Wal-Mart Announces Half Million Dollar Acres for America Grant to The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

Date:   5/9/2006 11:19:59 PM ( 18 y ago)

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. today announced a $500,000 Acres for America signature grant to The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to complete the acquisition of two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, featuring spectacular sand dunes, a host of wildlife, and a high density of Pitcher’s thistle, a globally unique plant to the Great Lakes.

“The Great Lakes are a vital national asset both economically and environmentally,” said Jeff Trandahl, Executive Director, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. “This capstone grant from Acres for America will ensure that this unique natural heritage will be enjoyed for generations to come.”

The site, known as Arcadia Dunes, lies between the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the Manistee National forest, and the Arcadia Dunes is contiguous to one mile of this protected shoreline. With this acquisition, more than 30 percent of the shoreline between Arcadia and Sleeping Bear Dunes will be protected.

“At Wal-Mart, we know that being an efficient business and being a good steward of the environment are goals that can work together,” said David Carmon, Regional General Manager, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “We understand the importance of protecting the environment and we’re proud to partner with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help preserve valuable wildlife habitat here in Michigan and across the country.”

This pristine shoreline was ranked among the top five of unprotected privately owned coastal sites by the Michigan Dune Alliance, a coalition consisting of state and federal agencies, private organizations, land trusts, and watershed councils from the Mackinac Bridge to the Indiana State line along the Lake Michigan shore. The shoreline serves as a resting area for bald eagles, recognized as threatened in the state and is part of the migratory route for Monarch butterflies. The site also supports the federally listed endangered Peregrine Falcon, and the Caspian tern and merlin, also listed as threatened by the state. This truly unique site also boasts the Cooper’s hawk, grasshopper sparrow and northern harrier, recognized as species of concern. The back-capped vireo sighted on the Arcadia Bluffs remains the only sighting of the species in Michigan.

“The Lake Michigan dunes are the most spectacular element of an extraordinary natural resource—the Great Lakes,” said Donn Waage, Central Region Director, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. “It is vitally important to the web of life in the Great Lakes to preserve this last major parcel of sand dune and coastal forest, home to migratory birds and rare plants.”

The project is part of a larger Lake Michigan coastal protection campaign totaling more than 6,000 acres, including 1,667 acres of sand dune and coastal forest, and 4,333 acres of working conservation lands that provide a buffer to pressure from lakeshore development. The buffer area includes 1,000 acres of forests, 500 acres of protected grasslands and 2,833 acres of agricultural lands which will be placed under easement. The public will enjoy recreational access to these lands including the development of a 15-mile trail system.

The 6,000 acre campaign attracted $35.4 million in public support, foundation grants, corporate contributions and individual gifts. The funding for the campaign supports the acquisition of these lands, development of the management plan, trail system and a stewardship endowment. Wal-Mart and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation join the C.S. Mott Foundation, Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, The Carls Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Herbert H. Grace A. Dow Foundation as lead funders supporting the conservation of Acadia Dunes.

“It is absolutely wonderful that more than 5,000 individuals and foundations believed this property was so important that they put their money where their hearts are. Now it is preserved for us to enjoy today and for future generations,” said Betsy Dole, Board Chair of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

Founded in 2005, Acres for America is a partnership program between Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to conserve critical wildlife habitats for future generations. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has committed $35 million over 10 years to permanently conserve at least one acre of priority wildlife habitat for every developed acre of Wal-Mart Stores’ current footprint, as well as the company’s future development throughout the 10 year commitment, making this one of the largest public-private partnerships ever and the first time a company has tied its footprint to land conservation.

In 2005, the Acres for America program funded its first five projects in Maine, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona and Oregon. With the recent announcement of the conservation of 10,000 acres of forestland near Mt. Shasta in California and these 2-miles of shoreline in Michigan, these seven signature projects funded to date represent a commitment of $10.3 million from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which leveraged an additional $38 million. With additional projects planned for 2006, the Acres for America program has permanently conserved approximately 360,000 acres, helping consolidate conservation landscape totaling nearly 4 million acres and producing a conservation investment totaling $50 million.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will consider recommendations for projects that would generate the greatest impact to important fish, wildlife or plant resources. To apply, or for more information, log onto http://www.nfwf.org or http://www.walmartfacts.com.



About National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Foundation awarded over 7,000 grants to more than 2,600 organizations in the United States and abroad and has leveraged – with its partners – more than $300 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a total of more than $1 billion in conservation. The Foundation is recognized by Charity Navigator with a 3-star rating for efficiency and effectiveness. Ninety-two cents of every dollar contributed to the Foundation is directed to on-the-ground efforts, with 5 cents supporting management and administration of the Foundation’s multi-million dollar grants program and 3 cents funding partnership development and fundraising. http://www.nfwf.org

About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. The company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company's securities are listed on the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under the symbol WMT. More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting http://www.walmartfacts.com. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com.

About The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy
The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy protects significant scenic, natural and farm lands in a five-county area including Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Manistee counties in northwest lower Michigan. Since their founding in 1991, the Regional Conservancy has protected more than 24,000 acres of land and 55 miles of shoreline in the region. See their website: http://www.gtrlc.org













Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has always been a values-based, ethically led company. The values guiding our decisions and leadership are the 3 basic beliefs established by our founder, Sam Walton, in 1962:

1. Respect for the Individual
2. Service to the Customer
3. Strive for Excellence

Mission Statement
The mission of the Global Ethics Office is to promote Wal-Mart's ethical culture globally. The Global Ethics Office was established on June 1, 2004. On June 4, 2004 Wal-Mart released a revised Global Statement of Ethics to communicate our ethical standards to all Wal-Mart facilities and stakeholders. The Global Ethics Office provides guidance in making ethical decisions based on the Global Statement of Ethics and a process for anonymous reporting of suspected ethics violation by calling the Ethics Helpline.

Global Ethical Principles
Wal-Mart's Guiding Ethical Principles were added to the revised Global Statement of Ethics on June 4, 2004. These principles are designed to assist our Associates and Suppliers with making the right decision and doing the right thing.

1. Follow the law at all times
2. Be honest and fair
3. Never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse or conceal information
4. Avoid conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs
5. Never discriminate against anyone
6. Never act unethically – even if someone else instructs you to do so
7. Never ask someone to act unethically
8. Seek assistance if you have questions about the Statement of Ethics or if you face an ethical dilemma
9. Cooperate with any investigation of a possible ethics violation
10. Report ethics violations or suspected violations

COMMENTS BY WAL MART CEO
Wal-Mart ‘Greening’ Could Have Huge Impact
In a company known more for driving bargains than driving hybrids, I’m frequently asked about the impetus behind the global environmental
sustainability programme we launched full-steam at Wal-Mart last year. Like most good stories, this one has evolved over time, involving a bit of
personal discovery, organisational enthusiasm and the constant unfurling of the vision before us.

We began talking about the environment among ourselves and with NGOs about 18 months ago. Truthfully, I didn’t see how much a retailer could do about the environment beyond recycling and thermostat control, and we had already been doing both. Moreover, Wal-Mart is already known for zealous efficiency: we waste very little in our quest to keep costs down for our customers.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to open my eyes to the enormous impact that our company can have on the environment. And it didn’t take
much longer for my interest in the environment to grow into a full-blown passion. Environmental sustainability may well be the most important
initiative we undertake at Wal-Mart this decade, maybe even this century. It will have huge impacts on the way things are made, farmed, packaged, transported, displayed and sold worldwide.

The environmental advantages come straight from our size. As the world’s largest retailer, we’re in thousands of communities around the USA and 15 other countries. We buy products from more than 60,000 suppliers in 70 countries. We sell anywhere from 35,000 to 100,000 product lines in each of our 6,000-plus stores and clubs. We have 1.7
million associates serving more than 138 million customers every week.

Our size and scale means that even one small proenvironment change in our policies or our customers’ habits has exponential impacts all over
the world. Consider this: by reducing the size of the cardboard packaging on just one line of our own-brand toys last summer, we saved more than
5,000 trees and 1,300 barrels of oil that would have gone into making the packaging. We also reduced the amount of fuel needed to transport those products to our stores. We use millions of kilos of plastics in shrink-wrap that, until recently, we threw away. Recycling all our plastics at all our
US stores (which we’ll be doing this year) will keep this plastic out of landfills. Increasing the fuel efficiency of our 7,000-truck fleet will keep tonnes of greenhouse gases out of the air by saving millions of litres of fuel.

We’ve built environmental ‘laboratory’ stores in Texas and Colorado, using recycled asphalt, recycled oil for heating, wind and solar power, all
innovations we will incorporate into future stores. We’ve committed to purchasing all our wildcaught fresh and frozen fish for the US market from Marine Stewardship Council-certified sources.

We’re buying seven million kilos of organic cotton from Turkey and India, and additional supplies from China, Texas and elsewhere. This policy will keep millions of kilos of chemicals out of the environment. What’s more, we will make these organic products more affordable for consumers all around the world, thanks to our large-volume buying and distribution efficiencies. This means that families on a budget will be able to dress their children in organic cotton, and feed them organic vegetables and formula – all at a Wal-Mart price.

These are just a few examples of what’s already under way. We are focused on three top-line goals: to be supplied with 100% renewable
energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and our environment. Those are ambitious goals, but we never think small at our company.



 

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