Apple and The Conservation Fund advance forest protection efforts

Apple today announced important progress in its efforts to protect working forests in the United States. The company, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, is donating the conservation easement across more than 32,400 acres of working forest in the US — the Reed Forest in Maine — to the Forest Society of Maine. Apple is also supporting the Fund’s donation of an endowment to the Forest Society of Maine, which will ensure that the easement can be monitored and enforced for centuries to come.

Apple recognizes forests are a tremendous natural resource, and is committed to minimizing its impact by sourcing paper responsibly and using it as efficiently as possible. The company is working to protect and create enough responsibly managed forests around the world to cover all its packaging needs and produce fiber for generations. In 2015, Apple launched a partnership with The Conservation Fund to protect 36,000 acres of sustainable forest in the Eastern United States through the use of conservation easements, which help ensure the working forests remain forests. Apple is also partnering with World Wildlife Fund in China to transition up to one million acres of forest into responsible management by 2020.

The conservation easement ensures forests at Reed won’t be developed or converted to other uses, and helps promote economical and ecologically-sustainable production of fiber and other wood products. The easement also guarantees recreational activities in the forests, and requires forest harvest plans to address water quality, native fish and wildlife habitat, soil productivity, recreational values, scenic benefits, an enduring forest and other conservation values.

Located along the Mattawamkeag River in Aroostook County, Reed Forest connects more than a million acres of conserved lands and interconnected forest habit that extend beyond the US border into Canada. Maine’s forests provide important habitat for species such as the Atlantic salmon, bald eagle, northern goshawk and Canada lynx.