Navistar's Springfield Assembly Plant's Wildlife Project is for the Birds, Butterflies and Bats.

Thanks to some green changes at Navistar’s Springfield, Ohio, truck assembly plant, the site recently received a two-year certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council as an accredited corporate wildlife program.

According to Tim McDaniel, environmental, health and safety manager, Springfield’s journey to the WHC certification began when, after Navistar became a member of the non-profit organization in 2007, a team of wildlife biologists visited the plant and recommended some environmentally friendly enhancements.

Tim and a team of about a dozen volunteers started working on the biologists’ suggestions in March 2008 — including a reduction in mowing and an initiative to attract more wildlife with bird and bat houses.

“The whole goal of the organization is to get private land owners to utilize the land that they’re not really using for their business for the betterment of nature and wildlife,” Tim said. “It can be something as small as putting in some flower gardens out in front of a complex that will attract butterflies or hummingbirds or as big as setting aside hundreds of thousands of acres.”

The volunteer group, which includes employees from all three plant shifts and some family members, has placed about 30 bat and birdhouses around the property so far, with the help of a local Boy Scout troop and two high school Future Farmers of America groups.

Tim and a team of volunteers started working on the biologists’ suggestions in March 2008 — including a reduction in mowing and an initiative to attract more wildlife with bird and bat houses.Looking ahead, the team at Springfield hopes to expand its green efforts by further reducing the amount of regularly mowed property, erecting more birdhouses and building a scenic walking track for employees, among other projects.

“At the awards ceremony, we saw that most businesses did not stop at getting their wildlife project recognized, in fact, the real value is in reaching out to the community with those sites,” said Rusty Sindle, wildlife team leader. “For our next big step, we’d like to gain learning certification for our lands, by working with schools or organizations—such as the Boys Scouts or 4H clubs—and utilizing our land as a teaching tool. Cub Scouts or Brownies could learn about nature, do a guided tour of our walking path and earn a badge in the process. We’d like to really focus on community outreach, and not just the butterflies and the birds on our property.”