Fort Madison Facility

About the Program
Freeport-McMoRan Inc.’s Fort Madison Facility is a landfill located near the city of Fort Madison in southeastern Iowa. Here, in a landscape surrounded by forest and grasslands, the team manage 64 acres for the benefit of local wildlife.

Practices and Impacts

• Since 1988, the team have managed 64 acres of grassland on-site. Firebreaks are mowed in the grassland area several times per year and plant species are surveyed annually.
• Starting in 2006, wood duck nesting boxes were installed throughout the wetland areas of the site. The team currently maintains 47 boxes that are cleaned and repaired annually, with annual observations about the number of eggs fledged.
• In 2017, the team was required by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to relocate freshwater mussels (of the butterfly, yellow sandshell, mapleleaf, flat floater and Wabash pigtoe species) that were impacted by construction of a water outfall. The team exceeded these regulatory requirements by constructing rip rap to enhance habitat for fish that support these mussel species and by monitoring annually rather than merely at years two, five and ten as required by the agreement.
• The team engages local middle school students to conduct the annual mussel surveys. This serves to teach students about freshwater mussels.
• Starting in 2011, the team began hosting the Ft. Madison Annual Environmental Summit. Fish and macroinvertebrates are caught on-site during the event that provide insight to the quality of water and health of the wildlife in the pond and aquatic habitats. The summit also includes several touch tables with skins and bones of local wildlife provided by Lee County Conservation so that participants get a sense of the diversity of wildlife that utilize the grassland habitat.
• During the week of peak monarch butterfly migration in September, local scout groups are invited to two monarch tagging events on-site every year. In the process, the children learn more about the monarch's biology.