Land near Grand Canyon to be protected
 
 
 
(Note: This is classic Language Deception, from the word "protected" in the title to the red, bolded words/phrases running amok throughout. If anyone believes that this has anything to do with "conservation", "protection", "habitat", etc., please spend a LOT more time reading my website, www.PropertyRightsResearch.org. This is all about Control, using Taxpayer Dollars -- government grants very possibly laundered through 'business' or 'NGO' channels -- to CONTROL water and land and Stop Ranching in America. Still think shopping at Wal-Mart is good for America and Americans? All this lusted-after acreage comes OFF the tax rolls -- and Stops Funding emergency services, roads, etc., in towns all across rural America. This is "mitigation" -- almost Mafia-like in its intent, but perhaps even bigger in its scope -- that makes business complicit with global control agendas.)
 
April 13, 2005
 
Associated Press
 
 
Phoenix, Arizona - Bolstered by a $1 million grant from retail giant Wal-Mart, conservation groups plan to protect almost 900,000 acres of wilderness, including land stretching along 125 miles of the Grand Canyon's North Rim.

Conservationists said the $4.5 million purchase of two private ranches, totaling about 1,000 acres, also will help protect more than 850,000 acres that are attached to the land through grazing permits from the North Rim to the Utah line.

The acquisition connects three national monuments, two national recreation areas and eight wilderness areas, shielding them from further development and restoring overgrazed lands to nurture endangered species in the region.

"That's the beauty of this deal," said Richard Mayol, a spokesman for the Flagstaff-based Grand Canyon Trust, which will manage the land.

Mayol said the purchase was long desired by conservationists but was becoming increasingly crucial as development moved closer from St. George, Utah, and the Arizona Strip, the northernmost part of the state cut off by the Grand Canyon. The trust placed a deposit on the land, giving it until July to officially purchase.

"We felt if didn't move on this now, the land could be subdivided into miniparcels or sold to developers," Mayol said.

The Conservation Fund helped solidify the deal using a grant from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s "Acres for America," a program launched Tuesday in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation [NFWF].

Wal-Mart pledged $35 million to buy land equal to all the land its stores, parking lots and distribution centers use over the next 10 years. That would conserve at least 138,000 acres in the United States as "priority" wildlife habitat.

"The ultimate purpose is to create a grazing and restoration plan for the West," said Larry Selzer, president of The Conservation Fund, based in Arlington, Virginia. "No other company has stepped forward with that type of a bold initiative."

The money will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation [NFWF], a private nonprofit group created by Congress in 1984 to leverage federal dollars for conservation projects.

The Arizona project comprises the Kane and Two Mile ranches. They include desert areas in Marble Canyon; pinon-juniper forests surrounding the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, where dozens of endangered California condors have been released into the wild; and spruce-fir in the higher reaches of Kaibab National Forest.

The area is also home to the Kaibab squirrel and Apache trout, Mayol said.

Besides the Grand Canyon acquisition, the first stage of the Wal-Mart program will include:

 
Squaw Creek in Oregon: Buying a conservation easement on a private ranch to protect 1,120 acres along a tributary of the Deschutes River to aid salmon and steelhead fish populations.
 
Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana: Buying privately owned land to expand the refuge by 40 percent to 6,098 acres.
 
Sherfield Cave/Buffalo National River in Arkansas: Adding 1,226 acres of bat habitat.
 
Downeast Lakes region of Maine: Protecting 312,000 acres around Washington County, including 54 lakes and 1,500 miles of river and stream shoreline.
 
 
Copyright 2005, Bell Globemedia, Inc.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113393555363_8/?hub=SciTech

 

Additional related reading:

 

Wal-Mart to Fund Wildlife Habitat
 
 
 
April 12, 2005
 
 
By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer.
 
Washington, D.C. - Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, pledged Tuesday to spend $35 million compensating for wildlife habitat lost nationwide beneath its corporate "footprint."
 
Acre for acre, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would buy an amount of land equal to all the land its stores, parking lots and distribution centers use over the next 10 years. That would conserve at least 138,000 acres in the United States as "priority" wildlife habitat.

 

The money will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a private nonprofit group created by Congress in 1984 to leverage federal dollars for conservation projects, including 312,000 acres in Maine alone.

 

"We introduced the concept of the offset program to Wal-Mart last year," said Max Chapman Jr., The [National Fish and Wildlife F]oundation's chairman. "They were quick to say 'yes,' and Wal-Mart's leadership is raising the bar in conservation."

 

It's the first time any U.S. corporation has pledged such an arrangement, according to Interior Department officials, who will help decide which places to conserve. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she hopes the deal becomes a model for other companies.

 

The action also helps Wal-Mart burnish its green credentials, just ahead of Earth Day on April 22. The company bought full-page ads in Tuesday's editions of at least 20 newspapers touting its new habitat program.

 

Wal-Mart has come under scrutiny over its labor practices and how its stores affect communities and competing retailers. Last month it paid a record $11 million to settle federal charges of employing hundreds of illegal immigrants.

 

Wal-Mart also settled a Clean Water Act violation last year by paying a $3.1 million fine for excessive storm water runoff at construction sites. It agreed to improve runoff controls at more than 200 sites each year where the company builds stores. In 2001, Wal-Mart and some contractors reached a similar settlement and paid a $1 million penalty.

 

"Wal-Mart thinks it can paint over its record with a nice shade of green, but that won't hide its true colors," said Eric Olson, an anti-sprawl campaigner for the Sierra Club.

 

With a quarter-trillion dollars in annual sales, Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people at 3,600 U.S. stores and 1,570 stores internationally.

 

The [National Fish and Wildlife F]oundation plans to raise $35 million to match the Wal-Mart money, but said it would start off by putting $8.8 million from Wal-Mart toward a $20.5 million project to conserve land in five locations:

 

 

Squaw Creek in Oregon: Buying a conservation easement on a private ranch to protect 1,120 acres along a tributary of the Deschutes River to aid salmon and steelhead fish populations.
 
Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana: Buying privately owned land to expand the refuge by 40 percent to 6,098 acres.
 
Sherfield Cave/Buffalo National River in Arkansas: Adding 1,226 acres of bat habitat.
 
Downeast Lakes region of Maine: Protecting 312,000 acres around Washington County, including 54 lakes and 1,500 miles of river and stream shoreline.
 

On the Net:

Wal-Mart: http://www.walmartfacts.com

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: http://www.nfwf.org