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USA - 2006
Partnership Serves as Recipe for Success in Land Conservation
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A US$240,000 grant from Alcoa Foundation is the main ingredient in a collaborative effort to use scientific research to address critical issues on restoring and maintaining natural habitats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California specifically and land conservancies in general.
The Research, Education, and Community Involvement Program for the Environment (RECIPE) is a partnership between Alcoa and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which is located a few miles from the company's Torrance, California, facility near Los Angeles.
"There has been a lot of land preserved around the country and in California, but not enough has been done to understand how to take care of this land once we preserve it," said Barbara Dye, executive director of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. "This grant is allowing us to study the obligation of a land trust to care for the land and to then share what we've learned with other land trusts around the world."
Under the grant, a new science director is building collaborative relationships between high school students, undergraduate and graduate college students, and established scientists to conduct research on the peninsula. For example, a high school student is currently working with a researcher from the University of California Los Angeles to study plant growth and carbon dioxide uptake in an effort to see how this impacts the climate. Two doctoral candidates are working on different aspects of grassland restoration. Other projects focus on mapping the peninsula's restoration and interpreting its geology for visitors.
The conservancy has also received US$50,000 over two years from Alcoa Foundation to fund an environmental education program aimed at third grade students, and Alcoa employees have volunteered to help with restoration efforts on the peninsula.
"I believe the trend for the future is pooling resources among government agencies, corporations, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and others to identify the environmental issues and work together to address them," said Bob Ford, director of development for the conservancy. "Alcoa is a forward-thinking partner who is leading the charge from the corporate sector."
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