Wildlife Habitat Council

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A Second Chance for Community Greenspaces and Business
By Marcia Maslonek

Brownfield News, a publication of the National Brownfield Associations

The Southern Gateway Nature Park blooms with native flowers during the summer transforming this former Superfund site into a community haven. Photo by John Bolakas, Secor.

Strolling along a winding path at the Southern Gateway Nature Park along the Tuscarawas River in Ohio, one can easily forget the site’s history and status as a former Superfund site. Virginia bluebells dot the riverbanks in spring, milkweeds attract pollinators in summer and switchgrass waves tall and golden in the fall, challenging the notion that brownfields must always remain brown—and challenging the notion that commercial value is found only with development.

Through projects such as this, the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) encourages new visions for remediated sites, visions that encompass economic, social and ecological health and prove that brownfields are a tangible testing ground for the triple bottom line.

The Southern Gateway Nature Park has seen dramatic transformation in recent years. The former Alsco Aluminum Manufacturing site included a warehouse, deteriorating lot, floodplain, and a National Priorities List site in Gnadenhutten, Ohio. Atlantic Richfield (a BP-affiliated company) then inherited the liability. But imagination and a commitment to both community and environment allowed a new future to emerge. BP invited WHC and the village of Gnadenhutten to assist with their vision for the site in 2000. Moving forward from that meeting, the partners weaved a harmonious blend of greenspace restoration and economic development into this small town in rural, south central Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

Wildlife Habitat Council, 2007. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of WHC. To obtain permission or further information, send your request to Whc@wildlifehc.org. WHC reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

Wildlife Habitat Programs Thrive at Ready Mixed Facilities
By Bob Johnson

Concrete InFocus Magazine, a publication of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association

What do the Empire State Building, Interstate 81, and creating better wildlife habitathave in common? Well in this case, they all involve the concrete industry. The former two examples have a more obvious link. They are made-made structures that required concrete, and lots of it. In the latter case, the Wildlife Habitat Council has opened discussions with the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) to explore how WHC can assist the Association members design and implement wildlife habitat programs at their ready mixed facilities.

These operations are located for the most part on small pieces of property, a few acres, and generally in suburban or urban settings. The goal of the Wildlife Habitat Council, is to help the ready mixed industry appreciate the opportunity of playing a role in creating, enhancing, and restoring available wildlife habitats, and using them for environmental education and outreach.

Wildlife Habitat Council, 2004. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of WHC. To obtain permission or further information, send your request to Whc@wildlifehc.org. WHC reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

Wildlife Habitat Enhancements Help to Open the Doors of Aggregate Facilities
By Bob Johnson

Stone, Sand & Gravel Review, a publication of the National Stone, Sand, & Gravel Association

Stone, sand and other minerals are the material backbone of products that we, the general public, have grown to rely upon in our everyday lives. We find these materials in buildings, roads, bridges, as parts of cars, in appliances and even in our toothpaste. In fact, we would be hard pressed to find a product that is not involved in some way with the extraction industry. Although these products have become essential in our lives, we also know that preserving the integrity of the biosphere is critical to the existence of all life.

Corporations in the stone and sand mining business have begun this process by forming partnerships with conservation experts and integrating wildlife management programs. These strategies help provide essential components at facilities to sustain wildlife, including water, cover, food and habitat.

Wildlife Habitat Council, 2003. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of WHC. To obtain permission or further information, send your request to Whc@wildlifehc.org. WHC reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

Ecosystems Gain Strength Through Partnerships
By Vanessa C. Kauffman

Land & Water, the magazine of natural tesource management and restoration

River ecosystems are complex and perform several natural functions important to living creatures, including people. They provide habitat for many species of fish, waterfowl and wildlife, move water through the landscape and serve as wildlife migration corridors. A river ecosystem includes not only the river itself, but also the land around the river—its watershed. The land surrounding rivers provides diverse habitats, including wetlands, grasslands and woodlands. These lands, or riparian areas link river ecosystems with upland ecosystems. Given the fluid nature of water, protecting aquatic biodiversity is no easy task. Managing any one resource affects the others in an ecosystem. Human activities upstream can affect a part of the ecosystem many miles downstream.

Protecting a vibrant ecosystem like the St. Clair River is a major focus for the surrounding communities along the river. The waters of Lake Huron flow down the St. Clair River to the St. Clair Flats delta and into Lake St. Clair, connecting a vital shared resource between the United States and Canada. This 64 km connecting channel is an important international waterway, with heavy demands put on it as a shipping channel and as a source of water for power generation, municipal water supply, recreational uses--including boating and fishing--and industrial cooling and process water.

Over the years, the St. Clair River has become a heavily developed corridor, leading to habitat fragmentation and dramatically reducing the overall quality of the ecosystem. Less than five percent of all natural riparian areas still exist, in which wildlife is challenged to survive. Prairie habitat has seen the greatest impact, with less than one percent of pre-settlement habitat remaining in Ontario and southeast Michigan today. Fortunately, because of the importance of the area for waterfowl and fish populations, the St. Clair River increasingly has become a focus of international efforts to improve the existing habitats.

The St. Clair region historically was a landscape of great biodiversity. Along the shoreline of the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair, emergent marshes would slowly transition into wet prairie, prairie and into oak-savanna communities on the beach ridges of the glacial lakeplain. Further into the interior, oak-hickory forests dominated the till plain, while beech-maple forests covered features with more relief. In lower depressions left by the glaciers, wooded wetlands--dominated by ash--pockmarked the landscape. The mosaic of natural communities that comprise these ecosystems collectively makes up the natural heritage of the region.

Cover photo above left: A monarch butterfly alights on a flower stem at DTE Energy's Belle River Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
Photo above right: Numerous species of native wildflowers bloom on the open fields that surround the Belle River Plant.
Photos by Joseph Crachiola.

Read about other Waterways for Wildlife regional projects.

Wildlife Habitat Council, 2001. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of WHC. To obtain permission or further information, send your request to Whc@wildlifehc.org. WHC reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

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