The Conservation Fund Launches East Texas Field Office

August 17, 2007

Contact: Kathryn Brown, 703.525.6300

Nacogdoches, Texas - The Conservation Fund, a national conservation organization, has opened a new East Texas field office in Nacogdoches. The group works with local, state and federal partners to conserve land for public use. Together with its partners, the Fund has protected over 55,000 acres of land in East Texas since 2003, much of it located along the Neches River.

Julie Shackelford, The Conservation Fund’s Texas Programs Director, runs the new office. She has worked in the Fund’s Texas State office in Austin since 2003.

Andy Jones, the Fund's Texas Director, noted that in the last several years, over three million acres of commercial Texas forestlands have been sold. "This sell-off is rapidly changing the forest and economic landscape of East Texas,'' Jones said. ''The Conservation Fund is committed to working with its partners to protect properties with strategic conservation value.”

Last year, The Conservation Fund launched the Texas Pineywoods Experience – one of the nation’s most ambitious land conservation and economic development initiatives – to help Pineywoods communities move towards a new, asset-based economy. The Texas Pineywoods Experience brings local and regional partners together to find economic development solutions that support the protection and enhancement of the region’s historic, cultural and ecological assets.

“Our East Texas office gives us the ability to respond even more quickly to conservation opportunities as they arise and to support the Texas Pineywoods Experience,” added Shackelford.

The Conservation Fund’s new office is housed at the Forest Resources Institute of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus at 2900 Raguet Street, Nacogdoches, TX 75962, telephone number (936) 468-5490.

About The Conservation Fund

The Conservation Fund is the nation's foremost environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting America's land and water legacy for current and future generations. Seeking innovative conservation solutions for the 21st century, the Fund works to integrate economic and environmental goals. Since its founding in 1985, the Fund has helped its partners safeguard wildlife habitat, working landscapes, community “greenspace” and historic sites totaling more than 6 million acres. With 1% fundraising costs and 97% program allocation, The Conservation Fund is recognized as the nation's top-rated environmental nonprofit by both the American Institute of Philanthropy and Charity Navigator.

http://www.conservationfund.org