American Electric Power Company, Southwestern Electric Power Company, Flint Creek Power Plant

Ontario Power Generation, Pickering Nuclear

U.S. Department of the Army, Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division, Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site

American Electric Power Company, Southwestern Electric Power Company, Flint Creek Power Plant

American Electric Power Company (AEP) Southwestern Electric Power Company’s (SWEPCO) Flint Creek Power Plant sponsored two days of activities with Gentry, Arkansas, school students and local 4-H Club members to celebrate Earth Day and the site’s recognition as a WHC Signature of Sustainability.

On Friday, April 18, students from grades K-6 at the Gentry Primary School, Gentry Intermediate School and Gentry Middle School took part in educational classroom programs. Lynn Sciumbato delivered a program on raptors, featuring live birds that she rehabilitates at the Morning Star Wildlife Rehab Center. More wildlife was on display as Ray Wiggs of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission presented live reptiles and snakes for the students. Lori Spencer of the Arkansas State Parks at Mt. Magazine held a program on pollinators. Ms. Spencer is considered a state butterfly expert and is the author of the new book Butterflies and Moths of Arkansas.

The next day, activities shifted to the Flint Creek Power Plant’s award-winning Eagle Watch Nature Trail. Gentry Middle School 6th grade science class added to their butterfly garden with nectar and host plants grown in their classroom. The Bloomfield Community 4-H Club planted more flower beds. The Cornerstone 4-H Club planted a food plot with seeds provided by the Arkansas Game & Fish Acres for Wildlife Program. All of the groups then assisted in planting paw paw trees and wafer ash trees that are host plants for zebra and giant swallowtail butterflies. The Saturday morning event also included planting half an acre of native prairie grass and wildflowers in a prairie restoration area. After the work is finished the group heard a program on pollinators presented by the University of Arkansas Entomology Department.

Marcia Maslonek, WHC Vice President of Programs, presented the site with a plaque commemorating the Signature of Sustainability designation.

Ontario Power Generation, Pickering Nuclear

The community volunteers then got to work and planted hundreds of trees in about an hour – a new “fastest time” record for this twice-yearly event. The threatening rain held off and the volunteers enjoyed a barbeque back at the Alex Robertson Park parking lot.

U.S. Department of the Army, Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division, Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site

In April, the Fort Carson Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division marked its 20th year hosting Earth Day events at the Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Fort Carson, Colorado. The three-day event also celebrated the facility’s recognition as a Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) Signature of Sustainability.

This year’s event centered on the theme, “Celebrate the Earth” and educated students on practices to sustain resources for the future. Activities included a recycled grocery bag drawing contest, a poetry contest, a reading of Dr. Seuss’ environmentally themed classic The Lorax, and an educational fair. Stations at the fair educated students on cultural resources, recycling as storm water runoff among other topics. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered a station on endangered species that featured the “Suitcase for Survival,” which teaches about the effects of wildlife trade on biodiversity. The Colorado State Forest Service was also present with a station on the value of trees.

Burrowing owls are one of many species that find their home at Fort Carson.

Additionally students from area schools are planting trees throughout April and May in support of Fort Carson’s “Tree City USA” certification, now in its 21st year. More than 2,000 students from Fort Carson schools others near the site are expected to participate.

The Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site’s Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan promotes the protection and conservation of both plants and animals on the 373,000-acre property, including a number of threatened, endangered and species of special concern, such as the round-leaf four-o’clock, golden blazing star, Mexican spotted and burrowing owls, mountain plover and black-tailed prairie dog. Activities include rotational use of lands for military maneuvers, controlling erosion, maintaining short grass habitat for grasshopper sparrows, lark bunting, yellow-breasted chat and warblers, and maintaining reservoirs on-site for public fishing and recreation programs.

The Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) project helps the site manage its property despite physical encroachment by surrounding communities on the sensitive habitat adjacent to Fort Carson. Properties surrounding the Installation with high conservation values were identified and conservation easements and leases on approximately 80,000 acres of private land are acquired with partners from the community.

The Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site’s Corporate Lands for Learning program helps students from Carson Middle School and other schools in the region gain appreciation of the biological diversity and human impacts on the wildlife of El Paso, Pueblo and Fremont Counties. Standards-based field programs engage students by using a variety of habitats including grasslands, wetlands and woodlands.