4/5/07

Environmental leaders pledge historic partnership to ‘Go Zero’
By Brian Jarvis

BRIAN JARVIS/Manning Times

Laurence Manning Academy seniors Anna Bleasdale and Jonjon Belote plant their first tree with the help of DNR director John Frampton.

So simple and yet so profound.

The world may have wreaked havoc on the environment during the last three centuries thanks to pollution and urban sprawl, but the means to restore it is oft the same time-tested method that’s survived countless millennia: planting trees.

With the still waters of Lake Marion providing the backdrop, leaders from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Conservation Fund converged at the Santee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Friday to sign a national agreement geared to restore wildlife habitats and offset carbon emissions.

“Our challenge is huge and our challenge is now,” said Conservation Fund president Larry Selzer. “We agree that we have a crisis, but it’s a crisis of creativity. We must create new forms of conservation capital based on collaboration, not confrontation. It’s exciting to be here making a difference on the two most important environmental issues we face – land conservation and climate change.”

“No matter what your position is on global warming, science says that it’s happening, and not just in Alaska,” added FWS director Dale Hall. “The challenge is how we deal with it and figuring out how our lands will be part of the solution.”

The partnership, known as “Go Zero,” aims to plant an abundance of native trees in refuges throughout the United States that will absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Though the tree plantings are local, the effects are global.

Pointing out that million of acres of forestland are lost to developers every year with side effects that include contaminating the water supply and threatening at-risk species, officials said the Go Zero program was based on the idea that economic development and environmental conservation can peacefully co-exist.

“This is a unique cooperation and we’re excited that Governor Sanford asked us to assist him in this effort,” said John Frampton, director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. “We believe this is God’s country. Our history is embedded in hunting and fishing, and we take great pride in our natural resources that bring people to South Carolina.”

For Santee NWR manager Marc Epstein, embattled between personnel cutbacks and a lack of funding, the news came as a Godsend.

“We’ve had to tighten our belts,” Epstein said. “But I want the community to know that we’re here, to support our purpose and to understand that a refuge isn’t a state park. And I want us to grow and change with the community.”

Under the program, about 25 acres of native forest habitat will be restored at Santee NWR. Established in 1941, the refuge protects more than 15,000 acres of water, forest, marshes and wetlands.

Taking time to single out a handful of students from the Laurence Manning Academy Environmental Science Club, Hall told them the future was in their hands and encouraged them to experience nature in person.

“Too many kids thinking watching the Discovery Channel is nature, but it’s not,” he said. “I want you to feel it, taste it, get out and experience it.”

After helping plant a half-dozen longleaf pines near the Visitor’s Center, students said the event was well worth a trip out of the classroom.

“It was fun and educational,” said LMA senior Jonjon Belote. “It was the first time we’ve done anything like this.”

Anyone interested in becoming a friend of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge should call 478-2217 or contact George Summers at 478-2645.