SCC Ag & Natural Resource Students Partner With Lafarge

11/19/07

Forestry students from Shawnee Community College recently kicked off a partnership with the Lafarge Corporation, a local concrete product manufacturer, in Grand Chain, IL. The mission of this partnership is to create an outdoor learning center for a program called Corporate Lands for Learning.

The program involves establishment of a series of nature trails, restoration and enhancement of wildlife habitat, and school nature program development. Students began marking the main trail, tree removal, invasive species removal, and Eastern Bluebird box establishment. Bluebird boxes, Raptor perches, Kestrel perches and Wood Duck boxes were constructed and donated to the project by High School Agriculture students from Anna-Jonesboro High School, Joppa High School and Shawnee High School. Consultation work has been conducted thus far by Jeff Hoover, Illinois Natural History Survey, and Kevin Rhodes and Tony Gerard, Instructors at SCC. In addition, equipment usage has been supplied by the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge. These partnerships, working collectively with Lafarge administration and employees, have moved the project forward in recent weeks.

Over the next few semesters SCC students from various disciplines including Natural Resource Management, Outdoor Recreation, Plant and Soil Science, Fish and Wildlife Management, Biology and Ecology will participate in various capacities with the project.