Conservation and Military Objectives Met Through Land Acquisition
05 Setembro 2012 - 10:28AM
Business Wire
Georgia Land Trust (GLT) was awarded a grant from the
Department of Defense (DOD), as part of the Readiness and
Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI), to purchase 5,500
acres from Rayonier Forest Resources. The purchase enlarges a
permanent natural buffer between the Fort Stewart Military
Installation and the rapidly expanding Savannah and Hinesville
urban areas that will preserve open space and habitat, and prevent
disruption of operations at Fort Stewart.
According to Katherine Eddins, Executive Director of the Georgia
Land Trust, “This strategic acquisition supports and enhances the
military mission, and at the same time enhances the quality of life
for existing and future residents in the area. It takes our
previous conservation mission at Fort Stewart to a whole new
level.”
GLT has been partnering with DOD at Fort Stewart since 2008
under the REPI program to promote innovative land conservation
solutions that benefit the environment and the military. Over
17,000 acres have already been protected through REPI along the
southeastern boundary of Fort Stewart, buffering land where
military staff conducts prescribed burns to maintain habitat for
red-cockaded woodpeckers and other endangered species that inhabit
the fire-dependent longleaf pine ecosystem.
"The value that the Georgia Land Trust brings to this process is
our focus on the REPI goals at Fort Stewart and our years of
experience working with landowners to conserve compatible use
property around the Installation," said Justin Park, Deputy
Director of the Land Trust. “With Rayonier, this cooperative
approach allowed the Army Compatible Use Buffer program to achieve
a long-term conservation result and Ft. Stewart to achieve
compatible use of the property.”
Lynn Wilson, Rayonier’s Senior Vice President, U.S. Forest
Resources, remarked, “As the second largest private landowner in
Georgia, and one of the largest landowners in the U.S., our future
depends on healthy working forests that provide a vital renewable
resource, create good wage jobs, generate tax revenue for our
communities, and preserve a high quality of life in rural areas.
Working with the Georgia Land Trust and the Department of Defense’s
REPI program to achieve both environmental and military goals makes
this transaction doubly rewarding for us.”
"This is the kind of win-win partnership that makes everyone
proud and shows the level of commitment to sustainability," said
Fort Stewart garrison commander Col. Kevin Gregory. "Conserving
land like this helps protect Fort Stewart and Hunter Army
Airfield's viability as the Army's premier power projection
platform on the east coast. That's good for national defense and
for the local economy, because it helps ensure that the
installation will continue to be a source of jobs and economic
growth. And it's good for quality of life because it protects
greenspace for recreation and environmental health."
About Rayonier
Rayonier is a leading international forest products company with
three core businesses: Forest Resources, Real Estate and
Performance Fibers. The company owns, leases or manages 2.7 million
acres of timber and land in the United States and New Zealand. The
company's holdings include approximately 200,000 acres with
residential and commercial development potential along the
Interstate 95 corridor between Savannah, GA and Daytona Beach, FL.
Its Performance Fibers business is one of the world's leading
producers of high-value specialty cellulose fibers, which are used
in products such as filters, pharmaceuticals and LCD screens.
Approximately 45 percent of the company's sales are outside the
U.S. to customers in approximately 40 countries. Rayonier is
structured as a real estate investment trust. More information is
available at www.rayonier.com.
About Georgia Land Trust
Georgia Land Trust, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) conservation
organization headquartered in Savannah, Ga. dedicated to protecting
land for present and future generations, primarily by helping
private landowners establish conservation easements on family and
investment lands. Georgia Land Trust protects more than 130,000
acres in Georgia. Georgia Land Trust, Inc. and its affiliate and
partner organizations, including Alabama Land Trust, Inc. and
founding organization The Chattowah Open Land Trust, Inc.,
permanently safeguard more than 200,000 acres of land with more
than 560 conservation easements and owned lands, thereby protecting
more private land than any other regional conservation group in the
southeast. www.galandtrust.org.
Rayonier (NYSE:RYN)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jun 2024 até Jul 2024
Rayonier (NYSE:RYN)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jul 2023 até Jul 2024