NORTHWOODS STEWARDSHIP CENTER RECEIVES $4,000 PLUM CREEK FOUNDATION GRANT FOR PERCY PEAKS TRAIL RESTORATION PROJECT

FAIRFIELD, Maine--Feb. 2, 2009--The NorthWoods Stewardship Center was recently awarded a $4,000 grant from the Plum Creek Foundation to help fund restoration work by the NorthWoods Conservation Corps on Percy Peaks Trail in the Nash Stream Forest of northern New Hampshire.

The NorthWoods Conservation Corps, which is a natural resource education, training and employment program for young people ages 14 to 20, will work to restore the Percy Peaks Trail to improve safety and reduce environmental damage. The trail is a popular hiking trail north of White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.  The steep trail climbs between the Peaks’ two granite domes and is highly eroded in several places.

“We are grateful for the generous support from the Plum Creek Foundation for helping with this restoration project,” said Luke O’Brien, education director for NorthWoods Stewardship Center. “This grant will help provide job training, employment and environmental awareness to local youth, while at the same time enhancing the region’s wildlife, river and trail resources.”

NorthWoods Stewardship Center was founded in 1989 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality scientific, education and conservation service programs in northeastern Vermont.  The mission of NorthWoods is to foster long-term stewardship of human and natural communities, which is achieved through the integration of five program areas – land management, conservation science, education, outdoor recreation and conservation service.  These programs reach 85 percent of the schools in the region, employ 60 youth in more than 12,000 hours of conservation service work each summer, provide ecological monitoring and research in the region’s forests and watersheds, and teach landowners how to employ more sustainable forest management practices.

The mission of the Plum Creek Foundation is to provide philanthropic contributions to support and improve the general welfare of life in the communities that Plum Creek serves.  The Foundation board meets quarterly to review applications submitted from organizations in the company’s operating communities.  Visit the Community Involvement page on Plum Creek’s Web site at www.plumcreek.com to download an application.

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Plum Creek Timber Company is one of the largest private timberland owners in the nation, with more than 7 million acres of timberlands in major timber-producing regions of the United States and 10 wood products manufacturing facilities in the Northwest.  More information about the company can be found at www.plumcreek.com.