NatureServe: Newsroom: Forest Alliance Launched with Office Depot

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The Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance

Conservation Science to Influence Paper Procurement

Office Depot, the office products retail giant, has joined with NatureServe and two other leading conservation organizations to form the Forest & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. The goal of the company's five-year, $2.2 million effort is to develop scientific information and tools that will help the company incorporate conservation science into its paper procurement decisions.

NatureServe, Conservation International, and The Nature Conservancy are the conservation partners in the Alliance, which will undertake projects in the following priority areas:

Developing scientific information to improve forest management
Applying science-based methods for conserving biodiversity
Enhancing environmental procurement practices
Training forest managers and scientists

NatureServe's Role

NatureServe's primary role in the Alliance is to develop scientific data, mapping methods, and forest management guidelines on imperiled species in North America and ensure that information and training is available to forest managers. Since the inception of the Alliance in 2004, NatureServe has achieved the following milestones:

Carried out initial mapping of Office Depot's forest footprint
Conducted assessment of rare plants and animals of the Cumberland Plateau, a major center of biodiversity in the U.S.
Provided new tools and training for foresters and other conservation professionals

Download 3-22-04 press release (PDF file, 210K)

Download Forest & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance agreement