Monday, January 12

Together Green

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and their New Year has started off in the right direction.

I received an interesting e-mail a few days ago that I wanted to share with you. I'll give you a little background and for more information visit the websites at Together Green, Audubon and Toyota.

Audubon and Toyota launched a five-year TogetherGreen initiative in spring, 2008 to fund conservation projects, train environmental leaders, and offer volunteer and individual action opportunities that significantly benefit the environment.

Funding totaling $1.4 million was recently awarded to innovative conservation projects nationwide. The TogetherGreen initiative and grants programs are funded by a $20 million Toyota gift to Audubon, the largest in the conservation group's long history.

A Clemson, South Carolina Wildlife Ecology Professor, Joseph Drew Lanham, is the recipient of a new national fellowship designed to advance the work of individuals with outstanding potential to help shape a brighter environmental future. Dr. Lanham is one of only 40 people selected for competitors nationwide for the TogetherGreen Conservation Leadershp Program, part of a new conservation initiative of the National Audubon Society, with support from Toyota.

Fellows receive specialized training in conservation planning and execution, the chance to work and share best practices with gifted conservation professionals, and assistance with project outreach and evaluation. Each Fellow will also receive $10,000 towards a community-focused project to engage local residents in conserving land, water and energy, and contributing to greater environmental health.

For his fellowship, Dr. Lanham will contact, educate and provide technical support for African-American rural landowners across South Carolina, learning firsthand how a significant but underserved population of potential conservationists values and manages their property.

In a project called “The Color of the Land”, he will provide technical assistance and record the stories of the unique relationships people of color have to the land. Lanham will also help to develop strategies for implementing sustainable timber and wildlife management practices. His ultimate goal is to introduce African-American landowners to sustainable means of natural resources management that will help them improve soil, water and wildlife resources on their properties and ultimately those “downstream.”

The efforts of the Fellows will aid people and wildlife around 39 cities in 24 different states—a full list can be viewed at TogetherGreen.

The health of our environment and the quality of our future is important to me. Hope it is to you as well.

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