This summer of devastating wildfire has left many areas vulnerable to further damage. The aftermath of erosion, runoff, and flooding can cause more harm to fish and wildlife habitat than the fire. Acting as quickly as possible, the conservation group American Forests has joined forces with retailer Eddie Bauer to create a fund that will aid communities in restoring damaged forests.
For many years Eddie Bauer has encouraged its customers to add a dollar to their merchandise totals, which the company in turn uses for planting trees. The retailer has committed $1 million from its “Add a dollar, Plant a tree,” program to the Wildfire ReLeaf fund. The first replanting took place in Los Alamos, NM, where a nonprofit community group planted more than 4,000 trees purchased by the fund. Six more sites recently hit by wildfires will receive a total of 281,000 new trees by the end of 2001.
Associated Press
