For more than a century, the teddy bear has occupied a special place in homes, hearts and cultures across the globe. It goes without saying that the majority of us have had at least one – okay, maybe two – teddy bears in our lives.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that due to 24 years of dedicated recovery efforts by a broad array of partners, the Louisiana black bear — the inspiration for the teddy bear — will be removed from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. For everyone involved in conservation, not to mention the millions of Americans who treasure their natural resources and teddy bears, this is a monumental achievement.
Louisiana black bear cub. Photo by U.S.F.W.S.
Rooted In History and Collaboration
As many of you know, the history of the teddy bear dates back to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. During a now-famous hunting trip to Mississippi in 1902, the president refused to shoot a Louisiana black bear that a hunting partner had tied to a tree, deeming the move “unsportsmanlike.” The decision by Roosevelt, an avid hunter, was catalogued by a political cartoonist for the Washington Post and led to a New York candy shop owner creating the first of the legendary stuffed animals (“Teddy’s Bear”) for sale to his customers. The rest, well, ingrained in our nation’s history – and personal memories.
President Theodore Roosevelt. Photo courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt Center.
Fast-forward to present day and a broad-based coalition that includes some of America’s leading businesses and their customers, The Conservation Fund and its partners has protected approximately 160,000 acres that can be utilized by the Louisiana black bear since 1985. In part this has been made possible through its Business Partnerships program which works with private companies and their customers restore thousands of acres with millions of trees.
“The successful delisting of the Louisiana black bear is a result of hard work by many partners," said Cindy Dohner, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Regional Director. "And The Conservation Fund and its business partners contributed to the recovery of the Louisiana black bear through their innovative Business Partnerships program. To date, the Fund has helped the Service restore more than 25,000 acres across North Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley with 10 million trees including more than one million trees at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. Much of that restored habitat is valuable to the Louisiana black bear now and will continue to get better in the future as the bear's populations expand."
The Conservation Fund partners have planted more than one million trees at Upper Ouachita NWR. Photo by U.F.W.S.
More than 100 companies, including Dell, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Land Rover Portland, MaCher, Munchery, The Philadelphia Eagles, The North Face and U-Haul support The Conservation Fund's efforts to restore forests on behalf of the USFWS in the lower Mississippi River Valley, along with two million customers.
"The North Face is happy our decade of support and 35,000 trees in the region have helped achieve this result — truly worthy of celebration," said James Rogers, Sustainability Manager, The North Face.
It Takes a Village to Protect America’s Forests
Protecting and restoring America’s forests are central to the Fund’s core mission. As they become fragmented, their ability to filter our water and remove CO2 from the air is compromised and there is less space for wildlife like bears to live and migrate. Forests filter more than half of our drinking water. They also serve as nature’s sponges by slowing and cleaning floodwaters which protect communities downstream.
Today, the Fund’s forest restoration projects focus on restoring native forestlands—mostly on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—that were deforested before 1990. Five of our reforestation projects have been validated at the gold level under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards—no other group in the nation has as many.
The delisting of the Louisiana black bear, in particular, is proof that inviting customers to join in fulfilling a shared purpose is not only good for business, but it can help create real and lasting impact for the environment too. As Secretary Jewell noted in her announcement, “President Roosevelt would have really enjoyed why we are gathered here today.”
The following companies, universities and associations have contributed to protecting and restoring forests for the Louisiana black bear, supporting conservation and restoration efforts at Ouachita, Catahoula, Red River, Holt Collier, Catahoula, Grand Cote and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuges, as well as other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuges up and down the Mississippi:
Accenture Supply Chain Academy, American Electric Power, Afterglow Cosmetics, Americas Lodging Investment Summit, AOL Time Warner, Aspen Skiing Company, Associated Students of San Diego State University, Bear Naked, Bella Figura Letterpress Invitations, Boss, BVK, C & S Wholesale Grocers, Cambridge Systematics, Carfax, Cbox, City of Austin, Conde Nast Publications, Creative Artists Agency, CSX Corporation, Dell, Delta Air Lines, Disney's Animal Kingdom, DTE Energy, Earth Share, Emkay, Entergy, Florida Center for Environmental Studies, Freshwater Institute, Gaiam, Geller Graphics, Green Kitchenware, Gregg Drilling & Testing, Indianapolis Colts, Khronos, Kohlberg Foundation, Kumon University, Land Rover Las Vegas, Land Rover Portland, Lee County Board of County Commissioners, Lexus, L'Oreal USA, MaCher, MacroPlate, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, Michigan International Speedway, Midea Group, Molinaro Koger, Momentum Group, Munchery, National Association of Counties, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Areas Association, NBC Universal, New Jersey Natural Gas, Organic, Outdoor Product Association, Philadelphia Eagles, Pictorial Offset Corporation, PRA Destination Management, Premiere TV, Sabre Holdings, SEAT Planners, Sesco Lighting, Shawnee Peak at Pleasant Mountain, Southern Accents, State Street Corporation, Susquehanna Business Development, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Ted Gibson Salon, TerraCarbon, The Grupe Company, The Home Depot, The North Face, The Timberland Company, Training Resources Group, TransWorld Oil, Travelocity, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U-Haul International, University of Delaware, Vulcan, Wiedenbach-Brown, William McDonough & Partners, WMB Architects, World Class Charters, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Zion & Zion.
