Kathy McGlauflin (PLT Sr. VP of Education), Rachel Bayer (PLT Director of Programs) and James McGirt (PLT GreenSchools Program Manager) enjoyed the opportunity to attend the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) Conservation Conference in Baltimore, MD on November 2 – 3, 2016.  The conference hosted more than 375 attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors for two full days of learning, networking, and celebrating in which 22 WHC awards, which recognize excellence in corporate conservation, were given. General Motors and CEMEX both received  the top awards.

The Wildlife Habitat Council partners with corporations, their employees, fellow conservation organizations, government agencies and community members to recognize and encourage wildlife habitat projects for conservation, education and recreation. PLT is proud to collaborate with WHC and of our shared pursuit of encouraging wildlife habitat projects that achieve conservation and environmental education goals while promoting environmental literacy and stewardship.

PLT directly engaged a broad array of attendees including Dr. Alex Ireland, Scientific Associate of Environmental Sciences at Exxon Mobil, who presented a conference keynote session highlighting the findings from a three-year analysis synthesizing the cumulative benefits of corporate conservation. This study revealed promising metrics that lay the groundwork for a bright future for increasing corporate sustainability.  PLT hopes to play a pivotal role in making this bright future a reality. PLT’s participation in this year’s conference represents a concerted and joint effort by both PLT and WHC to engage PLT in playing a more prominent role in advancing the education work done on the hundreds of conservation programs happening on corporate lands. PLT, just as WHC, believes that every act of conservation matters and contributes to the collective positive outcome for the environment, which PLT supports on school grounds through our GreenWorks! and GreenSchools programs.

We look forward to furthering our work to bring Environmental Education to youth, schools, communities, and corporations by supporting the efforts of the Wildlife Habitat Council!

By James Riley McGirt

Manger of PLT GreenSchools Program &

Co-Moderator NAAEE eePro GreenSchools