ATLANTA – Southern Company and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation today announced that seven additional grants have been awarded to conservation and natural resource agencies through the Power of Flight and Longleaf Legacy partnership programs.

“When you look at the results of conservation projects across our service territory, it’s clear that the funds contributed by Southern Company and our partners have made a significant and lasting impact on helping restore bird populations and their habitat,” said Chris Hobson, Southern Company senior vice president of Research and Environmental Affairs.  “We look forward to watching future projects unfold that will continue to conserve a part of the South that’s special to Southern Company and our operating companies.”

Since 2002, Southern Company and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have contributed more than $3.3 million through 55 grants to the Power of Flight and Longleaf Legacy programs.  In addition, grant recipients have contributed nearly $5 million in matching funds, resulting in an on-the-ground conservation impact of more than $8.2 million since the program’s inception four years ago.

“I’m especially pleased that Southern Company is joining in the effort to help recover the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and its longleaf pine habitat,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.  “Southern Company’s funding is a much needed boost to accelerate recovery efforts by creating and restoring the red-cockaded’s longleaf habitat.  And the beauty of this program is that dozens of other declining species will also benefit from longleaf restoration.” 

The Power of Flight program is the largest public/private funding effort for bird conservation in the South.  Grants in the Power of Flight program were awarded to:

• National Wild Turkey Federation – To restore 3,000 acres of longleaf pine and wiregrass habitat on Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to make it more attractive to red-cockaded woodpeckers, Bachman’s sparrows, Northern bobwhite, and other native species. The project aims to increase the Eglin population of red-cockaded woodpeckers from 275 to 350 breeding pairs and achieve status as a recovery population.

• MississippiState University– To continue gathering natural historical information on marsh birds such as least bittern, purple gallinule, and king, clapper, and black rails. Little is known about these species along the Gulf Coast, and this project will provide critical data needed to develop management and conservation plans to ensure the continued long-term protection of these species.

• Audubon Mississippi – To facilitate an integrated bird conservation plan for Mississippi. Audubon will focus on coordinating federal, state, university, and non-profit partners to work in concert to conserve beach nesting birds, colonial water birds, and bottomland hardwood forest birds. An education component will engage up to 2,000 schoolchildren in the state.

• Georgia Wildlife Federation – To complete a three-year program to expand the popular Schoolyard Habitats Program by initiating training workshops for teachers throughout Georgia, with the ultimate goal of establishing a habitat in every elementary school. One new feature this year will be to create a training facility at the Federation’s headquarters.

• Francis M. Weson Audubon Society – To develop a standards-based bird conservation curriculum for urban elementary students and their teachers in Escambia County near Pensacola, Fla. The program, which will include classroom instruction and field trips, will be delivered to 100 percent of the second- and fifth-grade students in 10 area schools.

The Longleaf Legacy program is focused on restoring the South’s signature longleaf pine ecosystem to conserve biological diversity and sequester carbon.  The following two organizations were awarded Longleaf Legacy grants:

• LeonCounty Parks & Recreation Division – To restore 38 acres to longleaf and wiregrass in Leon County in the Florida panhandle.  This restored habitat will be used as an educational tool for Master Wildlife Volunteers and for public school programs. 

• The Nature Conservancy, Florida – To restore 577 acres of longleaf on the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in the panhandle.  This 10-year restoration, funded by Southern Company and subsidiary Gulf Power Company, complements longleaf restoration efforts on the nearby Apalachicola National Forest and Torreya State Park, and contributes to the one million-acre conservation corridor that extends from the Georgia border to the Gulf of Mexico.

Visit www.southerncompany.com/planetpower to view fact sheets on the Power of Flight and Longleaf Legacy programs or to see a complete listing of awards granted.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a non-profit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Foundation awarded over 8,000 grants to more than 2,600 organizations in the United States and abroad and has leveraged – with its partners – more than $350 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a total of more than $1 billion in funding for conservation. The Foundation is recognized by Charity Navigator with a 3-star rating for efficiency and effectiveness.  Ninety-two cents of every dollar contributed to the Foundation is directed to on-the-ground conservation projects, with five cents supporting management and administration of the Foundation’s multi-million dollar grants program and three cents funding partnership development and fundraising.  For more information, visit www.nfwf.org.

With 4.3 million customers and more than 40,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast, one of America’s fastest-growing regions. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications.  Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are significantly below the national average.  Southern Company has been ranked the nation's top electric utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index six years in a row. Visit our Web site at www.southerncompany.com.

 

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