The aggregates industry spends hundreds of thousands of
dollars every year improving wildlife habitat. Wildlife areas created during
reclamation have become important habitats for an astounding variety of plants
and animals. Habitats developed by mine staff in concert with local, state or
federal agencies can range up to thousands of acres. And enduring environmental
protection is a first priority.
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| Large acreages owned by industry operators in
developed areas naturally attract wildlife. Taking good care
of these habitats protects the wildlife and enhances the
community. Strategies include creating wetlands, improving
riparian corridors, planting native species and removing
exotic ones, and creating microhabitats for special species.
Mine workers build nesting boxes or platforms for the rare
wood duck, bluebird, osprey, and purple martin. Replanted grasslands attract increasingly rare prairie
insects, and birds such as quail and meadowlarks. Thousands
of acres of reconstructed wetland become new homes for
nesting bald eagles, ospreys, herons and loons, and critical
resting stops during fall and summer migrations.
Even something as simple as a butterfly is important in an
ecosystem. Like the songbird, the butterfly’s innocent beauty is vanishing
from the American landscape. In response, some mining companies have created
butterfly gardens – large tracts of wildflowers that support thousands of
butterflies, some of them rare or threatened. Consequently, the fields attract
other insects, birds, and mammals that feed on the butterfly or its larvae. |
alligator and double-crested cormorant rest at a Florida Rock
Industries quarry. (photo courtesy Rock Products Nov. 1999)
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| Maryland Rock’s
Leonardtown plant has won several state and national awards,
including the 1998 Interstate Mining Compact Commission’s
National Reclamation Award, and the National Stone
Association’s Gold Environmental Eagle Award. Highlights
include a 65-acre lake, a lush revegetated shoreline, and
nesting ducks, geese, osprey and bald eagles. Five hundred
Canada Geese have chosen the lake as their preferred
wintering ground. Maryland 3.Rock provides an excellent
example of industry and wildlife existing in harmony. |
Tarmac America joined forces with county and state
agencies to develop a pristine wildlife conservation area near Richmond, VA, on
the James River. The restored wetlands, tidal marshes, and woods at this former
sand and gravel operation support thriving populations of small game, deer,
nesting blue herons, and bald eagles. The project illustrates how public and
private partnerships can impact a community. |
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Luck Stone also operates a quarry along the James River.
Consultants inventoried plant and animal species on the property prior to
reclamation and habitat enhancement. The new ponds and wetlands have attracted
nesting geese, rare wood ducks, and the majestic bald eagle. Revegetated
grasslands have brought back the rapidly diminishing quail. Office workers once
again enjoy the sounds of the quail calling to each other. |
In Wisconsin, Badger Mining Corp. chose to reclaim an
abandoned landfill just south of Berlin for its new resource center. A producer
of industrial silica sand, Badger worked closely with state and federal agencies
to stabilize the site, which had been eroding into the Fox River. After
landscaping, it was replanted with grasses and wildflowers. Nesting boxes were
built along the river, and the wetlands were enhanced to help spawning gamefish
such as walleye pike. |
| Instead of just letting its sand and gravel pits outside
Boulder, CO, fill with water, LaFarge Corp. contoured the bottoms and
edges to create ponds that have the proper aquatic vegetation zones upon which
so many species depend. Native grasses and sedges form a tall marshy edge that
attracts a variety of waterfowl, insects, and animals. |
Stand of trees in a
Florida Rock Industries quarry reclamation preserve.
(photo courtesy Rock Products Nov. 1999)
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The restored habitat mining companies create is sometimes so
high-quality it attracts rare species such as nesting sandhill cranes, wood
ducks, eagles, ospreys and terns. This kind of sighting is often regarded as the
ultimate success by environmental engineers. Tarmac America’s Center
Sand facility near Orlando, FL, harbors the burrowing gopher tortoise, a
protected species. Tortoise reconnaissance is a big part of Tarmac’s
operation. Individual tortoises are captured and relocated to an approved
habitat area beside the lake. Another one of Tarmac America’s projects in
Florida removes limestone from a strip of wilderness that separates the
residential development of Atlantic |
| beaches from the Everglades. The result is a
series of shallow freshwater lakes that buffer against encroaching development.
Hundreds of species quickly move into these new wetlands, some of them rare or
endangered. Tarmac’s work is supported by the National Audubon
Society, and Friends of the Everglades. |
| Sometimes you don’t need a complicated plan to make
wetlands. Hanson Materials employees, having seen beavers in action,
proposed using these industrious animals to create a 25-acre wetland near
Durham, NC. Five years after digging the ditches, the entire area was dammed and
flooded by beavers, creating one of the most natural-looking wetlands possible. |
| In mining sand and gravel along Cajon Creek outside San
Bernardino, CA, Vulcan Materials has put together a 1,378-acre habitat
conservation management area along a six-mile stretch of the creek. Enclosed
within this unusual sage and scrub community are 24 sensitive species, including
numerous wildflowers and the rare California gnat-catcher. The endangered San
Bernardino kangaroo rat is trapped elsewhere on the minesite and released in the
conservation area, where the population is successfully reproducing. |
| Many of these habitats are open to the public. At Florida
Rock’s Brooksville Quarry, local students traverse an on-site nature trail
and learn about mining, ecology, native species, and wildlife habitats. Kids are
welcomed to return and help with planting or putting up nesting boxes. Children
and teachers alike learn about environmental topics and species that they never
knew existed in Florida. |
white-tailed deer
roam at a Florida Rock Industries quarry.
(photo courtesy Rock Products Nov. 1999)
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Vulcan Materials constructed a mile-long nature trail and
learning center at its Hendersonville, NC, quarry. The company hired teachers to
write a curriculum for grades K-12 that dealt with geology, ecology, and
environmental regulation. In 1998, more than 2,000 students walked the trail.
At its Arundel, MD, quarry, Florida Rock created a
wetland behind a local elementary school for research purposes. Nearly 10 acres
in size, the wetland is reached by trails, boardwalks, and viewing areas. This
program demonstrates not only teaching about natural history, but also
environmental responsibility and corporate stewardship of the land.
These efforts are evidence that the aggregates industry is
doing its part in the necessary job of preserving ecosystems.
(from a story by Mark Crawford, November 1999 Rock Products)
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