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Earth Day 2008
AEP Flint Creek Holds Signature of Sustainability Event
To Honor Earth Day

Flint Creek Power Plant Sponsors Earth Day Activities
By staff reporters, Gentry Courier-Journal

Students and local 4-H Club members celebrated Earth Day with classroom programs on Friday and outdoor programs on Saturday. The events were sponsored by AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company’s Flint Creek Power Plant.

Marcia Maslonek, WHC Vice President, Programs, presents a plaque to Terry Stanfill, Senior Chemist at AEP's Flint Creek Power Plant, recognizing the facility as a WHC Signature of Sustainability.

“We are pleased to be recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council and be a part of the Signature of Sustainability tour in 2008,” said senior chemist Terry Stanfill, who spearheads the northwest Arkansas power plant’s wildlife habitat efforts. “This recognition from an international conservation organization is shared by the plant, our employees and the many volunteers and community partners who have made our habitat enhancement projects successful,” he said.

A plaque commemorating the Signature of Sustainability designation was presented by WHC vice president of programs Marcia Maslonek. A Signature of Sustainability is a habitat program which demonstrates the potential of private sector involvement for biodiversity conservation and conservation education. Each Signature of Sustainability is unique, but all go above and beyond certification standards for WHC’s Wildlife at Work program.

Programs were selected by a blue ribbon committee of judges and were evaluated based on a ranking system with points given per level of involvement in focus areas, such as environmental education, habitat enhancement and community involvement. The Flint Creek Plant was one of only 21 WHC-certified programs to receive this designation.

During one-hour classroom programs on Friday, students from kindergarten through grade six at the Gentry Primary School, Gentry Intermediate School and Gentry Middle School saw presentations, including: Lynn Sciumbato’s program about raptors, featuring a barred owl she rehabilitated at her Morning Star Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Ray Wiggs with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spoke to students about reptiles and showed them live snakes and a box turtle.

Lori Spencer, a professional interpreter who does programs at Mount Magazine State Park, talked about pollinators. Considered a state butterfly expert, she is author of the new book, Butterflies and Moths of Arkansas.

On Saturday, activities shifted to Flint Creek Power Plant’s award-winning Eagle Watch Nature Trail, located a mile west of Gentry on Arkansas Highway 12.

The Gentry Middle School sixth grade science class worked on their butterfly garden and planting nectar and host plants they started in their classroom.

The Bloomfield Community 4-H Club worked on more flower beds and, with the help of the Cornerstone and McDonald County 4-H Clubs, planted a food plot with seeds provided by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Acres for Wildlife Program. The whole group assisted in planting paw paw trees and wafer ash trees, which serve as host plants for zebra and giant swallowtail butterflies.

The Saturday morning event also included the planting of about one-half acre of native prairie grass and wildflowers in a prairie restoration area.

After the work was finished the group listened to a program about pollinators presented by the University of Arkansas Entomology Department.

Saturday morning’s activities concluded with the presentation of a Signature of Sustainability plaque.

Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet. What can you do? The answer is: anything that is meaningful to you and for the environment! Every voice counts; every action matters. What did you do for Earth Day? Send us your stories!

2007 Earth Day Stories

American Electric Power Company

Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.

Deep River Outdoor Education Center

DTE Energy

DuPont Company

Exelon Corporation

General Motors Company

Oldcastle Materials

Pepco Holdings, Inc.

Riderwood, an Erickson community

Vulcan Materials Company