Of the approximately 384,000 acres of land AEP owns, more than 275,000 acres is encumbered with leases, cooperative agreements and other licenses. We use our land to locate power plants, office buildings, substations, transmission and distribution lines, coal fields and river access. Some of this land is near or next to areas rich in biodiversity, such as wetlands, forests and national parks. We lease another 35,000 acres for farming or other purposes that also impact biodiversity and ecosystems.

One of our goals for 2011 is to implement wildlife management plans in a portion of our leases. Designed to protect and enhance biodiversity on our land, these plans might include establishing foot plots for wildlife or conducting timber stand improvement work on our forested property. A requirement in our recreation and hunting lease agreements, these plans will impact more than 2,500 acres across sfour states in 2011.

Our strategy for preserving and enhancing biodiversity begins with understanding our current impacts. We are consequently evaluating biodiversity as part of the environmental management system at power plants. We are also seeking opportunities to enhance biodiversity through integrated vegetation management for our transmission rights-of-way (ROW) while conforming to land management practices dictated by laws and regulations and concerns for energy reliability.

“Ecosystem services” is a term that refers to the concept that people receive “services” from healthy, functioning ecosystems. For example, products such as clean drinking water and processes such as flood control through wetlands and the decomposition of wastes are beneficial “services” that are provided by the environment that benefit people. The pollination of trees and crops, sequestration of GHGs and recreational opportunities are other examples.

The electric power industry may also benefit from these ecosystem services, but we do not fully understand what services we rely on, what services our operations may impact or the economic consequences if those services were no longer provided by nature. AEP is working with the Electric Power Research Institute and other research organizations to help us understand the role of the electric power industry in using and protecting ecosystem services.

Approximately 63,149 acres of land owned by AEP are adjacent to protected areas of high biodiversity, such as wetlands, national parks, wildlife refuges or areas that support threatened or endangered species.