Tag Archive for: wetlands

AstraZeneca | Engaging Employees to Conserve the Wetlands

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Eleven miles east of Boston, Massachusetts lies AstraZeneca’s Waltham site. This facility not only houses pharmaceutical research and development labs, but it’s also the home of the Boston BioHub, an incubator where healthcare start-ups can receive mentoring and support.  

Conservation work at the site originally began in 2008 as part of a mandated wetlands replacement project. The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act required that the team install buffer zones and maintain the site to preserve the water quality of the neighboring Cambridge Reservoir. However, the AstraZeneca Waltham project team has gone above and beyond these requirements through their use of a Biodiversity Action Plan, the development of living shorelines along the wetlands and the addition of wildflowers and an apiary. 

Ultimately, the project team’s goal is to protect and enrich the 10 hectares of wetlands surrounding the Waltham site to boost biodiversity, protect wetland-dependent wildlife and maintain water quality to benefit nearby bodies of water such as the Cambridge Reservoir. The team employs what they call a ‘natural approach to conservation,’ which means they’ve managed the wetland habitat to the point where it essentially maintains itself, while employees continue to protect it from any adverse impacts of the site and monitor the health of the ecosystem. 

Maintenance practices reflect this natural approach. AstraZeneca uses an eco-friendly lawn maintenance schedule that allows the grass to grow longer in certain areas, providing key habitat for bees, butterflies and birds. Dead trees are left in place as snags to provide shelter and feeding sites for birds and mammals. When the facility was expanded in 2008, a walking bridge was constructed to connect the new building to the existing one, ensuring that the wetland was not disrupted. By 2009, the facility was in compliance with the required regulations and has continued their maintenance routine since. 

Employees at AstraZeneca Waltham are very involved in learning about and helping to monitor the habitat. “Employee engagement and site vibrancy is a key pillar in our business,” said Ginena Harkins, Director of Safety, Health & Environment at AstaZeneca. “We strive to provide our employees with the skills and knowledge to do their part in showcasing the biodiversity on-site.”  

In 2021, the project team held a lunch-and-learn event to teach employees about biodiversity and the role of the wetland. The session also included best practices for wildlife photography. Armed with this knowledge, employees were then encouraged to walk the trails, take photos of wildlife and submit them to the project team. The species in these pictures are then identified and used as documentation. To incentivize employee participation, winning photos are chosen and displayed in the main building.  

To help employees in this monitoring process, the company provided backpacks full of gear like binoculars, field guides and bug spray. By installing walking bridges and trails, AstraZeneca ensured that employees can safely explore the area without disturbing the habitat. The site is made up of nine different habitat zones including a deciduous woodland, a vernal pond, a long-grass meadow and a brook, with interpretive signage describing each type of habitat as well as the plants and wildlife found there. 

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the site was limited to essential personnel only, the project team shifted their employee engagement tactics. “We had to pivot our thinking to focus on the ways that our employees could consider enhancing biodiversity in their own homes by hosting virtual lunch and learns with master gardeners to provide insights on local plant life that would attract insect and animal species to their homes,” said Harkins. Now that the site is open to staff again, incentives like the photography contest helped employees re-engage in the project.  

During the past two years, employees have identified more than 65 animal species and 77 plant species at the site. Especially throughout the pandemic, employees have expressed an appreciation for the green space, which gives them an opportunity to relax and get to know the wildlife around them. “We frequently host nature walks that get our employees out of the building to become immersed in our expansive walking trails,” Harkins said. She explained that this initiative not only gets employees involved in the conservation program, but it also benefits their overall health and well-being by giving them an opportunity to get out into nature. 

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Aerial photo of the Paulinia site with people gathered outside.

Solvay | Restoring the Forest and Educating the Community

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Solvay’s Paulínia site, located just outside São Paulo, Brazil, sits on 16 million square meters of land, with the industrial area covering about 15% of this site. The industrial complex is Solvay’s largest site in Latin America, with close to 30 factories producing solvents, silica, polyamide intermediates and more. This site is nestled in the Atlantic Forest biome, alongside two rivers and a variety of native flora and fauna that the Paulínia team is focused on preserving.

Rain and deforestation eroded the banks along the neighboring Anhumas River and left the riparian forest in need of restoration. Starting in 2013, the site team worked to recover six areas along the river by allowing native vegetation to repopulate and mitigating soil erosion with a hexagonal mesh structure called a reno mattress. The team has also worked to restore the surrounding forest by going beyond governmental regulations. Through the planting and management of 34,000 seedlings, the reforestation team plans to have restoration completed in 15 years instead of the legally mandated 20. In addition, they are planting only native trees, as opposed to the 50% native species mandated by law.

Because of the sheer size of the site, completing a species inventory initially proved challenging.

“We applied a sampling approach and counted with the help of our employees,” explained Senior Sustainability and Innovation Manager Ronia Oisiovici. “We are a chemical company, so we were surprised that one of our colleagues was a biologist. He helped us a lot with the identification of the species.” By relying on the knowledge of colleagues, the team was able to catalogue 83 species of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and reptiles, including several endangered species like the maned wolf and mountain lion.

But habitat and species conservation are not the only areas of focus at Paulínia — community involvement and education are also key components. Started in 1995, the Open Doors project provides opportunities for over 1,200 students, employees and community members per year to learn about conservation, sustainability and the native species that live around them. Through tours of the industrial plant and the surrounding habitats, Open Doors participants learn about the biochemical work done at the plant as well as the wildlife that inhabit the area – with capybara sightings often a spontaneous part of the tour. In addition to the lectures and tours, Paulínia staff hold an Environment Day event each June that aims to educate young people about conservation through fun activities like games, painting and tree plantings.

Students also get involved at the Paulínia site through the Inovar program, a mentorship and training opportunity for students at two nearby public schools. Students work on low-cost projects like waste treatment, disposable menstrual pads, phytoremediation and more under the guidance and supervision of Solvay employees. These connections help students learn not only about sustainability strategies but also about professional practices. In fact, some students who participated in the program have even gone on to intern at Solvay.

While their projects span a variety of habitats and goals, the Solvay Paulínia team sees them as intertwined.

“Having organized all the projects and conservation activities under the umbrella of a well-structured Conservation Program allowed us to understand more about the important interconnection among the projects, to communicate better and to engage more our employees on our conservation journey,” said Oisiovici. “Thinking about big conservation projects is good,” she went on, “but small conservation actions are always very welcomed. The most important thing is to start positively acting for nature conservation. Once you start, you will have the opportunity to learn, to improve and to be able to have a greater conservation impact. This is a journey, not a project.”

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Ontario Power Generation | Crossing the Fence Line to Drive Regional Conservation Action

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The expansion of conservation activities on a site can take many forms. While growth often entails adding new projects or increasing the area of an existing habitat, companies that look beyond their fence lines to support other local conservation efforts can amplify their own impact while forging invaluable partnerships and building environmental resilience.  

The Ontario Power Generation (OPG) facility in Wesleyville, Ontario (60 miles east of Toronto) sits on 1,200 acres of agricultural and pasture lands, as well as forested areas and provincially significant wetlands. Wesleyville Creek, one of the highest-quality coldwater streams in the region, flows across the property, draining into Lake Ontario. For over twenty years, these natural areas have hosted an extensive conservation program that has allowed OPG to strengthen its relationship with neighboring landowners and support local scientific research.  

OPG Wesleyville’s conservation work began in 1997 with an environmental survey that identified two opportunities for OPG to increase on-site biodiversity: reforestation and restoration of the lower reaches of the Wesleyville Stream to support brook trout and other native fish, which face threats such as predation by sea lampreys and the warming of coldwater streams from climate change and deforestation.  

In response to these findings, starting in 1998, employees planted native trees (including pine, spruce, ash, cedar, maple and oak varieties), resulting in over 40,000 seedlings planted on the property over the decades. Additionally, Wesleyville employees began work on a multi-phase stream restoration project, the first step of which entailed clearing out excessive sediment and removing beaver dams that were confining the creek’s brook trout population to areas with limited food and few places to spawn.  

Over time, OPG employees, with assistance of contractors and local conservation authorities, have removed in-stream culverts for greater trout mobility, planted willows to provide shade and moderate the creek’s temperature and, with the help of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, installed a barrier that prevents invasive sea lampreys from entering the creek. Monitoring data collected by the local Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority (GRCA) indicates that brook trout spawning activity is increasing, sea lampreys are being effectively controlled and the creek’s water quality has remained high.  

Since implementing these initial projects, OPG has continued to grow its conservation efforts. In 2009, 16 nest boxes for cavity-nesting birds like tree swallows and bluebirds were installed. Routine monitoring conducted later that year revealed a pair of young ospreys nesting atop a utility pole. When the ospreys flew south at the end of the year, employees removed wires from the pole and installed a more stable nesting platform. Today, the site features 57 nest boxes, about 95% of which are used by birds each breeding season, and ospreys have fledged nearly every year. Both ospreys and songbirds can find food in the restored forest, and within the site’s two barrier beach marshlands, which OPG fenced off and began to monitor in 2011. 

In addition to managing these on-site projects, OPG has driven conservation action on neighboring properties, which also contain portions of Wesleyville Creek. In 2017, OPG and adjacent landowners partnered in a cost- and data-sharing program that has resulted in uniform creek management practices across the sites, and installation of 20 nest boxes on neighboring lands.  

Ashley Fox, Environmental Advisor at OPG, recommends other conservation teams emulate these efforts. “Collaboration with neighbors has helped OPG’s efforts extend beyond its borders. Considering the benefits of landowner partnerships, it’s worth exploring what your neighbors are already doing. From there, you can discuss opportunities to reduce each company’s workload, share scientific information and stay informed about local changes.”  

Moving forward, OPG and its neighbors intend to work with the Nature Conservancy and the GRCA to control the use of ATVs and dirt bikes near the creek, as these recreational vehicles can destroy spawning sites and increase erosion along the banks.  

In addition to sharing monitoring data with its neighbors, OPG and its partners have made valuable contributions to local research. Every year, grasses and other material from bluebird and tree swallow nests are provided to the Royal Ontario Museum in support of research on cavity-nesting birds, and monitoring data on these species is sent to the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society, who integrates the information into its spring newsletter. Data collected in the wetlands is used by Environment and Climate Change Canada (a federal agency) as baseline information in studies on biodiversity and climate change’s impact on wetlands.  

Ashley says that these opportunities for collaboration have been critical to the Wesleyville program’s success. “The most rewarding part of our work has been two-fold: meeting new and enthusiastic citizen scientists, and collaborating with our community and professional partners to complete work that has a measurable impact on the local ecosystem. The success of the Wesleyville program is due to the incredible team effort made by a variety of employees and the commitment of OPG’s neighbors and community partners.”  

With its robust partnerships and commitment to maintaining healthy habitats on- and off-site, the OPG Wesleyville program has thrived for decades, and its employees and partners are primed to serve as regional conservation leaders in the years to come.   

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Chemours Washington Works | Decades of Conservation, Driven by Partnerships and Ambition

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From wavering employee interest to budget constraints, conservation programs can face many challenges as years go by. Forming the right partnerships and continually taking small steps toward big goals are, in these cases, keys to program longevity.  

Chemours operates a plant within Washington Works, a large plastics manufacturing facility shared with DuPont and Kuraray located outside Parkersburg, WV. Since 1988, employees and retirees from the three companies (known as the Washington Works Nature’s Environmental Support Team, or WW-NEST), have worked to support wildlife on company grounds through conservation and habitat enhancement projects across the 1,950-acre site. Four years later, the team achieved WHC Conservation Certification® for their efforts, and in the same year began to construct a trail system.  

Today, the Washington Works conservation program is Certified Gold and the trails serve as a venue for extensive environmental education and community outreach work that benefits both the company and the wide array of visitors that explore, study and volunteer time on-site. The Washington Works Nature Trails are open to the public and transect the site’s 65 acres of hardwood forest (which feature over 40 native tree species, including oak, maple and ash varieties), 18 acres of meadowland, a pond and a constructed vernal wetland.  

Chemours employees make up the largest share of WW-NEST volunteers and a retired technical fellow from Chemours, Dave Johnson, currently oversees the program. Dave began working with WW-NEST about 10 years into the team’s history, when they were focused on habitat conservation and enhancement. He explains that once these natural areas began to thrive, “It was clear that we could do more if we could engage the public in the outdoors. Seeing people walking the trails with their family or dogs in tow, avid birders and photographers at work, and classes on field trips inspires the WW-Nest Team to continue their efforts and to dream big.”  

While many community members explore the trails independently, WW-NEST also offers structured programming for local students and youth groups. The first field trip conducted at the site was for a local church’s reading camp. A Chemours employee who volunteered with the camp suggested that the children travel on-site to identify and research wildlife by using reference guides, providing participants with a hands-on, interdisciplinary way to exercise their reading skills. The event was well-received, and the church now returns each summer.  

WW-NEST soon expanded their offerings to local schools, who can either partake in docent-led field trips or develop their own lesson plans. Each year* about 180 first graders travel the trails to participate in activities like leaf collection, insect lifecycle lessons, and snake and frog observation; local high school students visit the site to conduct transect monitoring, GIS mapping, tree identification and water testing. Dave cites these field trips as one of WW-NEST’s greatest achievements, explaining that, “Developing partnerships with local teachers and schools has taken quite the effort, but the payback in seeing students’ enjoyment and engagement makes it worth the effort.” He adds that WW-NEST volunteers are typically eager to serve as field trip docents.   

While organizing volunteers for habitat construction and maintenance activities has been more challenging, the team has been able to accomplish these tasks through partnerships with local Scout troops. Cub and BSA Scouts regularly contribute to habitat enhancement tasks, including planting American holly trees and constructing bird and bat boxes.  

Since 2004, 10 Eagle Scout candidates have also completed their required service projects at Washington Works. Each of these projects, which are selected by individual Scouts after they learn about WW-NEST’s needs, have increased the accessibility of the site — information kiosks, bridges and benches have been added to public areas, and two Scouts reconstructed trails to make them wheelchair accessible through the use of compacted gravel. Dave says that “Getting involved with Scouting, particularly with Eagle Scout projects, has been a win-win for both parties. The Scouts provide planning, manpower and partial funding and WW-NEST collaborates on the planning and provides additional funding to achieve projects that would normally be beyond the scope that a Scout could achieve on his own.”  

Dave reflects that each addition to the program is “a step toward fulfilling the WW-NEST’s dreams.” Ultimately, the team would like to construct a classroom building and other educational facilities for school groups to utilize year-round. As a first step they hope to soon construct a shelter area for school groups so that field trips can proceed in inclement weather.  

He encourages other teams to likewise set lofty goals. “Don’t limit what you can do to what you think you can do,” he says, “and don’t prejudge what you will be allowed to do before you make the case for doing it.” WW-NEST was able to secure routine corporate funding for their program after demonstrating what they had accomplished using proceeds from site-level contributions. He also reinforces the importance of partnerships, stating that WW-NEST’s “partnerships with Scouting and schools allow achievements greater than what could be achieved through employee volunteer efforts alone.”  

Through this combination of ambition, strategy and collaboration, WW-NEST’s efforts have been sustained for over three decades and are primed to keep thriving.  

*Community engagement figures derived from 2018 (pre-pandemic) Certification application  

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Stellantis | Partners and Employees Create Habitat for Wetland Birds, Pollinators and More

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The Stellantis US Headquarters and Technology Center, also known as the Auburn Hills Complex sits on a 550-acres corporate campus in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It serves as the North American headquarters for Stellantis, as well as its main research and development facility. The campus buildings and test track are surrounded by natural wetlands, stormwater ponds, upland and floodplain forest and landscaped areas.

Located in the wetlands is a heron rookery, where over 25 pairs of great blue herons have nested since 2006. Stellantis works to limit human disturbance of the nesting birds, as this might cause them to abandon their nests. Efforts are also taken to control and filter stormwater runoff that might enter the wetlands to protect water quality for the herons and their prey. The wetlands are also the location of a recently-installed wood duck nest box, as well as a beaver dam.

There are numerous pollinator gardens, including one that is a certified Monarch Waystation installed near one of the ponds. Stellantis also partnered with the on-campus First Nations Resource Group to install a garden near the main cafeteria that features culturally-important plants such as the three sisters (corn, beans and squash) and medicinal herbs.

Partnerships with local conservation organizations and schools help make this program as successful as it is. One of Stellantis’ strongest partnerships is with Avondale High School. Avondale students have participated in multiple projects over the years: they helped plant one of the pollinator gardens, they constructed bat houses, they built insect hotels (along with students from another school, Bowers Academy). The students also participated in a competition about reducing carbon, with the best projects presented at that year’s Earth Day event. In addition, every year Stellantis helps the students learn about stream ecology through the Stream Leaders stream monitoring program. David Jump, Environmental Health and Safety Specialist, understands how working with students like this is valuable for not only raising awareness of conservation issues, but encouraging an interest in STEM fields as well: “I want to be able to show these young people what STEM is, how cool it really is, and maybe give them a push to come into something like it.”

Other local organizations also contribute a great deal to the program and its success. The Oakland Audubon Society helps conduct bird and butterfly surveys several times a year, and leads employee “nature strolls” during the annual Earth Day event. Trout Unlimited also mapped an on-site creek connected to the wetlands and released juvenile trout to promote healthy fish populations.

In addition to Stellantis’ robust partnerships, employees have a strong enthusiasm for the projects that keeps the program going strong. Tonya Hunter, an Ecologist with contractor Environmental Consulting & Technology, remarked how Stellantis employees are “very enthusiastic about the wildlife and very passionate and excited” about the conservation projects. After participating in a trial use of EchoMeter Touch 2 acoustic bat detectors with WHC and local partners, a small group of employees even purchased their own bat detectors and survey the site for bats after hours a few times each year.

When it comes to successful conservation programs, a combination of strong partnerships and enthusiastic employees is a great approach to create long-lasting, positive outcomes.

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Atlantic Richfield | From Superfund to Super Habitat

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Engaging in conservation activities on corporate lands sometimes requires managing ongoing impacts of historical uses. For the Atlantic Richfield Dutchman site, located on 3,447 acres in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin of southwestern Montana, a legacy of past mining, smelting and overgrazing resulted in significant impacts to habitats and wildlife.

The Dutchman property is part of the Anaconda Smelter NPL Site, an area of 300 square miles impacted by nearly 100 years of historical copper smelting by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. High arsenic levels in the soil caused by smelting required remedial action. Additionally, previous use of the property for grazing and breeding livestock had a detrimental impact on the site’s habitat and vegetative cover. Fortunately, Atlantic Richfield (a subsidiary of BP) has overcome the challenges posed by these impacts to transform the Dutchman site into a haven of grassland and wetland habitat used by wildlife and humans alike.

Ecological restoration began at the Dutchman site more than 30 years ago with the creation of a Functionally Effective Wetland Area, now 517 acres and the largest contiguous wetland habitat in the watershed. Through the years, further efforts have been made to address the site’s legacy of impacts, including native seeding, livestock and vehicle exclusion, invasive species management, erosion control and wildlife monitoring.

When describing the efforts Atlantic Richfield has made to exceed both wetland mitigation and remediation requirements on-site, team member Shannon Dunlap, Operations Project Manager, noted that, “What sets the Dutchman site apart is the rigorous monitoring Atlantic Richfield conducts year-round to monitor not only wetlands, but avian and mammal populations, invasive species, grassland vegetation and erosion.”

Field crews work with Go Bird Montana every year to inventory bird populations on-site and have so far observed over 120 species of birds from 35 different taxonomic families. These surveys have found evidence that several rare species and species of concern are breeding on-site. Atlantic Richfield is also investigating ways to implement more comprehensive monitoring that can better guide management efforts, such as the use of remote sensing technology or aerial spectral analysis by drones, or satellites to evaluate vegetative cover.

Not only are bird species thriving, but mammals are as well. Starting in 2008, Atlantic Richfield began restricting vehicle access and installing wildlife-friendly fencing, which restricts cattle access to the site while allowing wildlife to cross safely. These measures have permitted the grassland and wetland vegetation to flourish, benefitting numerous bird and mammal species, including deer and other big game, swallows, sparrows, chickadees, hawks, and waterfowl.

Atlantic Richfield makes a special effort to maintain the property as a public recreation area, offering features such as trails, educational kiosks and bird watching checklists to encourage the visitors to enjoy the site’s natural beauty. Atlantic Richfield also works closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to offer sustainable hunting opportunities to the community, which helps ensure that herds of elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer and moose continue to remain healthy and do not over-browse the habitat. Dunlap articulated that despite the difficulties in allowing public access, “it is a rewarding challenge to balance habitat preservation and public access at the site.”

The Dutchman site demonstrates how with time and commitment, a previously impacted landscape can become a thriving asset to both wildlife and the community.

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BASF | Preserving and Enhancing Biodiversity for the Community

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As a member of WHC, BASF has worked to establish wildlife habitat and conservation education initiatives on their lands since 2002. With WHC Conservation Certification programs in the U.S. and Canada, BASF’s commitment to preserve and enhance biodiversity is a priority for the organization as they pledge to conduct business in a manner that is responsive to the environmental and economic needs of the communities in which they operate.

The Gold-Certified conservation program at BASF’s Fighting Island facility exemplifies this pledge, offering unique and innovative learning experiences for local students.

Fighting Island, a 1,500-acre island on the Canadian side of the Detroit River in LaSalle, Ontario, has been transformed into a resource for local schools and community members with  biodiversity restoration projects and educational facilities.

The island was historically used for storage of lime tailings, a byproduct of soda ash production, in settling beds. Since closing the settling beds in 1982, BASF’s efforts have led to native revegetation and reforestation to help prevent erosion, reduce dust, increase wildlife habitat, control runoff, and enhance the island’s appearance.

BASF currently maintains multiple conservation projects on the island, including invasive species control, native tree and shrub plantings, bat houses, pollinator habitat, and native game bird reintroductions.

Since 2004, BASF, in conjunction with Essex County schools, turned the island into an outdoor classroom, providing a hands on learning environment that has hosted more than 30,000 students from the local community.

BASF successfully incorporates the use of advanced technologies with outdoor STEM learning for local students.

The education project at Fighting Island provides local elementary and secondary school students with a classic STEM learning experience in which educational activities are structured around a practical experiment-based approach using the island’s habitats as the basis for cultivating problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

The curriculum used at the site was developed specifically for the facility by the employee volunteer team, Essex County teachers and school administrators, and aligns with Ontario’s academic standards.

Technology is a mainstay of the curriculum and allows students to experience real-world scenarios, much in the way that scientists and researchers do. The island’s four portable classrooms, known as  environmental labs, are equipped with computers, monitoring equipment and microscopes. A high-resolution projection camera streams video from a microscope or specimen dish to the computers, which allows the entire class to view insects, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and other samples gathered in the field. The monitoring equipment includes special devices that can be taken into the rugged field environment.

These devices capture, analyze, annotate, store and print data wirelessly, and connect to a number of
sensors for monitoring pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, temperature, weather, water quality, and GPS position in the site’s wetlands and ponds.

A particularly valuable aspect involved with using these devices is that students also make qualitative observations and then compare those to the data gathered with the sensors, enabling them to understand how the methodology and equipment can affect the results of experimentation.

The conservation program at Fighting Island demonstrates how BASF supports the communities in which they live and work, and contribute to a world that provides a viable future with enhanced quality of life for everyone.

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Vulcan Materials | Birds Flourish at a North Carolina Quarry

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A typical quarry site is busy, loud and teeming with workers and vehicles—not exactly ideal for wildlife habitat. But quarries (both active and inactive), with their large parcels of land that can include grasslands and wetlands, can in fact provide a safe and beneficial home to a variety of wildlife.

The Gold Hill Quarry, located on 400 acres in the small community of Gold Hill, North Carolina, might not seem like the typical home for birds, but species like osprey, wood ducks and eastern bluebirds have been flourishing there for decades. The quarry, which is owned and operated by Vulcan Materials, supplies and distributes aggregates like gravel, sand and crushed stone for use in construction. The management of the quarry’s conservation projects is performed by a small but dedicated team of employee volunteers led by Jordan Littauer, District Operations Manager at Vulcan Materials. The Gold Hill Quarry team is primarily focused on supporting avian species that use the site’s ponds and other habitats.

One of those other habitats is a somewhat unlikely one – the top of the stacker conveyer support structure in the processing plant, where a pair of osprey have nested for years.

Although the conveyer moves throughout the day, Littauer chuckled as he explained how the movement is slow enough that the birds “don’t seem bothered by it and just ride it back and forth all day.” Nevertheless, employees make sure to minimize vehicle and noise disturbance in the vicinity when osprey are on-site.  Their nesting activity, such as when they arrive at the nest each year and the nestlings’ behavior, is monitored regularly. Littauer described how much he enjoys watching the birds gathering nesting materials each spring: “They fly around rim of the pit, grab a branch, and keep flying. It’s really neat to watch.” Last year, a second nest was built on top of another nearby support structure; although no young have been observed in the nest, it’s a good sign that a second pair of osprey might begin nesting on-site in the coming year.

While the osprey enjoy their unusual nesting spot, other bird species prefer a more traditional dwelling in the form of nest boxes. Through a partnership with Delta Waterfowl, an organization focused on waterfowl conservation and management, the Vulcan employees gain expertise to assist with maintaining and monitoring the 8 wood duck nest boxes installed around the ponds. There are also 21 boxes for eastern bluebirds dispersed throughout the quarry property, with neighboring agricultural fields supporting the insects bluebirds feed upon in the spring and summer. Several of the facility’s quality control technicians assist with monitoring the boxes, which are too numerous and spread out for the small employee team to monitor on its own.

The program at the Gold Hill Quarry has maintained its WHC certification for an impressive 27 years. Littauer attributes this long-term success to good planning. Each year, the team meticulously schedules the monitoring and maintenance activities for its projects, such as when to clean out and repair nest boxes, when to start monitoring them in the spring, and the best timing for determining how many young hatch and then fledge from the nest boxes.

The employees that manage these habitats are all very passionate about wildlife and environmental conservation and are continually encouraged by a company-wide dedication to biodiversity and the pursuit of WHC Conservation Certification®.

Littauer says that he and his teammates receive the most satisfaction in the value they’re providing to local species, “What we like to see is the results. It gives me the most pride that we’re making a difference.”

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DuPont | A Forest and Wetlands Species Wonderland in Northern Spain

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Asturias, a region of northwest Spain atop the Iberian peninsula, is known for its rugged coast, mountains, religious sites and medieval architecture. It is also home to DuPont’s Asturias plant, located in the northern Iberian peninsula in Spain, which encompasses more than 80,000 acres. The region is predominantly deciduous forests, but has lost much of its original native vegetation to agricultural development and the spread of invasive species. It’s not surprising then that one of the main focuses of Asturias’ WHC gold-certified program is forest habitat and restoration.

Originally used as a production facility in the 90s, DuPont Asturias has evolved to become a center for specialty services and corporate finances. Much of the plant’s success is attributable to DuPont community relations efforts. The company sought advice locally before it designed a plant in harmony with its surroundings. Landscapers planted 160,000 trees and shrubs and restored the area’s original habitats, including peat bogs and wetlands.

Since then, the team at Asturias collaborates with government agencies, environmental contractors and other partners to manage the 340 acres of forest habitat on the site. They work tirelessly to monitor the habitat, regularly removing invasive species and replanting native flora. When invasive eucalyptus was discovered during recent annual monitoring, the team removed it from more than 25 acres on the site’s northern perimeter. The area was replanted with 800 native trees, including chestnuts, oaks, birches and cherry trees.

Another focus of the conservation program at Asturias is La Furta. Once lost to agricultural use, La Furta is now a thriving, primarily wetland habitat that has become an essential stop on the migratory route to and from Europe and Africa for many avian species. Designated as one of Spain’s Special Protection Areas for Migratory Birds, academics, ornithological groups and nature photographers regularly visit the site to see the birds that call these wetlands home. In addition, the fields around the healthy wetlands are managed for managed for grazing livestock.

DuPont’s commitment to conservation extends far beyond the borders of the site. With an abundance of bird, butterfly, plant and livestock species on the site, Asturias regularly opens its gates to the community, providing opportunities to view these species and learn about them  throughout the year. From guided tours to large-scale celebrations, DuPont Asturias has hosted thousands of visitors since the inception of its conservation program.

One special day celebrated annually is the World Wetlands Day. Created to “raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet”, World Wetlands Day is observed on February 2 each year. And each February, DuPont Asturias’ hosts a celebration at its wetlands, welcoming members of the local community, employees and their families to enjoy the site and its wildlife.

The success of the restoration efforts at DuPont Asturias – in terms of both biodiversity and community outreach – is a shining example of the impact corporate conservation can have and highlights DuPont’s continued commitment to manage its lands to enhance habitat for wildlife.

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Atlantic Richfield | A 20-year Passion for Montana’s Wildlife Benefits Employees and Community

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Encompassing 2,500 acres in western Montana, Atlantic Richfield Company’s Warm Springs Ponds program gets its name from the Warm Springs Ponds, a series of connected ponds built in the first half of the 20th century to provide water treatment for mine tailings and smelting waste in Silver Bow Creek. The largest of these ponds is 640 acres in size. The company’s mining activity has since ceased and the site now has an interim remedy for impacts of the historic mining activity that includes a pond water treatment system designed and operated to be compatible with a thriving fish and wildlife habitat.

Today, Warm Springs Pond is a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP) wildlife and recreation management area and is open to the public for activities such as bird watching, hunting, fishing, hiking and biking. Management of the site is a partnership between Atlantic Richfield (a subsidiary of BP America Inc.)  and MDFWP, which handles the more technical aspects of monitoring and maintenance, allowing employees to participate in activities such as planning, site tours, fly fishing camps and bird counts, while still ensuring that management activities are correctly implemented.

The Warm Springs Ponds provide an important stopover habitat for migratory waterfowl along the Central Flyway.

Although initially designed for water treatment, the ponds also provide an invaluable ecological community for mammals, fish and birds. The site provides a significant stopover habitat for a wide variety of migratory birds, including eagles, herons, raptors, grebes, gulls, ducks, and loons. Partners such as GoBird Montana and the MFWP have documented over 200 bird species during semi-annual bird counts and Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count.

Over the years, a number of structures have been installed and maintained around the site to benefit wildlife, including bat houses, osprey nesting platforms, and wildlife-friendly fencing. MDFWP also stocks the ponds with game fish such as brown and rainbow trout to encourage recreational fishing and healthy fish populations.

Local educators are encouraged to use the Warm Springs Ponds as an outdoor classroom where students can learn about the region’s wildlife and their habitats, the form and function of wetlands and other habitats, local history and how Atlantic Richfield uses the wetlands as a water treatment system. Team members often provide site tours to local school classes, with the activities and information conveyed tailored to the needs of each group. Students and professors from the University of Montana also visit the site yearly as part of an ongoing ecotoxicology study of osprey nests throughout the site.

The program at Warm Spring Ponds has been WHC-certified since 1998. Jenni Harris, Atlantic Richfield’s  team leader for the program, emphasized the value of the program’s endurance, “The fact that our site has been certified for 20 years shows our commitment to providing a recreational asset and a haven for wildlife that the local community can enjoy.”

Harris attributes the program’s longevity to the long-standing partnership with MFWP, as well as employees’ enthusiasm for Montana’s wildlife and the outdoors. In fact, employees enjoy sharing stories about the recreational fishing on-site, like a visitor catching a big 10-pound trout. Employees have also been known to excitedly talk about the ducklings and other young birds observed each spring. This passion for local biodiversity is a strong motivator for the team’s efforts; as Harris described, “We continually strive to maintain or optimize what this site has to offer.”

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Five Star Grants: A Good Fit for Companies and Their Community Partners

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The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program seeks to develop nationwide community stewardship of local natural resources, focusing on the stewardship and restoration of coastal, wetland and riparian ecosystems across the country. Projects funded under this program seek to address water quality issues in priority watersheds, such as erosion due of unstable streambanks, pollution from stormwater runoff, and degraded shorelines. A key aspect of this program is the development of partnerships, which can include NGOs, government agencies, educational institutions, and even businesses.

During this webinar you’ll learn:

  • What the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant is
  • The typical characteristics of projects that are funded through the program
  • How companies can work together with other partners to develop and implement projects under the program, using case studies of projects submitted in recent years

Presenters:

  • Thelma Redick, Senior Director, Conservation Content and Partnerships, Wildlife Habitat Council
  • Carrie Clingan, Program Director, Community Stewardship and Youth, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

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