Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, recently decided it wanted to do something about urban sprawl. The corporation announced last week that it was contributing $6 million toward a project to conserve more than 300,000 acres in Washington County. A gift of this size must be deeply appreciated, and there’s an additional parcel that really could use support.

The addition is in Penobscot County – right in Bangor, in fact. It’s an important wetland fed by the Penjajawoc Stream and is one of the largest and most diverse wetlands in Maine. Near the mall, it serves both an ecological function and acts as a buffer to restrict sprawl – a key motivation of the conservation program, according to the company’s chief executive officer. There already has been one major attempt to develop this valuable property. Support to protect it by a company that is already demonstrating its generosity in the less-populated parts of Maine would show impressive leadership.

OK, sure, that major attempt at development there was on behalf of a Wal-Mart Supercenter that couldn’t pass muster at the state Board of Environmental Protection, which rejected the company’s offer of a conservation easement in the marsh as inadequate. And, yes, things did get a bit testy at times and those who experienced that fight from the conservation side are probably thinking this latest program from Wal-Mart is ironic or something. Very 20th century. In the 21st, let’s call it synergy.

It just so happens that a local group trying to balance development and marsh protection has suggested that a conservation fund be set up to buy property and easements near the marsh. Opportunity beckons.

Under the Acres for America program, Wal-Mart plans to buy 138,000 acres, as much land as the company projects its American stores, parking lots and supply centers will occupy in 10 years. “It helps demonstrate that economic growth and development can go hand in hand with conservation,” company spokeswoman Sarah Clark said.

In Bangor, the company has an opportunity to demonstrate that development and conservation can go hand in hand in the same vicinity.