invasive species Archives - Wildlife Habitat Council

5 Ways to Keep Your Conservation Program Thriving This Winter

Winter is just a few weeks away. For many of us, the drop in temperature comes with an increase in to-do items — from year-end tasks to holiday celebrations. During this busy time of year, it’s important to take some time to consider what the new season means for any conservation projects that you’re a part of. Lax or maladapted winter maintenance can undercut the hard work that you’ve done all year. Conversely, taking the unique winter needs of the species on your site into consideration can enhance your year-round efforts. Here are some ideas for keeping your conservation program going this winter.

1. Look out for Bats

Many bat species hibernate in caves, mines or buildings during the winter. If bats hibernate at your site, take note of their location and avoid interaction — if a hibernating bat is disturbed, their metabolism will speed up and they could quickly deplete fat reserves meant to last the entire winter.

Many bat species only use bat boxes in warm months, making the winter an ideal time to perform routine maintenance on your site’s boxes. Keep in mind that some bat species, like the big brown bat, do sometimes overwinter in bat houses, so it’s important to have a sense of what species are present in your area.

2. Put Down the Pruners

Many pollinator species overwinter in leaf litter and loose soil, and butterfly pupae can often be found on bare stems and stalks. When possible, avoid mulching or over-tidying your pollinator gardens to provide important winter habitat. If you’re concerned about appearance, consider supplementing your garden with informative signage explaining the ways in which an unkempt garden can help wildlife — visitors might be inspired to go home and do the same in their own yards!

3. Maintain Space for Birds

While winter may be a good time to perform nest box maintenance, don’t take them down altogether! As discussed in a previous WHC Wildlife Blog post, the bird boxes you’ve placed on-site for springtime nesting can provide overwintering shelter for small mammals and non-migratory bird species.

If any of your projects involve native tree or shrub planting, ensure that you’ve planted some species that produce berries in the winter to maintain a food source for non-migratory birds — or for birds that have migrated to your area for the season. If you take inventory of bird species, wintertime monitoring can give you an idea of how species distribution varies between seasons.

4. Continue to Monitor Invasive Species

While cold weather may stave off some invasive species, plants like garlic mustard and insects like the emerald ash borer can endure the winter (young borers even produce glycerol, which acts as an internal antifreeze agent). Knowing what invasives overwinter on your site, and coming up with a plan to control them, can bolster your year-round efforts.

5. Plan (and Attend) Virtual Education Events

In 2020, many of us have been turning to nature for socially distant recreation. As temperatures drop and people spend more time in their homes, keep their newfound appreciation of the outdoors going with virtual events showcasing the habitats on your premises and the ways in which your projects promote conservation. As an added benefit, inclement weather won’t prevent attendees from showing up! The Education Projects page of Our Conservation in a Time of Crisis guide contains tips on virtual events.

If you’re spending more time indoors, it is also a good opportunity to enrich your own knowledge– as a starting point, check out the on-demand webinars available on the WHC website, and be on the lookout for upcoming webinars.

Winter conditions vary greatly across the continent and can even differ within a region. Be sure to take local weather and migration patterns into account. The extension program of a university in your state (searchable via the NIFA/USDA directory) is a good starting point for region-specific information. If you’re using this winter to consider what your program can be doing year-round, now is also a good time to consider how WHC Consulting can help you reach your 2021 goals.

Prescribed Fire Means a New Beginning for the Meadow at New Beginnings

February 17, 2017, was an exciting day for Bridgestone’s New Beginnings—The Woodlawn Wildlife Area, with the implementation of a prescribed burn of the site’s wildflower meadow.

Fire is a natural part of grassland and woodland ecology in many parts of North America. Along with other disturbances such as grazing by large herbivores, fire plays a vital role in maintaining these ecosystems. Experts use prescribed burning to burn these ecosystems in a safe, controlled manner, reducing the risk of wildfires by removing dry, dead vegetation and maintaining a healthy ecosystem by reducing excess woody vegetation, releasing fire-dependent seeds, and encouraging the growth of native vegetation.

The burn at New Beginnings was necessary because the meadow had become severely overgrown. The meadow had not been burned since 2010, so invasive species such as purple deadnettle and a few native species like blackberry brambles and goldenrod had begun to crowd out other native species. The burn will help to stimulate the growth of native herbaceous vegetation by allowing more sunlight to reach the ground and releasing nutrients back into the soil. The burn and follow-up mowing will also prevent invasive and woody species from taking over by removing unwanted growth of these plants.

A burn crew from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources conducted the burn, with WHC staff and local maintenance contractor Bob Hogue also in attendance to help monitor the burn. The day began with a brief check of the firebreaks, which had been created ahead of time, to make sure they would be adequate for keeping the fire in the desired burn area. The burn crew then used Firestarter cans to initiate a burn in the southeast corner of the meadow, directing a slow-burning backfire very slowly to the north and west and then initiating a faster-burning headfire from the other side. The crew also used ATVs with water tanks to wet areas that they didn’t want to burn, such as the meadow edges and the ground below the bluebird boxes. To prevent the fire from burning too strongly, there was a separate burn pile for heavier brush collected from the meadow.

The burn took approximately three hours and was relatively successful. Although most of the native grasses and wildflowers in the meadow burned well, there were a number of live blackberry brambles that did not burn. This remaining unwanted vegetation was removed by local volunteer Bill Kilby with a brushhogger a few days after the burn was completed.

Cooperative Work Among Companies Creates Ecological and Community Connectivity in Northwest Indiana

On Thursday, January 21, about 15 volunteers from a diverse group of companies and conservation organizations, including WHC and members of the Indiana Coastal Cooperative Weed Management Group as well as the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, ExxonMobil, ArcelorMittal, PRAXAIR, the Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy, and the Shirley Heinze Land Trust, joined up to tackle the removal of invasive species from upland areas at ExxonMobil’s Hammond Terminal.

It can be difficult to find larger tracts of dune and swale habitat in natural or even semi-natural conditions in Indiana’s coastal region because of heavy urban and industrial development. The 77-acre Hammond Terminal property includes a large amount of this critical Lake Michigan coastal habitat, so although former industrial uses left their mark on the site more than 50 years ago, it remains one of the most important tracts of shorebird habitat in the region and is key piece of the conservation and landscape connectivity puzzle.

The focus of invasive removal at last week’s workday was buckthorn, a non-native, invasive shrub that is a common invader in Midwestern forests, prairies, and oak savannas. The volunteers used a technique known as the “cut-stump method” in which the shrubs are cut down and herbicide applied to the stump to prevent regrowth. Also on the agenda was laying the ground for a new trail that will be used by East Chicago students and bird watching visitors.

During the workday, the group shared their common knowledge and experience of working on site and along the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, and learned that slag had been deposited on-site as far back as the 1940s and since then, a succession of native habitats developed throughout the site. The spread of invasive plants such as buckthorn, phragmites, purple loosestrife, and many others have impacted the ecological quality of this site over the past 10 years. Efforts to develop an ecological restoration partnership between the Indiana DNR, ExxonMobil, and BP have provided a unique regional example of how companies and natural resource agencies can work together to increase conservation in urban-industrial areas.

A volunteer applies Pathfinder herbicide to a buckthorn stump. The herbicide is dyed blue to help volunteers see which plants have already been treated.

This cooperative workday at the Hammond Terminal is part of a larger ongoing collaborative effort, funded by Sustain Our Great Lakes Program and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to the Indiana DNR, to control invasive species and restore native habitats on public and private properties areas along the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. Other companies involved in this invasive species control partnership include BP and Valero. WHC is also working with ExxonMobil, ArcelorMittal, PRAXAIR, and Kinder Morgan on developing invasive species control programs on their working facilities under a grant from the Indiana DNR Coastal Program and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). Working collaboratively like this helps companies enhance the conservation value of their projects by aligning them with broader goals for the region. It also helps teams learn from one another by providing opportunities to share information about what worked and what didn’t.

For more details on how your company can contribute to conservation efforts in your area, contact WHC for tailored help or check out our Project Guidances for guidelines on designing and implementing conservation and education projects.

Designing the Ideal Project at Ricoh Group’s West Caldwell Site

When Yoko Perez started working for the Environmental Team at Ricoh Americas Corporation’s West Caldwell Office in June 2013, she started working to align their Wildlife at Work program with the priorities of Ricoh Group’s biodiversity policy, as well as to better engage employees in the program. She and her team recognized that working with WHC offers the Ricoh Americas branch a unique approach from Ricoh Group’s other branches to aligning with the company’s biodiversity policy.

The West Caldwell Office’s program includes five pollinator gardens, which were installed last November with the help of the site’s landscapers to pick the garden locations and 20 volunteers to plant the garden. The Environmental Team chose plant species such as lupine, bee balm, Joe-pye-weed, and black-eyed Susan that would be shade tolerant and provide nectar to pollinators. A small rain garden planted with pollinator-friendly species was also planted in an area near the building that tends to collect water.

In addition, invasive species such as multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, phragmites, autumn olive, and Bradford pear have been observed on the property, so the Environmental Team is looking into controlling these species with the help of employees and local partner organizations.

Yoko and her team work hard to monitor and document their projects, including information on where each species was planted in the gardens and which of those plants survived. Monitoring is a critical part of every project because it provides information about what worked and what didn’t work.

Employees at the West Caldwell Office use the company’s intranet site, RWorld. Yoko attributes the success of her team’s program and the thoroughness of project documentation to their access to this interactive site, which allows employees across the country to post news and information, post comments and feedback, and share photographs. This makes it easy for the Environmental Team to share their monitoring data, wildlife photographs, and other documentation for the program.

Ruby-throated hummingbird observed in one of the pollinator gardens at the West Caldwell Office. Photo courtesy of Ricoh Group.

Yoko says she also uses RWorld to spur employee interest in and support for the Wildlife at Work program. For example, she told me how she posts articles for her garden blog on RWorld, and also posts information and videos for events such as National Pollinator Week and Ricoh’s Global Eco Action Month this past June.

If you’re looking for ideas to better engage your employees or document your program, please WHC.

From Pest to Pesto: Four Invasive Species You Can Eat!

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Invasive plant and animal species can have a devastating effect on ecosystems, as they outcompete native species for resources and proliferate without any natural predators or controls. Not only do invasive species pose a threat to biodiversity — with 42% of threatened or endangered species at risk because of invasives — but they can also create safety issues for employees and community members.

Removing invasive species allows native species to thrive and restores the balance of the ecosystem – but once you’ve hand-pulled those invasive weeds or netted that invasive fish, did you know you can eat some of them? In this webinar, WHC staff will share several simple recipes incorporating invasive species found in various parts of the U.S. Learn how to reuse invasive plant and animal species in a way that is good for the environment — and your stomach!

What you’ll learn:

The importance of removing invasive species
Tips for identifying potential invasives
A few recipe ideas that utilize invasive plants and animals

Who should take this webinar:

Corporate conservation programs focused on removing invasive species
People interested in foraging for invasive flora and fauna
Anyone who wants to try an interesting new recipe

Presenters:

Erin Allegro, Senior Manager, Business Development, WHC
Abigail McBride, Consultant, WHC
Melissa Scheiber, Senior Manager, Events, WHC
Megan Thomas, Manager, Content, WHC

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Restoring Ecosystems Through Invasive Species Control

Sponsored by Ontario Power Generation

Invasive species are among the top five threats to biodiversity worldwide. As privately owned lands make up a vast amount of the earth’s land surface, it is imperative that the corporate sector become an active player in invasive species management efforts.

This white paper details the key methods corporations can use to control invasive species, restore native habitats and educate the surrounding community.

To download this white paper, please fill out the form below.

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Invasive Species: Resources and Techniques | Part 2

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Land managers have a wide range of techniques available to them in preventing, detecting and controlling invasive species. This webinar will provide a broad view of these management techniques focusing heavily on terrestrial invasive species. Through case studies, we will highlight the benefits of each of these techniques and explain how they can be used in practice.

Note: Given the limited time, this webinar is not a comprehensive review of management techniques; rather, it is an informative session to provide the audience with useful resources and proven techniques.

This webinar is the second in a two-part series of webinars. The first, Invasive Species: An Introduction | Part 1, is also available on-demand. While is it not mandatory to view Part 1 before participating in this webinar, it is recommended.

Presenter:

Shefali Mehta, PhD

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Invasive Species: An Introduction | Part 1

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Invasive species pose a significant threat to the environment, damaging both land and water across the U.S. This webinar will provide an introduction to invasive species with a review of the characteristics of terrestrial (plant and insect) and aquatic invasive species, and clarification on the difference between a non-native species and an invasive species, explaining why that distinction matters when managing lands for conservation.

We will also discuss the proximate drivers of species introductions and, using select case studies, we will highlight the damaging impact of invasive species on native population and landscapes.

Presenter:

Shefali Mehta, PhD

This webinar is the first in a two-part series of webinars. Participants of this webinar voted to select a species to be explored in-depth in the Invasive Species: Resources and Techniques | Part 2 webinar in November.

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Ashland | Responsibly Solving to Support a Thriving Habitat at a Former Landfill

Ashland’s Old York Road site, a former landfill located in Burlington Township, New Jersey, comprises seven acres of grassland and has been actively managed for conservation since 2012. The site houses projects ranging from invasive species management to mammal monitoring to educational partnerships. Ashland’s conservation goals include monitoring and supporting native wildlife and incorporating native vegetation to reduce maintenance needs across the site. Through a partnership with Rutgers University, the company also facilitates hands-on learning opportunities for future conservation professionals.

Ashland’s commitment to environmental protection aligns with the Responsible Care® program, a global initiative developed by and for chemical companies. “Identifying opportunities to create conservation projects on environmental remediation sites aligns with Ashland’s global environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and Responsible Care goals of improving the environmental and social impacts of the company’s operations on our communities,” explained Shannon Lloyd, remediation project manager at Ashland.

Old York Road plays host to various species of birds, bats, mammals and pollinators, with projects designed to attract and support these native species. The bird box project targets cavity-nesting songbirds, with predator guards ensuring that only avian species can access the boxes. Through weekly monitoring, employees found that 52 fledglings successfully graduated from the nesting boxes in 2020 and 2021, with the number of successful fledglings nearly doubling in 2021.

As white-nose syndrome has been documented in the state of New Jersey, Ashland’s solvers have aligned their bat project with the White-Nose Syndrome Response Team’s recommendations for supporting bat populations, such as providing shelter, food and water. In addition to box observations, Ashland also uses an ultrasonic microphone for monitoring purposes. Through echolocation surveys, the team has determined that there are five species of cave-dwelling bats in the area: big brown bats, little brown bats, red bats, hoary bats and silver haired bats.

To facilitate further species monitoring, Ashland has installed a wildlife camera trap annually since 2019 to record evidence of mammals such as white-tailed deer, racoons and red foxes. Two cameras are installed and deployed for five days during seasonal monitoring events. Nine species were identified using this camera, including the target species plus groundhogs, opossums and squirrels. Ashland also conducts pollinator monitoring of bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies, and in May 2021, 19 total pollinator species were observed.

Through a formal learning connection with Rutgers University, Ashland creates real-world educational experiences for local students that surpasses what is possible through classroom instruction alone. “Ashland has made a commitment to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education,” said Lloyd, “and partnering with students who gain hands-on field experience action supports that commitment.” This mutually beneficial partnership with Rutgers provides students the opportunity to apply their ecological expertise to the site’s projects by monitoring nest boxes and conducting wildlife and vegetation surveys, while Ashland receives useful data for monitoring and documentation. Through this project, students hone their skills of data collection and management, field observation, species identification and applied conservation. “There is a learning curve that varies each year,” explained Lora Sterner, senior associate environmental scientist, Kennedy Jenks Consultants, Inc. and program manager for Ashland’s WHC sites. “Preparing step-by-step procedures specific to each project is part of the programmatic approach and improves the consistency and quality of information used in preparing the certification documentation.”

The program at Old York Road also targets invasive species. The tree of heaven is an invasive tree in the area that grows quickly and outcompetes native plants for resources such as water and sunlight. They were first observed on-site in 2017 and were targeted for removal via mowing and cutting. Tree of heaven often serves as habitat for another invasive species, the spotted lanternfly, which was first seen on-site in 2020. The team has since targeted trees of heaven more heavily for removal, and the ongoing removal of these trees will help slow the growth of lanternfly populations.

As part of their remediation of the former landfill, the team at Ashland went above and beyond regulatory requirements by seeding the landfill cap with a native seed mix and developing a maintenance plan to support the growth and success of native plants. Thanks to a conservation easement, the remediation project is protected from any habitat loss or fragmentation that might occur due to development or reuse of the site.

Through partnerships, rigorous monitoring and a dedication to supporting native plants and animals, Ashland’s solvers have developed a thriving habitat.

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

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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Atlantic Richfield | From Superfund to Super Habitat

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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Relevant President’s Blog or Wildlife Blog posts
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Marathon Petroleum | A Unique Outdoor Classroom for Illinois Students

Nestled along the western banks of the Wabash River in Illinois is Marathon Petroleum’s Palestine Neal Pit, an 80-acre former limestone quarry that sits adjacent to Robinson Refinery. A portion of the pit sits atop an aquifer which provides water for the 1000-acre refinery, while the remaining land is comprised of a number of habitats including forest, grassland and wetlands. The site’s wildlife team, made up of about 20 employees, works tirelessly to maintain a number of WHC-certified projects – from pollinator gardens and bird boxes to habitat restoration and environmental education.

One of the bigger projects is the site’s nest monitoring program, which was designed to counteract the decline of nesting habitat for migratory birds. To date, over 50 nesting structures have been installed on the grounds of Palestine Neal Pit, consisting of boxes for bluebirds, barn owls, woodpeckers and wood ducks, and platforms for osprey. In addition, several bat boxes were constructed to protect the local brown bat populations from habitat loss and their increasingly limited roosting options. The team conducts regular monitoring of the bat boxes and uses bat monitors to track the bats.

Biodiversity isn’t the only beneficiary of the conservation work done at Palestine Neal Pit; local students also greatly benefit from visits to the site. A number of educational events are hosted at the site, including the biannual “Neal Pit Day” for second-graders from surrounding schools. In addition to a nature walk, half-a-dozen different stations are set up for students to visit, focusing on a wide variety of subjects including pollinators, solar panels and small wind turbines. Some presentations are even interactive, with electricians discussing energy while students pedal on bicycles to generate electricity and solar power.

“To further improve the experience for visiting students, we built a pavilion that is completely off-the-grid,” says Greg Hevron, who leads the wildlife team at Palestine Neal Pit. “Solar panels and wind energy produce the electricity, and a small well and the aquifer provide running water. The pavilion is situated in a remote area of the site so it allows the students to be completely immersed in nature while learning about it.”

While there are many ideas about what project to tackle next, including native plantings and work on the site’s wetlands, the team continues to focus much of its time and energy on the program’s education projects since hands-on environmental education is, as Hevron states, “essential in inspiring the next generation of teachers, scientists and environmental stewards.”

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CRH Americas Materials | A Unique Wildlife Oasis Near the Heart of Atlanta

En Español

It began simply enough. Find a way to give back to the local community that was meaningful to both the company and its employees. The result, though, is much more than anyone could have envisioned.

The CRH Americas Nature Trail at the Marcus Autism Center was developed and constructed — using CRH Americas Materials products of course — over a two-year period by CRH employees in partnership with the Marcus Autism Center, one of the largest autism centers in the U.S. and one of only three National Institutes of Health Autism Centers of Excellence. Nestled in 13-acres of mature hardwood forest in Atlanta, Georgia, the trail connects the Marcus Autism Center and a nearby elementary school to the surrounding residential community, with routes carefully selected to minimize the impact on the natural environment. It boasts an outdoor learning space, benches, wildlife viewing platforms and an amphitheater.

Many events are hosted at the site throughout the year, including an annual Community Day. During this popular event, which attracts more than 300 people, CRH Americas and their partners come together on the trail to showcase their work. Highlights have included scavenger hunts, butterfly releases, live animal demonstrations and educational exhibits. Children who attend are engaged through Community Day learning stations, which teaches them about the wildlife found on the trail.

Another large-scale community event held on-site is the annual Earth Day Celebration, which is centered on a different theme and community partner each year. CRH America’s partnership with the Atlanta Audubon Society was emphasized when one year’s focus was birds; when another year focused on forest restoration and invasive species removal, a partnership with Trees Atlanta was featured.

Since its inception, CRH employees have remained heavily invested in the project. Its wildlife team, which has grown from seven employees to more than 20, conducts monthly visits to the site and has spent thousands of volunteer hours working to remove invasive species, plant native plants, build a pollinator garden and construct a bird observation area. The team has also assisted other Atlanta-based companies, including Turner Broadcasting, Ernst & Young, and The Home Depot, with their own employee workdays at the trail.

“Partnerships are key to the success of the CRH Americas Materials Nature Trail at the Marcus Autism Center,” said Hillary Johnson, Community Relations Director at CRH Americas Materials. “By aligning with the right community partners, it’s a win for all parties involved. We have access to expertise that increases the impact of our project, our partners are able to further their respective missions, and the community gets to enjoy the result of these partnerships, which is this unique oasis surrounded by nature.”

Southern Nuclear | Pig Problems – How One Site Stabilized its Feral Hog Population to Prevent Serious Habitat Damage

En Español

It’s not uncommon for a corporate site to be burdened with invasive plant species. But while plants cannot fight back or run away, invasive animals like feral hogs can — and do. What’s a site to do when it becomes overrun such a dangerous and destructive species?

Feral hogs are domestic pigs that either escaped captivity or were born in the wild. Many feral hogs take on the characteristics of their wild brethren, such as aggressive behavior, tusks, and thicker, coarser hair. Their daily activities of foraging, rooting, and wallowing cause about $1.5 billion in damages each year in the U.S. They also reproduce rapidly; a group of hogs can easily double in size in just four months.

So, when employees at the Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama first spotted feral hogs on their site in 2013, they knew right away that it was time to take action before the hog population grew out of control and destroyed the site’s restored longleaf pine habitat. With guidance from the USDA Wildlife Service, the site’s team developed and implemented a control plan.

Successful trapping of feral hogs involves multiple steps. First, certain locations were pre-baited to attract the hogs, and then the traps were installed and baited, initially with the doors propped open to make the hogs feel comfortable with entering, and then fully set when conditions are right. Trapped hogs are then humanely euthanized by the USDA, since Alabama law prohibits transporting live feral hogs. Since 2013, the team has trapped 99 hogs, stabilizing the hog population at about 5-10% of the original number—well exceeding the usual target of 20%, which is considered a successful control effort.

The Farley Nuclear Plant team partners with the USDA to test a new trap design for feral hogs, which proved very effective with a 98% trap rate.

Through this project, the team has established a robust partnership with the USDA, who continues to help the team with monitoring and trapping the hogs. The site’s secure, controlled environment made it ideal for the USDA to test hogs for disease and experiment with a new trap design that has proved to be extremely successful, with a much higher trap rate than previous designs.

The information gathered through employee observations and trapping has allowed the team to adapt its project to increase its effectiveness. Eric Mullins and Corby Dolar, two of the site’s team members, expressed how the project has allowed them to better learn how feral hogs “operate,” such as what times of year hogs populate the site and which baited locations hogs are more willing to use. This in turn helps improve the success of control efforts.

The team’s unique story garnered local attention from a local fishing and outdoors television program, O’Neill Outside (watch the video). Southern Nuclear also shared its practices and learnings with neighboring farmers, who also benefit from feral hog control.

Mullins acknowledges that the site’s feral hog control project “will always be an ongoing project now,” since trapping is unlikely to keep up with the rate of hogs being born and moving in from other areas. However, he believes that if the team remains vigilant, it should be possible to limit the damage they cause to the site and surrounding farms.

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Tag Archive for: invasive species

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About

Work With WHC

Learn More

Member

UN Global Compact Business for Nature

Official ally

World Benchmarking Alliance

UN Global Compact
Business for Nature