Prepared Remarks of Interior Secretary Gale Norton

Thank you, Max. (Max Chapman, Chairman, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation)

I am glad to see partners like the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation here today.

When he took office four years ago, President Bush endorsed a vision of how America can best conserve our fish and wildlife, our forests and wetlands, and other natural resources.

This vision, called cooperative conservation, is rooted in the idea that effective conservation is not born in a government office building. It is born in the hearts of a people who live on, work on, and love the land and its wildlife. In fact, the best thing we can do for conservation is empower local communities and work in partnership with the American people to achieve goals that government could never achieve alone.

Today, we celebrate "Acres for America," a landmark partnership that exemplifies the power of cooperative conservation. For the first time, a major U.S. corporation has committed to conserve vital wildlife habitat equal to the acreage of all its facilities.

Wal-Mart's generous contribution of $35 million over 10 years to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will ensure the permanent conservation of a minimum of 138,000 acres of wetlands, forests, and other wildlife habitat from Louisiana to Maine.

In fact, as Max mentioned, the actual amount of habitat conserved will be much greater than 138,000 acres. In Maine alone, the Foundation has already entered into agreements to conserve more than 312,000 acres of habitat.

For its part, the Foundation is working with its many partners - some of whom are represented here -- to raise at least $35 million in matching funds to support "Acres for America."
The Interior Department is the direct beneficiary of this partnership. Because of Wal-Mart and the Foundation's other partners, we will add more than 6,000 acres of newly planted forests and wetlands to Catahoula (pronounced Cat-ah-hoola) National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. The refuge provides vital wintering areas for waterfowl and other migratory birds.

We, of course, are delighted to see one of our prized refuges grow by 40 percent, but the real beneficiaries are the American people.

In fact, each of the five projects already identified for funding under "Acres for America" will help ensure future generations of Americans will be able to enjoy a land as rich and bountiful as the one we inherited.

I hope Wal-Mart's extraordinary commitment to conservation will serve as a model for other U.S. companies to enter into conservation partnerships. Certainly it helps to have the world's largest retailer and America's biggest employer at the head of the parade. I hope others will follow.
Anyone who has traveled the world would recognize that Americans are truly a blessed people. We have a beautiful land filled with natural beauty and diverse and abundant wildlife. One reason we are so blessed is that Americans have a long history of taking good care of what we have been given.

We lead the world in setting aside national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, and wild and scenic rivers. We were pioneers in protecting endangered species and we have led the way in international conservation efforts to protect imperiled animals and their habitat around the globe.

It is appropriate that Wal-Mart -- the American company that grew from a single store in Arkansas to a global retailer -- would be at the forefront of cooperative conservation.

This is the way Americans have always accomplished great things and achieved great visions - through hard work, through ingenuity, through partnership. I applaud Wal-Mart, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and all the partners who are contributing to "Acres for America."
Thank you for commitment to our land, our wildlife and our future.