Wildlife Habitat Council - Pollinator Practices

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Pollinator Friendly Practices

The NAPPC WHC Pollinator Protection Award

The Wildlife Habitat Council and North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) are pleased to announce a special award to be presented at WHC's Symposium the annual NAPPC WHC Pollinator Protection Award.

The recipient is chosen each year from the pool of sites that apply for recognition with WHC as a Pollinator Friendly Program. The recognition is offered for certified WHC sites that implement specific land management practices to promote pollinator populations.

If your program includes butterfly gardens, meadows, native plantings, then the Pollinator Friendly Practices will enhance the value of such projects through simple, yet critical, steps.

Apply for recognition today! Download the application online. Visit the Directory of Awards to learn about this and other WHC awards.

2009 Award Winner
Monsanto Company's Creve Coeur World Headquarters

The World Headquarters - Creve Coeur Site is known in the St. Louis, Missouri, community for its excellent wildlife habitat along the border of a major thoroughfare. This 251-acre plot of land supports a second growth oak-hickory forest with interspersed restored prairie areas, lawns and buildings. Because of the green space provided in a largely urban setting, the site is an oasis for migratory birds and a haven for other wildlife, from bees and butterflies to coyote and wild turkeys. Habitat management practices, many of which align with those suggested by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, foster a thriving pollinator population at the site.

A halicitid bee (Agapostemon sp.) pollinates a gray-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) at Monsanto Company's Creve Coeur World Headquarters in Missouri. Photo by Bill Duncan.

Formal wildlife enhancement efforts at Creve Coeur were initiated in 1993. Following a brief hiatus in 2004, the site was recertified in 2006 because of the efforts of a dedicated, 70-member wildlife team. The site has five goals: to maintain the extensive restored prairies on site, to eliminate Amur honeysuckle from an eight-acre woodlot, to provide avian nesting habitat including a nest box monitoring program, to create and maintain a native wildflower garden, and to provide habitat for migratory birds.

Coordination between the team and Omni Land Care produced healthy prairie areas dominated by native species. Recently, the wildlife team controlled honeysuckle that was encroaching on the prairie areas. The site also continues to attract a diversity of avian species. Birding enthusiasts on the wildlife team have documented 158 avian species on-site and monitor the spring and fall migration daily. A nest box monitoring program documented successful use of nest boxes by Carolina chickadees, house wrens and Eurasian tree sparrows. Future plans are to encourage eastern bluebirds to nest near the site's restored prairie.

In 2007, a project was begun to control Amur honeysuckle from a woodlot on site. Honeysuckle was removed via the cut-stump method from one acre of the site's woodland habitat. By removing honeysuckle, the site is improving habitat and increasing the diversity of an understory dominated by the aggressive invasive plant. Future plans are to eliminate invasive honeysuckle from the entire eight-acre woodlot and prevent any reinvasion.

The site's newest habitat project is a native wildflower garden. The garden was planted in May 2008 with 23 native species sourced locally, propagated in the site's greenhouse and transplanted to the field. Due to the dedication of wildlife team volunteers, this area is now a haven for busy pollinators.

Potential future plans at the site include involving a graduate student in a project to study differences in biodiversity in managed-versus-unmanaged areas on-site, improving the inventory, and maintaining and enhancing the current projects.

The Creve Coeur World Headquarters' education efforts are designed to raise children's awareness of wildlife and ecology in an urban setting and are based on interests in ornithology and native plantings.

Adult education at the site began with a World Bird Sanctuary event on raptors presented to employees. The wildlife team began leading nature walks for employees, during which they learn how to identify birds and insects, as well as how to monitor and record data from blue bird boxes on-site. The bird theme was extended to community and teacher trainings when Monsanto staff gave presentations on owls and songbird identification. An Earth Day celebration was the culmination of efforts of many partners and the wildlife team. All of Creve Coeur's wildlife partners, as well as the World Headquarters team itself, were represented during the celebration. This very successful event reached over 400 employees.

Grades 1-5 of Spoede Elementary School are well served by the Monsanto Education team, both on-site and off. Employees hope to create a program that is sustained through the grade levels, so that students can become familiar with the habitat over the course of several years. Learning goals are met through the Show-Me Science Standards. Successful relationships have also been developed with the Rockwood School District. The education program, centered on birds and insects, predator/prey relationships, animal adaptations and habitats, is also taught to the on-site Childhood Learning Center students.

Wildlife team member Jared Holtmeyer, a graduate student at the University of Missouri, St. Louis used the Creve Coeur Site to study comparative biodiversity. Over 8,000 arthropods were collected and presented for his independent research project, with over 40 hours of time spent benefiting the site, both by educating staff and identifying species.

Creve Coeur World Headquarters received Wildlife at Work certification in 1998 and Corporate Lands for Learning certification in 2008.