Coastal Wetlands Provide Enormous Economic Benefits to Society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

A new study published in AMBIO reports that U.S. coastal wetlands are extremely valuable in that they annually provide storm protection services worth $23.2 billion.

 

The researchers compiled data on hurricane damage costs, wind speeds, and wetland areas and performed statistical analyses to calculate the value of coastal wetlands. These natural capital assets act as “horizontal levees” that absorb storm energy, thereby reducing hurricane costs.

 

Although the value of coastal wetlands has been estimated in numerous studies, estimates of the value of hurricane protection provided by coastal wetlands are rare. This study is particularly important because it allows researchers to predict the effects of location, area of remaining wetlands, proximity to built infrastructure, and storm probability on these protection values.

 

In addition, it is possible to determine the values of storm protection lost when coastal wetlands have disappeared. For example, as a result of the disappearance of coastal wetlands in Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina, additional wetlands vanished during the hurricane, and the resulting lost protection of infrastructure, crops, housing, revenues, employment, and stable markets was valued at $1.1 billion.

 

The maintenance and restoration of coastal wetlands is in peril. Without the protection of coastal wetlands, disasters like Hurricane Katrina will be even more costly to clean up.

 

To read the entire study, “The Value of Coastal Wetlands for Hurricane Protection,” AMBIO, 2008, Vol. 37(4):241–248, visit http://www.allenpress.com/pdf/AMBI-37-4-241.pdf

 

AMBIO is a nonprofit publication of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that addresses the scientific, social, economic, and cultural factors that influence the condition of the human environment. Founded in 1972, the year of the first UN Conference on the Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden, the journal covers such subjects as ecology, environmental economics, geology, geochemistry, geophysics, paleontology, hydrology, water resources, oceanography, earth sciences, meteorology, and physical geography.  To learn more about the journal, please visit: http://ambio.allenpress.com.

 

Gov. Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Nation-Leading Green Building Code

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement on the California Building Standards Commission vote to adopt the nation’s first statewide green building code:

 

“By adopting this first-in-the-nation statewide green building code, California is again leading the way to fight climate change and protect the environment.  This is literally a groundbreaking move to ensure that when we break ground on all new buildings in the Golden State we are promoting green building and energy efficient new technologies. Cars and buildings are two of the leading users of energy – we’re already addressing cars, and these new building standards will ensure that California remains at the forefront of reducing our carbon footprint and conserving valuable natural resources while also protecting our economy. We have already committed to making our state-owned buildings more green and energy efficient and this statewide code will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and conserve water in all new buildings.

 

“With today’s action, California continues to lead the nation and I commend the hard work of the Building Standards Commission to adopt the first-in-the-nation statewide green building standards.”

 

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Farmers and Ranchers Turn to Clean Burn For Recycling Used Motor Oil

 

            LEOLA, PA – In Yerington, Nevada, Peri and Sons specializes in growing, packaging and shipping more than 3,000 acres of premium white, red, yellow and sweet onions each year. To harvest and transport the massive onion crops, the company has a transportation fleet that includes 150 engines.

 

            “With constant oil changes and maintenance on our trucks and trailers, we recycle almost 500 gallons of used motor oil each month,” says Troy Coutts, shop foreman for Peri and Sons. “For the past 10 years we’ve relied on our two Clean Burn furnaces to recycle every drop of used motor oil. These are excellent units that help us heat our shop area on a regular basis.”

 

            Across town, the 600-acre Moreda Dairy in Yerington also relies on their Clean Burn furnace to help recycle used motor oil. “We have lots of farm equipment that we service in our shop,” says Ed Moreda, co-owner of Moreda Dairy. “We had originally tried to recycle our used oil ourselves and failed. Clean Burn was recommended to us and we really like the unit. Our Clean Burn furnace has no smoke output, does the job right and pays for itself every day.”

 

Three types of used-oil furnaces for different sized operations are manufactured by Clean Burn, including the Compact Used-Oil Furnace (Model CB-1400), Low Profile Used-Oil Furnaces (Models CB-1750 and CB-2500) and the Large Volume Used-Oil Furnaces (Models CB-350 and CB-500).

 

            Ranchers concerned about transportation and liability of possible oil spills and resulting environmental contamination have also discovered the benefits of on-site recycling of used motor oil. “We have 17 trucks that haul thousands of cattle each year throughout the western portion of the United States,” says Brad Bingham, vice president of Bingham Livestock in Tremonton, Utah. “In maintaining these trucks, we have a great deal of used motor oil to dispose of all the time. The Clean Burn furnace we’ve had for five years is great. I think every farmer who maintains heavy equipment should have these units.”

 

            The need for recycling used motor oil extends throughout the United States. “We’ve got a 17,000-acre ranch with more than 3,000 sheep so we’re constantly maintaining our vehicles,” says Elizabeth Philp, co-owner of Philp Sheep Company in Riverton, Wyoming. “Our Clean Burn unit works extremely well to recycle the used motor oil produced from our trucks and trailers.”

 

There are 80,000 Clean Burn functional furnaces and boilers located throughout the world that burn approximately 120 million gallons of used-oil each year on-site, at the point of generation. This volume of used-oil would otherwise be transported on highway systems and pose a considerable risk to spills and/or contamination to the environment.

 

Clean Burn holds numerous industry certifications and works with the U.S. government, the Environmental Protection Agency and various associations to help coordinate the establishment of standards and regulations related to heat recovery and recycling efforts involving used motor oils. For more information on Clean Burn, visit www.cleanburn.com or call 1-800-331-0183.

New DVD on green entrepreneurship

 

GROWING GREEN ENTREPRENEURS

Business may be one of the main culprits for creating the environmental and social ills the world faces today, but it also may provide the most effective solutions. That is, according to green business gurus such as Hunter Lovins, Van Jones, Mark Albion, Bob Willard and Michael Shuman. Their point is that entrepreneurs can achieve sustainable success – profits, growth and, yes, happiness – by building businesses rooted in sound values. “We need solutions at the speed of business,” says Lovins, author, speaker and founder of Natural Capital Solutions. Van Jones, President of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, adds that the U.S. should focus on creating green collar jobs and recognizing that the greatest business opportunities will come from businesses that are good to people and the environment. 

A new DVD titled, Naturally Successful: Entrepreneurship that redefines the bottom line, explores entrepreneurship from the perspective of the triple bottom line: businesses committed to economic, social and environmental measures of success. Eleven top experts, consultants and authors offer insights on building a values-driven business, providing meaningful leadership, achieving results beyond profits, serving customers, thinking long-term, seizing opportunities in new and existing markets, creating a thriving business and embracing a new type of capitalism. They cite numerous examples to explain why companies that are embracing green practices are experiencing outstanding growth, higher profits, lower risk and stronger brand recognition. 

A preview and information about the experts interviewed are available on the producer’s Web site at http://www.arnoldcreekproductions.com/NaturallySuccessful.htm. The 78-minute program retails for $24.95 from Amazon.com and other outlets. 

Arnold Creek Productions, Inc. produces award-winning videos on sustainability used by higher education, businesses and organizations worldwide. Previous releases include “Good Food, Good Business” and “Architecture to Zucchini: The people, companies and organizations pioneering sustainability.”

FW: Volvo Environment prize awarded

The Volvo Environment prize for 2008 is awarded to Crawford “Buzz” Holling, one of the world’s most influential ecologists

The Volvo Environment Prize, administered by an independent foundation, this year goes to Buzz Holling, Canadian ecologist and scientist, whose theories on how ecosystems deal with sudden changes have had great global influence.
Today, with many worrying about global climate change and unexpected natural disasters, Buzz Holling stresses the importance of increasing our society’s ability to be flexible and cope with change. This is necessary for the continued use of natural resources, because crisis, Holling says, is an inevitable part of nature’s way of functioning.

Buzz Holling is perhaps best known as the father of the resilience theory. Resilience is the capacity to deal with change and continue to develop. It refers to the capacity of a social-ecological system both to withstand perturbations — from, for instance, climatic or economic shock — and to rebuild and renew itself.

Loss of resilience can cause loss of valuable ecosystem services, and may even lead to rapid transition into new ecosystem stages. Examples of this are when over-fishing flips a marine environment into a totally different stage, or when a deforested area turns into savannah or desert.

Over the years, Buzz Holling’s research and theories have influenced scientists and policymakers all over the world and have increased knowledge on governing natural resources and how human society — and nature itself — deals with crisis. His thinking has also influenced the sustainable development debate. He has convincingly demonstrated that change is not only gradual, but often sudden and turbulent, putting great strain on the way humans and nature organize and how they adapt to change.

The Jury of the Volvo Environment Prize says in its citation:

“Crawford (Buzz) Holling is one of the most creative and influential ecologists of our times. His integrative thinking has shed new light on the growth, collapse and regeneration of coupled human-ecological systems.”

Buzz Hollings comments:

“I’m surprised and very honoured. After working for many years trying to understand the relationship between man and nature, it is amazing to see the interest there is worldwide for these issues. We are currently witnessing a terrific example of an emerging crisis with climate change. Our ability to cope with it will of course depend on how we can limit the emissions of greenhouse gases, but just as important is the capacity for adaptation and understanding how the ecosystems will develop and change.”

Buzz Holling is Emeritus Eminent Professor in Ecological Sciences at the University of Florida, USA. He is retired and lives in the city of Nanaimo, close to Vancouver in Canada. He is the founder of Resilience Alliance, an organization of researchers in numerous countries, and his theory on resilience is the foundation for the newly established Stockholm Resilience Centre at the University of Stockholm. Among his most famous books is Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems, published in 2002.

Buzz Holling will come to Sweden in early November to receive the Volvo Environment Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm. Besides the diploma he will receive a cash amount of SEK 1.5 million (approximately 160,000 Euro or 250,000 USD).

June 13, 2008

For more information on the Volvo Environment Prize and the 2008 winner, please contact Helene Bergsten, Scientific Advisor, Volvo Environment Prize, Tel: +46-31-772 4950, cell/mobile +46-730-795 833, email: helene.bergsten@chalmers.se or Claes Beyer, Executive Member of the Board for the Volvo Environment Prize Foundation, Tel: +46-709-777 623.

The Volvo Environment Prize Foundation awards the prize to individuals who explore the way to an equitable and sustainable world. The Volvo Environment Prize is awarded by an independent foundation, assisted by a Prize Jury composed of internationally recognized experts in the environmental field. Since 1990 the Prize has been awarded to 34 individuals. Among the winners are many prominent names, including three Nobel Prize Winners.

For more information on the Volvo Environment Prize go to
www.environment-prize.com

 

 

Green Home Building Video News

Here is your green building video for June 13, 2008 from iGreenBuild.com.Eco-Realty has arrived on the east end of Long Island, New York! In this video you'll learn about a builder who is refurbishing a 9,000-square foot home with just about every "green" upgrade possible and the property's realtor hopes to sell the home for upwards of $15 million. Regardless of what your green home budget is, this clip will give you and your architect some great design and product ideas.

Timing is everything and this issue is no exception. Don't miss our Sr. Editor Jerry Yudelson's latest book "Choosing Green, The Homebuyer's Guide to Good Green Homes." This is a first of it's kind.

Greenhouse Gas Bill Could Raise Prices to $8 per Gallon

WASHINGTON (June 2, 2008) – Legislation requiring a reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases is set for debate in the U.S. Senate today. The economic cost of such a proposal is expected to be at the center of the discussion. Some say the legislation would raise gas prices to $8 a gallon and home electricity costs by 150 percent.

 

            “This disastrous bill would raise energy costs and, thus, rob the poor of what little disposable income they have,” Burnett said. “In the end, the public is clamoring for lower, not higher fuel prices. “The response from the Senate is not to increase domestic production, but instead to raise the costs of gasoline and electricity.”

 

            If the greenhouse gas legislation passes, the National Association of Manufacturers says Texas, Florida and Georgia could be among the hardest-hit states because of their current energy sources and their size. The group says the economic hit to Texas alone could force companies to cut as many as 335,000 jobs to pay for added costs.

 

            “The Democratic leadership should have to defend its push to raise energy prices to fight global warming,” said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. “Despite the continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions, the earth hasn’t warmed in ten years and some studies say the temperatures could even decline. How can proponents fight warming when there is no warming going on?”

 

 

Editor’s Note: H. Sterling Burnett is available for interviews regarding global warming and the Senate bill. Please contact Phil Roth at 972-308-6481 to arrange an interview.

 

The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute with offices in Dallas and Washington, D. C. that advocates private solutions to public policy problems. We depend on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share our mission. The NCPA accepts no government grants.

EPA Limits Uses of Toxic Rat Poisons: Children, Birds and Other Wildlife to Benefit

(Washington, D.C., May 29, 2008) EPA today announced a landmark decision to control sales and use of rat poisons throughout the United States. The decision is aimed at protecting children from accidental exposure and to protect wildlife from exposure in most situations.

 

“This is an important victory for child safety, and for birds like eagles and hawks,” said Dr. Michael Fry, Director of American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) Pesticides and Birds Program. “Wildlife poisonings have occurred in the past with birds of prey scavenging on dead rodents they find in open areas, and EPA hopes that restricting the sale of the more toxic poisons only to pest control operators and livestock ranchers will effectively reduce the exposure to birds of prey.”

 

The most toxic rat poisons will be removed from the consumer market and replaced with less toxic alternatives, which have been shown to be equally effective in controlling rodent populations in cities and farm settings.  The products which will be allowed for sale to consumers “over-the-counter” will be required to be sold in bait stations to prevent accidental poisoning of children.  Pest control operators and livestock ranchers will still be able to purchase the more toxic “second-generation” rodenticides for use only in areas where the products will not be accessible to children.

 

“Consumers need to find out if they have these hazardous products in their homes and to properly dispose of them immediately,” said Michael Parr, Vice President of American Bird Conservancy. “EPA’s finding that these substances present a major risk to children and wildlife needs to be a call to action for parents and land managers across the U.S.”

 

American Bird Conservancy and other conservation groups have been pressuring the EPA for years to address the threats to wildlife and human health posed by rat poisons. In 1998, the EPA initiated a special review that has led to today’s mitigation plan.

 

The final decision is not as strong as the proposed mitigation plan presented in January 2007, because the second generation products are not being labeled “restricted use”, but will still be available through farm supply stores to ranchers.  EPA’s draft mitigation plan called for changing the label status of all second generation products (brodifacoum, bromodialone, difethialone and difenicoum) to restricted use only, with sales only to licensed pest control operators.

 

American Bird Conservancy believes the final decision will be very helpful in reducing the exposure to birds of prey and mammalian scavengers in suburban areas where they may come in contact with poisoned rodents. 

 

“We remain concerned that wildlife will still be exposed to the most toxic rat poisons around poultry ranches and feed lots, where unlicensed ranchers will still be able to use the most toxic rat poisons,” said Dr. Fry. “The potential for exposure of urban wildlife, such as hawks in city parks, will remain high, because pest control operators will still be able to use the most toxic rat poisons in pellet form in areas where children will not come in contact with the poisons.”

 

Because of budget cuts and overall decreased funding for monitoring programs, the EPA will not have a monitoring program to evaluate the effectiveness of their final decision. 

 

“It is unfortunate that that the Agency will not be able to effectively evaluate the success of their new regulations, because reporting requirements for poisoning incidents are currently ineffective,” said Dr. Fry.

 

Manufacturers will have 90 days to agree to comply with the new regulations or to voluntarily agree to cancel the registration of the product and remove it from the market.  Manufacturers will have 18 months to provide new bait station packaging and test results of package safety to the EPA and EPA will provide an approval decision within one year. This means registrants must agree to the above conditions by September 4, 2008, and have testing and packaging applications submitted by December 4, 2009.  The final decision allows distribution and sale of current products until June 4, 2011.

 

More information is available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/rodenticides/finalriskdecision.htm

Los Angeles County Lifeguards go "Green" With Ford Escape Hybrids

LOS ANGELES, May 23, 2008 – Ford Motor Company is teaming up with the Los Angeles County Lifeguards, a division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, to help save lives while protecting the environment. Today, Ford presented the squad with the first 10 of a fleet of 45 eco-friendly Escape Hybrids with Intelligent four-wheel-drive, specially equipped for use on rescue patrol along 72 miles of Southern California coastline.

“We are the largest lifeguard organization in the world, and we have always blazed the trail for the profession,” said Mike Frazer, chief, Lifeguard Services, Los Angeles County Fire Department. “We wanted to be the first public safety agency in the country to go green.”

 

“This continues the Escape Hybrid's impressive string of endorsements,” said Hal Dewsnap, California regional sales manager for Ford Motor Company. “In addition to being clean and fuel-efficient, the Escape Hybrid is highly functional and durable, proven in hundreds of thousands of miles in taxi service in New York and San Francisco. Now, we are adding lifeguard duty to the list.”

 

There is no better vehicle for that assignment than the world’s most fuel-efficient SUV. The front-wheel-drive Ford Escape Hybrid returns 34 mpg in city driving and 30 mpg on the highway. Intelligent four-wheel-drive models, like the ones used by the lifeguards, return 29 mpg city and 27 highway.

 

“The Escape Hybrid is one of the cleanest vehicles available today,” added Freeman Thomas, Ford Design Director whose studio developed the design of the Lifeguard vehicles. “It meets California's strict Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) standard. To put it in a California summer context, it releases fewer smog-forming emissions into the atmosphere during a three-hour drive (about 180 miles) than grilling one hamburger in your back yard.”

 

Frazer says he knew that the Escape Hybrid was an ideal choice from an environmental standpoint, but he admits to having some initial reservations about whether an SUV would function as well on the beach as the compact pickup trucks the lifeguards were used to driving.

 

“The switch from a pickup to an SUV was something new to us, but when Ford brought the Escape Hybrid down to the beach, we were amazed at how well it performed,” he said, adding that he was particularly surprised by the vehicle’s ability to navigate through the sand without getting stuck.

 

With the Escape Hybrid, Frazer says he was also able to make more precise turns, enjoy extra headroom (he’s 6’5”) and gain greater visibility, which is a huge safety plus on the beach. 

 

“We need to be able to see as much as possible because there’s so much activity on the beach, especially in the summertime,” he said. “When we’re responding to a rescue, we want to get there quickly and safely.”

 

Shortly after that initial field test, a team of designers from Ford’s Irvine studio visited the beach to do a little “guerrilla research,” says Ford designer Jeff Nield.

 

“These people save lives, so this was not just an exercise in styling,” said Nield. “We wanted to design features for them that are functional and could potentially save them valuable time in an emergency situation.”

 

Careful inspection of the previous trucks the lifeguards were using revealed various makeshift storage areas for critical equipment.

 

“What happened in the past is that different lifeguards would set vehicles up differently, so if you worked at one beach and then got called in a crisis to another location, you would have to search to find the emergency tools you needed because the storage area was not standardized,” he said. 

 

The Ford designers decided to remove 60 percent of the rear seat on the driver’s side and replace it with a rescue equipment storage unit – an aluminum box with specially designated spaces for important emergency equipment, such as defibrillators, trauma boxes and oxygen tanks.

 

The remaining 40 percent of the seat was left intact in case the lifeguards had to transport someone, such as a lost child. 

 

According to Ford Design Project Manager, Greg Hutting, the lifeguards’ multiple radios also presented the design team with a challenge.

 

“In the previous vehicle, they had three or four different radios pushed wherever they had room,” he said. “We pulled out the center console and replaced it with a radio rack that keeps all of their equipment lined up and organized.”

 

Ford designers also outfitted the Escape Hybrids with a custom-fit roof rack for the lifeguards’ paddle board and spine board, and easy-to-clean rubber floor mats and cargo liners.

 

When it came to the exterior, Nield says it was important to make the vehicle look “fresh but not trendy.”  The vehicles were painted a vibrant yellow – iconic for lifeguards – and then detailed with authoritative graphics and finished off with dark wheels.

 

“We really pushed to make the vehicle look as rugged as possible,” said Nield. 

 

Frazer says he couldn’t be more pleased. “The vehicles look amazing, they perform great and they are hybrids, so they are good for the environment,” he said. “It’s a win, win, win situation for us.

 

It’s also a win for Ford Motor Company.

 

“The lifeguards are going to be pushing these vehicles to the limit, and they need the best vehicle to get the job done,” added Nield. “They had choices, and they chose the Ford Escape Hybrid.”

 

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About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 244,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Mazda, and until completion of their sale, Jaguar and Land Rover.  The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

 

Annual Event Improves DuPage River Quality

Volunteer Sign-Up Through May 30^th for The Conservation Foundation’s River Sweep on June 7

 

NAPERVILLE, ILL. (May 23, 2008) – What do a sofa, a wheel chair, golf clubs and a car battery have in common? Each is part of the 180 tons of garbage removed from the DuPage River since the 1991 launch of the annual River Sweep, sponsored by The Conservation Foundation, Waste Management and the DuPage County Storm Water Management Division. Volunteers are being sought for this year’s event, to be held Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to noon. 

 

River Sweep volunteers are needed at multiple locations along the river and its associated streams, tributaries and detention ponds in DuPage County as well as in Bolingbrook and Plainfield in Will County. “Tools of the trade,” including garbage bags, work gloves and trash pokers, will be provided. Water for volunteers is donated by Ice Mountain, and a light snack will be available.

 

Among the other items removed from DuPage River waterways since the River Sweep began in 1991: Folding chairs, shopping carts, sofas, a Barbie Jeep, trash cans, a gas pump, carpeting, plastic sleds, bicycles, a cement chute, tires, chain link fencing, computers and thousands of cans, bottles and plastic bags. The amount of garbage removed from the DuPage River at the River Sweep peaked at more than 20 tons at the 1995 event, and has declined to a low of six tons in 2007.

 

“Citizens in DuPage County are becoming increasingly aware of the damage that can be created when our valuable resources are not taken care of properly,” says Brook McDonald, president and CEO of The Conservation Foundation. “As a result, each year less garbage makes its way to our waterways.”

 

The River Sweep is the ultimate win-win-win, McDonald reports. Since the event kick-off 17 years ago, 7,300 volunteers have participated as individuals, families and groups in a positive community service activity that likewise provides beneficial outdoor exercise. The quality of waterways improves, reducing flooding potential. And at the same time, fish and other wildlife in DuPage River waterways benefit from the removal of hazards.

 

The DuPage River Sweep is supported by American Rivers, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant. Marketing support is received from WEVR-FM 95.9, “The River.” 

 

To register by May 30, volunteers should contact the community liaison representatives at the desired individual clean-up location. Walk-in volunteers will not be turned away the morning of the event, and can contact community liaisons for exact locations.

 

2008 DuPage River Sweep Community Liaisons:

Addison: Ron Remus, 630-620-2020

Carol Stream: Jim Knudsen, 630-871-6220

Bloomingdale: Ed Reidy, 630-529-3650, Ext. 25

Bolingbrook: Alice Eastman, 630-783-6570

Lisle: Mary Lou Kalsted, 630-271-4107

Lombard: Dave Gorman, 630-620-5765

Plainfield: Jonathan Proulx, 815-609-6139

Villa Park: Jan and Ellen Stortz, 630-832-4876

Warrenville: Jim Kleinwachter 630-553-0687, Ext. 302

Wheaton: Phil Landrum, 630-653-4588 

 

For additional River Sweep 2008 information, visit www.theconservationfoundation.org or contact Sue George via email at sgeorge@theconservationfoundation.org or by phone at 630-428-4500, Ext. 22. 

 

The Conservation Foundation is a nonprofit land and watershed protection organization. Established in 1972 by business and community leaders, the Foundation is dedicated to preserving open space and natural lands, protecting rivers and watersheds, and promoting stewardship of the environment in northeast Illinois. Working closely with citizens, elected officials, developers, land use planners, park district and forest preserves, the Foundation has contributed to the protection of more than 30,000 acres of open space lands in northeast Illinois. The Conservation Foundation has more than 4,500 donors and members, and is headquartered at the 60-acre McDonald Farm in Naperville, Ill. A program office is located at the historic Dickson-Murst Farm in Montgomery, Ill. For additional information about The Conservation Foundation, including its programs and services, visit www.theconservationfoundation.org or call 630-428-4500