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CEO says health of forest vital to L-P Industry backs Conservancy principles By PAUL FATTIG The goals of timber corporations and the conservation community are not in conflict, the head of the Louisiana Pacific Corp. told nearly 100 people gathered for breakfast Wednesday in Medford. "There is no organization that has more at stake to have a healthy ecosystem," said Mark Suwyn, chief executive officer of the Portland-based company, one of the largest timber firms in the nation. "We think it's absolutely important that we have people to work with to preserve and grow and improve the health of our natural resources," he added. "Otherwise, quite frankly, at some point in time, we're out of business." But Suwyn wasn't referring to environmental activists like the self-described radical Earth First! group that had protested many timber harvests on public lands during the early 1990s. Rather, he was referring to The Nature Conservancy. Suwyn's audience had gathered to learn how the nonprofit Conservancy works with corporations to achieve its conservation goals. He is a member of the board of trustees. The Conservancy, which has worked to protect sites like the Table Rocks and the Agate Desert in the Rogue Valley, has 82 corporate members in Oregon and 1,500 nationally. The conservation group came to the region some 20 years ago to help protect lower Table Rock, explained Darren Borgias, ecologist for the group in Southern Oregon. "We were drawn here by community members who wanted our help in protecting this site from a proposal to develop lower Table Rock for home sites," he said. "Now it is one of the premier sites in Southern Oregon for people to enjoy a relaxing recreation hike, but also to engage in environmental education." The Conservancy works in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management at the Table Rocks, he said. The Agate Desert Preserve, with its unique vernal pools, was donated by Don Deardorff, former owner-CEO of FourPly Lumber Co. in Grants Pass, he noted. The mission of the group is simply to conserve biological resources, said Dan Heagerty, chairman of the board of trustees. The organization takes a scientific approach to identify sites that need to be preserved, then works to purchase those sites for preservation, he said. The organization, which has 27,000 members in Oregon, has purchased 50 tracts in the state thus far. "Our success has been primarily because of private money," he said. "I think we have strong membership because we put our money where our mouth is." Suwyn, who previously worked for International Paper, encouraged other corporations to become involved. "We think it's good business for corporations to invest their time, energy and money in the Conservancy," Suwyn said. "The reason is that part of the attraction of Oregon -- and today the competition for people (employees) is intense -- is the fact this is a great place to live. We have great outdoor areas that need to be preserved even while we're growing." Working with the Conservancy, which offers expertise to companies, can avoid years of legal wrangling as well as leave a positive legacy for companies, Suwyn said. The firm has about 4,500 acres in Texas and Louisiana which are managed by The Nature Conservancy. The sites are unique areas within the firm's one-million-acre holdings in the two states. "We have a memorandum of understanding with the Conservancy in which they provide the expertise to tell us what we need to do to protect those areas," he said. "Our agreement is to preserve those areas into perpetuity." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA