Apple to invest in Maine timberland
Photo / Courtesy of The Conservation Fund
Apple is working with The Conservancy Fund to preserve Reed Forest in Aroostook County.
Image / Courtesy of The Conservation Fund
A map highlighting Reed Forest's location.
Technology giant Apple is partnering with The Conservation Fund to preserve more than 32,400 acres of timberland in Aroostook County.
The Arlington, Va.-based nonprofit announced Thursday that Apple’s “precedent-setting” investment will help preserve Reed Forest as a working forest, ensuring that it will continue to produce a steady supply of sustainably harvested timber for paper and pulp mills. The forest, also known as Reed Plantation, is located in southern Aroostook County on the Mattawamkeag River, near the border of Penobscot and Washington counties.
Apple’s level of investment into the conservation project’s is not being disclosed, but Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund, said in a prepared statement that Apple’s initiative is “precedent-setting” and that it is “clearly leading by example.”
“By all accounts, the loss of America’s working forests is one of our nation’s greatest environmental challenges,” he said.
Apple’s initiative with The Conservation Fund also includes the preservation of more than 3,600 acres of timberland in Brunswick County, N.C.
Apple’s investment will allow The Conservation Fund to purchase both forests, place conservation easements on them and then sell both forests to buyers that will adhere to sustainable forestry practices, Robin Murphy, a spokesman for The Conservation Fund, told Mainebiz. The sale proceeds are then used to invest in preserving other forests, he added.
While Apple may not source its paper from either forests in the future, Murphy said, the technology company’s investment will help neutralize the impact of its paper consumption by increasing the country’s supply of sustainable wood fiber. He said the production capacity of the two forests is equivalent to about half of the wood fiber used last year in packaging for Apple’s products, including the iPhone, iPad and over devices.
Tom Boutureira, The Conservation Fund’s Maine director, said the initiative also will help protect wildlife habitat and traditional outdoor recreation in the area, along with preserving clean water that flows from the Mattawamkeag River into the Penobscot River.
Out of the country’s more than 420 million acres of working forest, 45 million acres “are at risk of being lost to development,” according to The Conservation Fund.
“The status quo for America’s working forests is simply not acceptable,” Selzer said. “... Today’s announcement is both a turning point and blueprint for forest conservation.”
Read more
Forest products industry puts $8 billion into Maine's economy
Adding depth to ‘shallow economies’: In field of New Markets Tax Credits, CEI has found a niche
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments