WEST VIRGINIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION RECEIVES $5,000 PLUM CREEK FOUNDATION GRANT

LEWISBURG, W. Va.--January 12, 2010--The West Virginia Forestry Association was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the Plum Creek Foundation to fund the West Virginia Conservation Education Council’s hands-on teachers’ workshop.

The workshop is a two-day program designed to provide West Virginia school teachers and other educators with an opportunity to experience the state’s natural resources with hands-on activities.  Such activities include presentations by foresters and other natural resource professionals, a tour of an Oriented Strand Board facility, a field trip to nearby Plum Creek property to observe various management practices and more.  The Plum Creek Foundation grant will be used to cover the costs of hiring substitute teachers for the participating teachers, as well as van rental and lunch costs.

“Educators, like many of West Virginia’s citizens, have become more and more detached from the land and have limited knowledge and understanding of natural resource management,” said Cinda Francis, West Virginia Sustainable Forestry Initiative forester.  “The workshop helps educators teach the next generation about natural resources and how to deal with the complex environmental issues of the future, and we are grateful to the Plum Creek Foundation for funding this program.”

The West Virginia Forestry Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the West Virginia forestry community by encouraging sustainable forest management practices and conducting educational programs that provide the public with a better understanding and awareness of the dynamics and economic importance of the forests of West Virginia.

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 is the largest and most geographically diverse private landowner in the nation with approximately 7 million acres of timberlands in major timber producing regions of the United States and wood products manufacturing facilities in the Northwest.  For more information about Plum Creek in Maine, visit www.plumcreek.com/maine.