Marias des Cygnes earns Gold status

PLEASANTON -- The Conservation Fund, in partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Environmental Synergy, Inc., announced Monday that its forest-based carbon sequestration project near Kansas City received Gold validation, the highest level available under the standards of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance.

The Conservation Fund, founded in 1985, is the first group in the nation to receive two Gold validations from the CCB for carbon projects, according to a statement from The Conservation Fund.

Supported by donations from Go Zero, the Fund's voluntary carbon offset program, the group restored 776 acres of native oak and hickory trees at the 7,500-acre Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge in June 2008. More than 234,000 oak, hickory and pecan trees were planted at the refuge as part of a joint effort hosted by numerous corporations. The trees were planted by ESI and are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As the forest matures, it is expected to trap an estimated 260,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to taking about 47,000 cars off the road, according to Jena Meredith, the director of The Conservation Fund's Go Zero program.

The restored forest will also create new habitat for wildlife and public recreation areas for wildlife viewing and hunting. The Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge is one of only four sites in the nation, and the only site in Kansas, to receive the Gold level validation, Meredith said.

Located 70 miles south of Kansas City along the border of Kansas and Missouri, much of the land at the Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge was too degraded after decades of farming to support habitat for wildlife. Now that the forest is restored, it will be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for migratory birds including the yellow-breasted chat and indigo bunting, and will be open to the public for wildlife-dependent recreational uses, the statement from the organization said.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proud to partner with The Conservation Fund, ESI and others to achieve this milestone in habitat restoration and carbon sequestration," said Stephen Guertin, director of the USFWS Mountain-Prairie Region, which includes Kansas and the Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge. "By participating in the Go Zero program, the service is able to advance important habitat goals on units of the National Wildlife Refuge System and actively address climate impacts through sequestration on refuge lands."

Meredith added, "Go Zero donors are providing critical, private capital that will help address two of the most extraordinary environmental challenges of our time; climate change and habitat loss. The CCB Gold validation ensures these donations result in real, measurable results to help address climate change and restore important wildlife habitat on behalf of the National Wildlife Refuge System and the American people."

The Conservation Fund's Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge Restoration Initiative was validated by Scientific Certification Systems under its SCS Greenhouse Gas Verification Program. It is the second project that the SCS has validated for The Conservation Fund, the statement from the organization said.

Established in 2005, Go Zero helps counter-balance carbon emissions by planting trees in parks and wildlife refuges to capture and store carbon, while also restoring habitats that are critical to wildlife. Since 1985, The Conservation Fund has helped protect more than six million acres, sustained wild havens, working lands and vibrant communities, according to www.conservationfund.org.

In the last 10 years, ESI has planted more than 24 million trees on 81,000 acres in the U.S., which are expected to remove about 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to www.environmental-synergy.com.

The Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to restore and conserve bottomland hardwood forest. It is located along a transition zone that changes from southern hardwood forest to tallgrass prairie. Today, the refuge supports a mix of wetlands, bottomland and upland forest and tallgrass prairie habitats.