The American Forest & Paper Assoc.

THE AMERICAN FOREST & PAPER ASSOC. (AF & PA), Washington, D.C., USA has recognized several individuals with its 2005 Wildlife Stewardship Awards, which were presented at the Sustainable Forestry Initiative[R] (SFI) Annual Conference in Portland, Maine on September 21, 2005.

* The Industry Cooperator Award was given to the Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) for its contribution to the Swallow-tailed Kite Project. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to wildlife stewardship in managed private forests or a SFI program participant's forest and has advanced the practice of sustainable forestry. Largely due to the efforts of Dr. Ken Meyer, ARCI's research ecologist and co-director, ARCI has constructed a scientific and social framework to encourage the Swallow-tailed Kite's successful reproduction within private forestlands. In cooperation with Plum Creek Timber Company and International Paper, Meyer and ARCI have developed programs focused on discovery, research, and protection of the Kite.

* Two 2005 Wildlife Stewardship Award for an individual were given. Each recognizes an individual employed by an AF & PA member company who has primary responsibility for a program or project in wildlife or fisheries management.

-- One was given to Dr. Sharon Haines, director of sustainable forestry and forest policy at International Paper Co. (IP). At IP, Haines is directly responsible for wildlife policy, program implementation, and sustainable forestry stewardship across the company's broad landscape of forestlands.

-- The other was awarded to Doyle Gill, senior resource supervisor at Potlatch Corp. Gill has dedicated more than 20 years of his career to the conservation of the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) on Potlatch lands.

* For excellence in logger training, landowner outreach, and program recruitment, the Mississippi SFI Implementation Committee (Mississippi SIC) was acknowledged for outstanding work by the SIC in implementing the SFI program, receiving AF & PA's seventh annual SIC award.

* The 2005 Forest Management Award went to Hancock Timber Resource Group (HTRG), King County, Washington for its Snoqualmie Forest Development Rights Sale project in King County, a collaborative effort between HTRG and the Cascade Land Conservancy. In December 2004, HTRG sold the development rights of 90,000 acres of the Snoqualmie Forest, located on the Puget Sound in King County, to the county, thus eliminating any threat of residential or commercial development on this land.