Graham II Quarry

About the Program
The Graham II Quarry program is operated by Vulcan Materials Company in northern Virginia. The program site is located in Lorton, Fairfax County, and contains a quarry. It is situated just to the north of the Occoquan River, a tributary of the Potomac River, and close to the 2,000-acre Fountainhead Regional Park. At the site, there are over 55 acres of forest as well as grasslands and a reservoir, which provide habitat for wildlife including birds such as bald eagles, ospreys and bluebirds. The program team maintains and monitors nest boxes for small cavity-nesting birds such as the eastern bluebird, as well as monitoring breeding pairs of bald eagles and osprey, which return to nest at the site each year. 

Practices and Impacts

• The site is located close to a river and reservoir, with wooded areas and large trees providing suitable areas for bald eagle nesting and foraging. The eagle nest sites are monitored frequently using NestWatch monitoring data collection logs, with eagles observed returning each winter. Bald eagle chicks have been successfully fledged at the site.
• Around the program site, bluebird boxes are mounted on posts to provide safe nesting spaces in habitat suitable for foraging. These boxes provide winter shelter as well as a suitable cavity for nesting. Regular monitoring takes place during nesting season, and eastern bluebirds have been observed continually using the boxes to rear chicks. 
• The site provides habitat for osprey. Monitoring takes place during the nesting season, and NestWatch monitoring data collection logs are shared.