.
Photo: Peter Henderson
CHICAGO - Staples Inc and Home Depot Inc are collaborating with
environmental groups in a pilot program aimed at conserving
fast-disappearing Southern U.S. forests, organizers said on Thursday.
Staples, the office products company, and Home Depot, the home products
retailer and one of the leading sellers of wood, will provide funding to
pay private landowners in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina to
conserve and manage their forested land.
The amount of money contributed to the project has yet to be determined,
but negotiations with landowners are under way, said Danna Smith,
executive director of the environmental group Dogwood Alliance of
Asheville, North Carolina.
Private landowners, who collectively own roughly 90 percent of forested
land across the U.S. Southeast, will be required to place their land
into conservation easements and manage it in a way that boosts carbon
sequestration, Smith said.
Sequestration in this case refers to the carbon stored in unharvested
trees as well as any added trees that absorb carbon dioxide -- the
leading greenhouse gas -- from the atmosphere.
The two companies will retire any carbon credits reaped in the
transactions, she said. Such credits can be used to offset greenhouse
gas emissions to meet regulatory standards.
Smith said native trees are fast disappearing across the U.S. Southeast,
which has 2 percent of the world's forests but provides 20 percent of
the lumber and pulp for the wood and paper product industries.
Clear-cut forests are often replaced by pine tree farms.
"Demand for wood and paper are having a devastating impact on Southern
forests," Smith said. "Carbon is released and it degrades watersheds and
wildlife habitat."
(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
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