Unlikely Partners: Corporate Properties and Biodiversity

• Author: Marcia Maslonek
• Pages: 457-468

Chapter 27

Unlikely Partners: Corporate

Properties and Biodiversity

by Marcia Maslonek

I. Introduction

In order to protect biodiversity on a large scale, corporate and other private

landowners need to be involved with conservation measures in a voluntary

and proactive manner. In many cases, biodiversity can and must exist along-

side active use. The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) is a nonprofit organi-

zation dedicated to enhancing habitat on corporate and other private lands

with over 100 members such as BP,The Dow Chemical Company, and Ford

Motor Company. WHC works with sites to encourage stewardship of both

active and inactive properties through volunteer-driven efforts. Employee

involvement also serves as an educational tool for the concept of biodi-

versity and empowers individuals to practice environmental stewardship

within their own lives and communities. In this chapter, three corporate pro-

grams that address biodiversity through land management will be intro-

duced: Unimin Corporation’s Tamms/Elco Plant, BP’s Cooper River Plant,

and PPG Industries, Inc.’s Monroeville Technical Center.

II. Background on Corporate Biodiversity Programs

Over 25% of land in the United States is owned by corporations.1With so

much land owned by industry,who is addressing conservation on these prop-

erties? Mitigation and laws account for some degree of protection, but the

approach of voluntary conservation efforts by these landowners is not often

considered a high priority.WHC addresses this void by exclusively working

with corporations and their employees to assist them in habitat enhancement

efforts in a voluntary and proactive manner. Created in 1988, WHC helps

companies manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner

for the benefit of wildlife.

457

1. U.S. Department of the Interior,20 Endangered Species Bull. 24 (1995).