DuPont donates 16,000 acres to the Conservation Fund

DuPont has announced that it is donating approximately 16,000 acres of land immediately adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia to the Conservation Fund. The donation is the largest in the history of the DuPont Land Legacy program, which since 1994 has placed nearly 18,000 other acres of company land into permanently protected status.

DuPont acquired the land in 1991 and 1996 with the intent to mine titanium ore in an environmentally sound manner from the site. In light of public concerns about the project, DuPont announced in 1997 that it would defer activities related to the proposed surface mining operation and explore options for the property. DuPont established a collaborative process core group of local community officials; local NGOs; landowners; mining, tourism and wood fiber interests; elected officials and Native Americans. In 1999 the group recommended a "no mining" option for the land.