Nature Conservancy Gives Year-end Report

The Nature Conservancy reported a successful year for conservation efforts in Arkansas.

At its sixth annual meeting for Northwest Arkansas partners in conservation, held Nov. 6 at the Springdale Country Club, State Director Scott Simon said more than 7,200 acres have been place in conservation management in 2008.

The event’s guest speaker Betsy Cohen, vice president of sustainability for Nestlé, talked about the Switzerland-based company’s efforts to conserve natural resources.

The company has reduced its energy and water consumption, Cohen said.

In Arkansas, the company’s Stouffer’s plant in Jonesboro has switched from using plastic trays in its prepared meals to a cardboard based product and is donating products that can’t be sold to area food banks rather than putting them in landfills. The company’s Gerber plant in Fort Smith is experimenting with solar power.

Also at the event, the Nature Conservancy staff gave its year-end report.

Karst Ecologist Mike Slay reported on the Ozark Karst program, which he said has conserved over 280 acres of habitat of the Ozark Big-eared Bat. An additional 450 acres of habitat will be in conservation by the end of the year, he said.

Ethan Inlander, director of the Conservancy’s Ozark Rivers program, reported on several efforts made over the past year to protect the state’s watersheds.

Conservancy scientists are using global positioning systems to inventory unpaved roads in the upper Little Red River watershed. When the inventory is complete, he said, the Conservancy will work with county road crews to maintain practices that keep sediment out of the streams.

Staff also debuted the first in a series of Discovery News videos about the Ozark Karst program. The clips can be seen on discoverynews.com.