EARTH DAY & New Leaf paper: Mission in action

April 22, 2020

Happy Earth Day, America!

For more than two decades New Leaf Paper has turned the waste our country creates into the paper America wants for a more sustainable future. Along the way we have saved millions of trees from unnecessary harvest. 

Our company values of authenticity and environmental leadership are reflected in our active partnership with one of our nation’s most historic places—Gettysburg, Pa., —site of a pivotal battle during the American Civil War and today a place for reflection and reconciliation.

The Gettysburg Nature Alliance, a nonprofit formed in 2017, focuses on the relationship between habitat and heritage and educates about Gettysburg and our collective natural and historic resources.

The alliance aims to strengthen invaluable connections between education, environment and enterprise for societal benefit—and wants to ensure that its community—embracing its habitat and its heritage, is sustainable and prosperous for years to come.

For all of its historic significance (“heritage”), Gettysburg also is home to an impactful and relevant natural environment (“habitat”). So many natural resources affected the battle—the weather, the geology, the water and its availability. We often think of our heritage in terms of major events in our lives, but we sometimes fail to remember that through everything, our habitat played a vital role. Without the planet, without our home, our heritage could not continue to evolve.

New Leaf Paper realizes the significance of the link between habitat and heritage and is proud to call the Gettysburg Nature Alliance a partner and help it carry out key initiatives beyond 2020. Those initiatives include:

• A partnership with the American Chestnut Foundation that includes a learning orchard near the historic Sachs Bridge site in Gettysburg. The bridge existed during the Battle of Gettysburg and spans March Creek, part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Alliance will work with the Chestnut Foundation to expand educational offerings for students and the general public.

• A learning barn, also at the Sachs Bridge site, which will allow for educational programs and public education about environmental issues that span both habitat and heritage.

• A partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation that includes using the Sachs Bridge educational site for its own student and teacher programs.

•  Operating the Gettysburg Heritage Center in historic downtown Gettysburg, which provides a physical destination for visitors and offers access to habitat and heritage programming.

Founded on a model of marrying education and enterprise for the good of the community, the Nature Alliance is committed to working with additional national, regional and local partners, like the Strawberry Hill Foundation, the American Battlefield Trust, Gettysburg’s Licensed Battlefield Guides, universities, and school systems.

The Nature Alliance’s compelling combination of habitat and heritage outreach and education  will help the community and its thousands of visitors experience and learn about our environment (no matter where they may live!) in a setting like no other. New Leaf Paper is proud to be a partner.

Happy Earth Day.