PHOENIX, April 13, 2005
Grand Canyon-Front Land Bought
Purchase Allows Conservation Groups To Protect 900,000 Acres
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The Grand Canyon's North Rim. (AP)
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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, Va. "No other company has stepped forward with that type of a bold initiative."
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.
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:
By Beth DeFalco
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