A landfill that produces energy and serves as a nature preserve. Or so the news release says.
UPDATE: This note from Audubon Arkansas:
Everything you reported in your blog is accurate and I appreciate the comments from your readers. What has not been said is that the conservation project with WM is in the headwaters of Bayou Meto. Although the restoration project area is relatively small, less than 60 acres, we actually have a chance to remove sediment and erosion from a larger area before of 200+ acres before the sediment enters the Bayou through a system of restored pools, riffles, and wetlands with bottomland hardwoods, bald cypress, and tupelo. Wading birds (herons and egrets) and marshland birds (rails, sparrows) should benefit from the wetland work. The rest of the WM property, the area not actively being used for a landfill, will be managed for native grasses, thus providing habitat for grassland birds, one of the nation’s most threatened group of species. Audubon saw the project with WM as an opportunity to develop a community-based conservation project that no other state or federal entity would be able or willing to do. We have not come up with alternatives to landfills (other than recycling every piece of waste), so with that said, how do you develop a landfill in a way that can provide real wildlife habitat benefit?
Ken Smith
State Director, Audubon