The ecologically diverse plant life on the deep ravines and bluff ridges of the 350-acre Old Cove area will be studied, documented and preserved as the result of a two-year $80,000 grant to The Nature Conservancy’s Mississippi Chapter by Weyerhaeuser Company.
The funding for the evaluation of Old Cove in Mississippi is part of Weyerhaeuser’s on-going collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to study conservation and sustainable management of biological diversity in managed forests, a multi-year $1 million commitment announced last year. Also part of the new grants announced in November 2007, was a two-year $90,000 grant project in Oregon to protect and restore oak habitats in Willamette Valley. The first projects in this effort were studies of biodiversity within Blackland prairie areas of Arkansas and within “islands” of old growth in the Willapa Hills of Washington state.
The Old Cove area in Webster County – which includes nearby Magnolia Cove and the southern slope of Shelton Mountain – is part of the larger 12,000 acre watershed area, of which Weyerhaeuser is the largest landowner. Weyerhaeuser manages its part of the watershed area primarily for timber production.
“The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi is extremely pleased to partner with Weyerhaeuser,” said Robbie Fisher, director of the state Conservancy. “This area is part of a 12,000-acre forested landscape that includes the headwaters for the Big Black River, Yalobusha and Yazoo Rivers. Implementing conservation actions within this large watershed will result in more inclusive protection of biodiversity in freshwater and terrestrial systems not only at this site but on the larger landscape as well.”
The Old Cove area was originally identified by Weyerhaeuser foresters as a protected “Special Places Area,” as part of the company’s compliance with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative standard. A Special Places management plan was developed and some research done by the Conservancy and Mississippi State University.
“We’re real proud of it,” said Weyerhaeuser forester Rick Hegwood, who helped identify the area as a Special Place. Several rare species have been documented in the area, including Maple Leaf Viburnum, Star Vine and Yellow Lady’s Slippers. Among the unusual forest communities present are Southern Appalachian hardwood forest species including Big Leaf Magnolia, American Beech and Tulip Poplar. The Shelton Mountain area contains xeric (dry) species including Black Jack Oak and Huckleberry.
Weyerhaeuser’s timberlands business already has partnerships with the Mississippi chapter of the Conservancy, including a project at Buttahatchie Bluffs near Hamilton, Ala., another Special Places Area in Weyerhaeuser’s Mississippi-Alabama timberlands region. Conservancy program manager Matthew Miller, who will lead the Old Cove project, also manages the project at Buttahatchie Bluffs.
“We could not be more pleased about the continuing partnership with Mississippi’s chapter of The Nature Conservancy,” said Ken Durand, manager for Weyerhaeuser’s Mississippi-Alabama timberlands region. “We knew this area was special and should be preserved. Now with the grants, the Nature Conservancy has the resources to help us fully assess and save all that’s special about Old Cove.”
In Mississippi, Weyerhaeuser employs about 1,500 people and manages more than 778,000 acres of forestland, all certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)™ standard. Weyerhaeuser operates a cellulose fiber complex and modified fiber operation at Columbus, box plants at Jackson, Magnolia and Olive Branch, iLevel Lumber Technology mills at McComb, Bruce and Philadelphia, an iLevel Service Center (ISC) at Gulfport, and timberlands management units at Bellefontaine, Columbus, Hillsdale, McComb, Scooba and Columbia.
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit the Nature Conservancy on the web at www.nature.org.
Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2006, sales were $21.9 billion. It has offices or operations in 18 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities. Additional information about Weyerhaeuser's businesses, products and practices is available at http://www.weyerhaeuser.com.
