Walmart Pledges One Acre for Every Acre Developed

Small ImageWalmart joined with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2005 to help preserve our nation’s most precious lands and natural resources. That program, Acres for America, has succeeded far beyond its early goals—and, in the process, has become a model of successful cooperation between the corporate and the environmental communities.

Acres for America started with a pledge: to protect one acre of conservation land for every acre occupied by Walmart’s U.S. facilities. That promise reflected a company-wide dedication to sustainability and stewardship of our natural resources. With an initial $35 million commitment, Walmart expected to enroll an estimated 138,000 acres in the program by 2015. But by the end of 2010, it had far surpassed that benchmark, conserving more than 625,000 acres and connecting more than 6.7 million protected acres—an area larger than Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Through Acres for America, Walmart is permanently protecting lands that:

  • Provide access for people to enjoy the outdoors,
  • Conserve critical habitats for birds, fish, plants and wildlife,
  • Connect existing protected lands to unify wild places and protect migration routes, and
  • Ensure the future of rural economies that depend on forestry, ranching and recreation.