Int’l Paper and The Conservation Fund Now Accepting Nominations for Annual Environmental Awards

Last year’s 2006 Conservation Partnership Award went to Keith Kirkland, executive director of the Wolf River Conservancy. For more than 20 years, Kirkland has been a volunteer, employee and leader in the conservancy dedicated to protecting and enhancing the land and waters along Tennessee’s Wolf River. Since his appointment as executive director in 2003, Kirkland has raised $12.5 million to support the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ Wolf River Restoration Project. By bringing together leading companies, nonprofits, elected officials and state and local governments, he has led the protection of 17,000 acres of forest and wetland within the Wolf River floodplain. Kirkland’s efforts also helped to establish the Ghost River State Natural Area. All told, this protected landscape serves as a recharge area for the region’s aquifer, safeguarding drinking water for one of the state’s fastest growing areas and habitat for threatened and endangered species