ALPHARETTA, Ga., — Neenah Paper (NYSE: NP) today announced that it has partnered with Friends of the Osa and the Naturalย Resources Foundation of Wisconsin to help reforest a conservation property inย Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, one of the most biologically diverse regions inย the world.
With Neenah’s support and contributions, the reforestation project will removeย carbon from the atmosphere, protect and restore viable plant and animalย habitats, create a new habitat for endangered wildlife and restore landย degraded by deforestation.
“Partnering with Friends of the Osa and the Natural Resources Foundation ofย Wisconsin is exciting because together we will have a direct impact not onlyย on the Costa Rican rainforest, but on some of the world’s threatened andย endangered species,” said Rodger Ferguson, director of environmental servicesย at Neenah Paper.
Added David Clutter, director of the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsinย Wisconservation Corps and Lands Programs, “The Osa Project is another exampleย of how government, foundations and private industry can work together to beย good stewards of the land, water and wildlife that is quickly vanishing.”
The conservation property, an extensive 1,500 acres in the southeasternย portion of the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, is located in Costa Rica’s Osaย Peninsula. It harbors the last remaining old growth rainforest on the westernย flank of Central America and is one of the most biologically diverse regions
in the world. Sandwiched between encroaching development and deforested land,ย the Osa Peninsula is widely acknowledged as a global conservation priority byย conservation organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and Conservationย International.
“Neenah Paper has a long history of contributing to conservation projects,”ย explained Ferguson. “The Osa Project was particularly appealing because it isย the migratory home of 54 native Wisconsin species of birds, 18 of which areย state conservation priorities and three of which are listed as threatened.
Wisconsin is home to our fine papers mills and is a large part of Neenahย Paper’s heritage. It just makes sense to be one of the founding partners inย this project.”
The Osa project is not the first project that Neenah has partnered on with theย Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. Its conservation initiativesย include helping to fund Wisconservation Corps, a Natural Resources Foundationย of Wisconsin AmeriCorps program that helps train young conservation
professionals responsible for managing state natural areas that are home toย endangered and threatened plants and animals. Neenah also works with theย Wisconservation Corps to help conserve the Chiwaukee Prairie State Naturalย Area, one of the most biologically diverse prairie systems in the upperย Midwest and home to more than 400 species of plants.
For more information on the company’s sustainability initiatives, visit theย Neenah Green Website for more information.