Cornejo Wildlife Project

Introduction
The Cornejo Wildlife Project is Summit Material's conservation program at its Cornejo site in Wichita, Kansas. The mining site contains multiple ecosystems ranging from grasslands to wetlands to landscaped gardens. The team focuses on being good stewards of the land and preserving and improving upon the habitat for the benefit of local wildlife. 

Practices and Impacts

• The wetland project consists of 13.8 acres of uninterrupted habitat. Monitoring includes consistently checking the water quality as well as wildlife usage from ducks. 
• Since 2016, the team has supported an avian species project that provides habitat for several different native species, including the eastern bluebird.
• The NWS pollinator garden and the plant entrance gardens are small, landscaped areas that focus on pollinator-friendly species. The team consistently monitors both the vegetation and the pollinators. The plant entrance gardens include a new small landscaped project that focuses on planting pollinator friendly species. 
• Through both the pollinator garden project and the Riverside Pollinator Grasslands project, the team provides habitat for pollinators via plantings and bee houses.
• The education awareness project is a new project that utilizes the habitat and species on-site to inform visitors about their environmental impact.