Wildlife Habitat Council Receives U.S. Forest Service Funding to Support Urban and Community Forestry Partnerships
SILVER SPRING, MD, September 8, 2020 – Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) was awarded a grant from the USDA Forest Service as part of its 2020 Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Program.
This grant will fund WHC’s new initiative, Across Fence Lines: Connecting Corporate America to Communities through Public-Private Forestry Programs. The initiative will focus on a best-in-class approach connecting corporate conservation, urban forestry groups, community members/leaders and employees to local, state and national canopy and forestry goals, addressing local resiliency challenges and providing workforce development opportunities and biodiversity uplift.
“With the support of U.S. Forest Service, we will be able to fill a significant resource gap to better connect the private sector to community forestry initiatives,” said Margaret O’Gorman, President, WHC. “This program also addresses the specific needs of high potential communities where impactful industries are historically located.”
The program will draw on existing community forestry efforts and WHC’s more than three decades of experience connecting corporate and community groups for voluntary conservation efforts Across Fence Lines is the latest of our on-the-ground efforts to bring about tangible, climate change adaptation actions to urban-industrial communities. New urban forestry connections will also contribute knowledge to the project.
WHC will partner with corporations such as Praxair, NiSource, Arcelor Mittal, Freeport McMoRan, FCA and Marathon Petroleum to study existing corporate community forestry efforts and design new connections. WHC will engage Davey Institute, Student Conservation Association and the Greening of Detroit as knowledge partners to help identify best practices and consider the unique challenges and opportunities of working in urban-industrial lands.
Other recipients of the 2020 National Urban and Community Forestry Grants for Creating and Enhancing Resilient Urban and Community Forests: University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, Sustainable Resources Institute/Urban Wood Network, University of Tennessee, The Giving Grove.
For more information about how WHC can help support a wide spectrum of corporate conservation activities please contact whcconsulting@wildlifehc.org.
About Wildlife Habitat Council
For 30 years, WHC has been promoting and certifying ecological stewardship action on corporate lands through partnerships and education. Since only 10-15% of the world’s land surface is protected, private lands provide an essential opportunity for restoring and protecting biodiversity. As the only international conservation NGO focused exclusively on the private sector, WHC provides a framework for voluntary conservation action on a wide variety of corporate lands. WHC’s corporate members represent some of the leading national and multinational corporations seeking to support sustainable ecosystems and the communities that surround them. These efforts have resulted in more than 1,000 certified programs across 47 states and 28 countries.
About the Grant
https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/urban-forests/ucf/2020-nufrigp
