AGGREGATE COMPANIES LEAD IN ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
By Harold Hough  

            We frequently associate great reclamation projects with large mines.  However, quarries and aggregate operations are just as committed to environmental.  Here are some examples.

PROTECTING AN ENDANGERED DAISY. 

The rare Lakeside Daisy is currently known to exist at only two natural sites in the United States: the Marblehead Quarry in Ohio and in Michigan.  The Marblehead Quarry produces approximately 4,000,000 tons of crushed limestone per year.  Despite that, the endangered Lakesite Daisy isn’t in danger of disappearing thanks to the Lakeside Daisy Preserve, which encompasses 19 acres of the old limestone quarries on the Marblehead Peninsula of Lake Erie.  The Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves works with Lafarge Corporation to protect the Lakeside Daisy within the active limestone quarry. This is one of Ohio’s most spectacular wildflowers. In early to mid-May, its bright yellow flowers adorn the sun-baked landscape of the Marblehead Quarry.

 PRESERVING A HISTORIC MINING RIVER.  Then there is Teichert Aggregates, one of the largest aggregate producers in the US.  Teichert is an industrial leader in preserving wetlands along the historic American River in California.  They worked closely with federal, state, and environmental groups to recreate healthy wetlands and encourage waterfowl to inhabit them after they mined them for sand.  “One of the first signs of an unhealthy wetland is that birds such as mallards and wood ducks disappear,” noted Robert McLandress, a wetland advocate.  “If they disappear, it is an early indicator of an unhealthy environment.”  The American River was at the center of the California Gold Rush 160 years ago.

SAVE THE RED LEGGED FROG. 

The 110 year old, Granite Rock has maintained a reputation for being a forward thinking company.  In the last year, it has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for, received the Clean Ocean Award from the City of Santa Cruz, and been named the Manufacturing Business of the Year by San Benito County Chamber of Commerce.
            When they reopened the quarry near Wilder Ranch, there were two to four red-legged frogs in each of the settling ponds.  And, the frog was about to be listed as an endangered species.
            The fact was that the last hundred years hadn’t been as good to the Red-Legged Frog as it had been to the Mark Twain story.  Frog legs became a popular food in the 1890s and populations started to decline.  As the native frog became harder to find, bullfrogs were introduced to keep miner’s palates satisfied.  Unfortunately bullfrogs also thought red-legged frogs were tasty too, so populations took another nose dive.  As a result, by 1996, the quarry was home to many bullfrogs and just a few red-legged frogs.
            The first step to stabilizing the red-legged frog population and helping it to grow was to get rid of the bullfrogs.  That included draining the settling ponds in the fall when the red-legged frogs were migrating to the damp woodlands, but the bull frogs needed them so their tadpoles could mature.  They also cull the bullfrogs during the summer.
            Another step was to eliminate telephone lines over the property because predatory birds would sit on the lines to catch sight of a frog.  They also planted grasses along the banks of the ponds to hide the nesting frogs.
            Ponds have also been built to meet the needs of the frog, including having deep areas and a shallow slope for the tadpoles.  Some of these ponds have been set aside for perpetual conservation of the frog.
            Frog preservation also extends to the employees, who have been trained in the handling of the endangered frogs and are authorized to touch the frog to protect them from danger.  That allows them to check their heavy equipment every morning for wayward frogs. 
            The result has been dramatic.  Where the red-legged frog population was once counted on one hand, there can now be as many as 60 in one settling pond.  Today, environmental officials come from around the country to see how a mining company can help restore the population of an endangered species, while continuing to operate and make a profit. 

RECLAIMING A FORMER DUMP. 

Badger Mining, an aggregate producer in Wisconsin, believes in leaving a site in the same or better condition, even if they aren’t responsible for the damage.  When they decided to build a new corporate headquarters, they picked an industrial wasteland that was a former dump for local foundries.  There was little vegetation at the site and erosion was a problem for the neighboring wetland. 
            During the construction process, the company moved 150,000 yards of fill and added topsoil to half the property, some of which wasn’t even theirs.  The company made the area a wildlife refuge with a four-acre fish lake and a two-acre wetland.  Piles of dirt that had blocked the flow of water from the lake were removed so walleye could begin breeding in the area once again.