To celebrate Earth Day, Lafarge North America’s Paulding cement plant in Paulding, Ohio, mounted a bat shelter in one of the plant’s several wildlife habitat areas.
“As a site certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council, we make it a priority to be aware of the needs of our surrounding wildlife,” says Tim Weible, senior environmental manager at Lafarge’s Paulding plant. “Bats are an essential part of a balanced eco-system.
Building this shelter is our response to the needs of a declining bat population.” Bats help control pests, such as mosquitoes, and are also vital pollinators and seed-dispersers for countless vegetation. However, in many areas their habitats are being destroyed, leaving no place for bats to nest and consequently, creating a critical gap in the regeneration of local plant life.
“By installing a bat shelter on-site, we hope to attract more bats to the area and help restore the bat population by providing a safe place to roost,” says Weible. The Paulding site has multiple wildlife habitat areas, such as grass plains, a lake and wildflowers, in order to preserve a natural habitat for local wildlife and vegetation. Making more durable cities and communities through sustainability and environmental stewardship programs like this is one of Lafarge’s key priorities.
Local initiatives, such as those put forth by the Paulding site, maintain this commitment and work toward maintaining the environmental integrity of Lafarge North America’s operations.
