Land Use and Biodiversity

In this section …

• Managing Our Company Lands for
   the Benefit of Wildlife
• Supporting Animal Rescue and
   Habitat Conservation
• Helping Protect Wildlife and Wild
   Places around the World

Our company engages in environmental stewardship, and strives to protect local and global biodiversity in the following ways:

Manage the resources surrounding our facilities to promote wildlife habitat conservation and public education
Support wildlife conservation and environmental organizations
Directly engage in animal rescue, and the preservation of endangered species and their habitat
Educate the public, through our theme parks, on issues affecting wildlife survival

Managing Our Company Lands for the Benefit of Wildlife

Anheuser-Busch has a long history of conservation and land preservation for the benefit of wildlife. In 1998, Anheuser-Busch helped found the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC). Today, many of our facilities continue to participate in the WHC’s Wildlife at Work(SM) and Corporate Lands for Learning(SM) (CLL) programs. The WHC “is a nonprofit coalition of corporations, conservation organizations and numerous individuals that help corporate landowners manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner for the benefit of wildlife.” WHC projects are corporate-driven, cooperative efforts between management, employees, community members, local conservation groups and government agencies.

Our brewery in Cartersville, Georgia, and our can plant in Rome, Georgia, achieved CLL certification in 2006, becoming the third and fourth facilities to create quality conservation education programs. The facilities now allow students to use their corporate property for the study of wildlife and ecosystems.

In 2006, the Fort Collins brewery achieved WHC certification, bringing the total number of Wildlife at Work certified sites to eight. Additionally two other facilities achieved CLL certification. The Cartersville brewery received a Wild Turkey Management Award and the Jonesboro Rice Mill received a Pollinator Friendly Practices Award. These achievements demonstrate our continued commitment to the WHC.

Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Elk Mountain Farms: WHC certified since 1998, CLL certified since 2000, have reintroduced over 11,000 pheasants to the area since 1993
Cartersville, Georgia brewery and Resource Recovery Farm: WHC certified since 2004, CLL certified 2006, has partnerships with Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resource Division, and the Georgia Forestry Commission to support the brewery's wildlife management plan
Fort Collins, Colorado brewery: WHC certified since 2006
Fort Collins, Colorado, Nutri-Turf Inc: WHC certified since 2001, identified 11 wildlife habitats onsite that can be developed and will focus on enhancing grassland area for North American pronghorn antelope
Jacksonville, Florida, Nutri-Turf Inc: WHC certified since 1997, have managed 100 acres at seven ponds for wildlife and water quality
Jonesboro, Arkansas, rice operations: WHC certified since 2001, CLL certified since 2005, create a community involved wildlife habitat program, nest boxes and wildflowers benefit birds and butterflies
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, malt plant: WHC certified since 1999, supports Peregrine falcon recovery plan with nest box, since 1990 30 baby falcons have hatched (see story below)
Rome, Georgia, can plant: WHC certified since 2002, CLL certified since 2006, constructed nesting boxes and wildflower gardens

Link:
Anheuser-Busch activities described on the WHC website

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Peregrine Falcon Nesting Site

The Manitowoc Malt Plant in Wisconsin has been WHC certified since 1999, and helps to support the efforts of the Peregrine falcon recovery plan under the Endangered Species Act. In 1990, the plant installed a nesting box on the plant’s tallest building, for the endangered Peregrine falcon. At the site falcon mating pairs have raised new chicks to help re-establish the population in the Wisconsin area. Over 30 chicks have been hatched since the box was placed. Employees have assumed the role of caring for and monitoring the nesting site.

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Kokanee Salmon Egg Introduction

Employees at Elk Mountain Farms in Idaho partnered with the Kootenai tribe to strengthen the local salmon population in 2004. Since then the team has placed 180,000 eggs in constructed beds. Each year employees and tribe members must go out in Fisher Creek and prepare the beds by placing large rocks across the creek. This forms crevices where the eggs can be placed for protection. Smaller rocks must then be placed over the openings to keep the eggs from washing away, yet still providing room for the hatchlings to leave. Each year we expect more of the surviving fish to return to the area for spawning.

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Supporting Animal Rescue and Habitat Conservation

For more than 30 years, the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks have worked to protect at-risk animals and habitats around the world. This long-standing commitment continues today. Home to more than 50,000 animals – many of which are threatened or endangered – SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove care for the largest zoological collection of animals in the world. As a reflection of this commitment, the parks also maintain the largest animal information website of any zoological organization in the world. The parks’ child-friendly site, www.swbg-ANIMALS.org, boasts more than 3,600 pages of content and 450 in-depth species profiles, ranging from killer whales to kookaburras.

As one of the world’s leading marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facilities, SeaWorld routinely assists with efforts to save wildlife around the world. In late 2006, the U.S. federal government called upon the animal experts at SeaWorld and the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute to assist with a captive care program on Midway Island aimed at saving the most endangered marine mammal found in U.S. waters – the Hawaiian monk seal. SeaWorld experts helped care for juvenile females in an effort to increase their chance of survival. The SeaWorld Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation program, with our staff of animal care experts and veterinarians on call around the clock, has rescued more than 14,000 animals over the past three decades.

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National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration

Anheuser-Busch and Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) began working together in 2002 to raise awareness for the critical issues that were facing estuarine habitat. The partnership continues to grow and in 2005 Anheuser-Busch provided funding and resources to complete five salmon habitat restoration projects in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay. Through this partnership, RAE was able to create important marine riparian habitat, re-establish an estuarine wetland and remove an invasive species of plant. In addition, the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund partnered with RAE in Tampa Bay, Florida, and Galveston Bay, Texas, to engage citizens and community as active participants in coastal and estuarine restoration.

As a sponsor of RAE’s 2006 National Conference, Anheuser-Busch along with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana hosted a marsh planting for conference participants and local volunteers. The planting was held at the City Park along Bayou St. John, which is connected to Lake Pontchartrain and part of the local estuary system.

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Green Team Helps Restore New Orleans City Park

In December 2006, more than 250 local and national volunteers served as the Budweiser Green Team to help restore New Orleans City Park. Hurricane Katrina submerged nearly 90 percent of the park under up to eight feet of water, damaging most of the grass and vegetation and toppling more than 1,000 trees.

This community-based project helped clean and restore natural habitat areas damaged in the wake of the hurricane. Volunteers planted nearly 10,000 plants on more than 5,000 feet of lakeside shoreline. Once they take root, they will help stabilize the shoreline, reduce erosion and improve fish and wildlife habitat along the Bayou.

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Marsh Restoration, Galveston, Texas

More than 25 employees from the Houston brewery, SeaWorld San Antonio and the local wholesaler partnered with Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF) on September 26, 2006, to help restore Pierce Marsh located in Galveston Bay. The volunteers rode airboats to the planting sites where they planted 19 buckets of cordgrass. The newly planted cordgrass will grow and contribute to a healthy wetland habitat.

Fairfield Brewery Sponsored Coastal Cleanup

The Fairfield Brewery in California sponsored a coastal cleanup in conjunction with the Fairfield Suisun Sewer District. The cleanup in September 2006 was part of an annual statewide event to remove trash from waterfront and creek areas. The brewery sponsored an area that included the Suisun Boat Ramp and Suisun Marsh. Over 50 participants were able to collect over 200 pounds of trash and recyclables. In the city of Fairfield, 393 volunteers covered 16 miles of waterfront and creeks, collecting 5,459 pounds of trash and 337 pounds of recyclables.

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Helping Protect Wildlife and Wild Places Around the World

From 2004 to 2006, the nonprofit SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund granted more than $2 million to 194 projects in 50 countries. In 2006, the Fund supported a fishing gear project aimed at replacing traditional J-shaped hooks with circle hooks, which reduced sea turtle bycatch by as much as 90 percent. From rescuing rhinos in Zimbabwe to saving sea turtles in the Pacific, the Fund focuses its support in four core areas — species research, habitat protection, animal rescue and conservation education.

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