Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
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48 • January 2015 www.concreteproducts.com The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) continues to note major cement and aggregate producers' environmental stewardship through certi- fication and recognition during its annual symposium. "Celebrating Corporate Conservation" was the theme of the 2014 symposium, held late last year in Baltimore. LAFARGE NORTH AMERICA The Council has certified or recertified nine conservation projects at Lafarge North America sites across the United States. Six fall under WHC's Wildlife at Work program, which oversees voluntary efforts that go beyond regulatory requirements to restore and conserve wild- life habitats on corporate-owned land. The remaining three projects operate under WHC's Corporate Lands for Learning certification, which goes a step farther by opening up corporate lands to the local community for educational use. "WHC has been an invaluable partner in helping us fulfill our envi- ronmental sustainability goals over the years," says Lafarge U.S. Vice President of Environment Craig Campbell. "These programs validate our sites' commitment to operate as integrated, non-disruptive mem- bers of the surrounding ecosystem, which is one of the values we hold as stewards of the land. Our commitment to this value and ability to share lessons learned with local students and community groups is a unique opportunity to foster a sustainable cycle of environmental consciousness with long-lasting positive impacts." Since 2008, Lafarge has been working with WHC to restore and preserve habitats where they operate through projects that pro- mote the diversity of native plants and animals. Programs certified under Corporate Lands for Learning also serve as hands-on outdoor classrooms for local schools and community groups; examples include planting trees and shrubs to enhance habitats, establishing gardens that attract essential pollinators, mounting bird houses, building brush piles to provide cover for animals, plus building and maintaining water supplies. Lafarge supports migratory birds and ecosystems from New Orleans to Upper Michigan and a significant portion of the Northeast. WHC works with businesses to translate corporate sustainability goals and objectives into measurable real-world action that address a habitat's most pressing needs. By building collaboration among cor- porations, other conservation organizations, government agencies and local residents, Council conservation programs strive to build healthy ecosystems and connected communities. With the addition of these certified and recertified projects, Lafarge and WHC now operate a total of 25 programs in 10 states. TITAN AMERICA Joining "Celebrating Corporate Conservation" presenters was Titan America Environmental Manager Muhammad Khan, whose case study, "Titan Florida's Ecological Restoration," traced an ambitious natural undertaking at the company's Pennsuco cement mill. In the 1940s, the Corps of Engineers planted what it believed were harmless Melaleuca trees in and around the campus of the operation. By the late 1990s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had determined the tree to be an inva- sive species, compelling Titan staff to eradicate the familiar greenery. BRIEFS MANUFACTURERS Lafarge, Titan America, Vulcan Materials align with Wildlife Habitat Council