Lyons Cement Plant

About the Program
The 587-acre Cemex Lyons Cement Plant in the Rocky Mountains near Lyons, Colorado, has a land reclamation project focused on restoring disturbed areas with native vegetation and rehabilitated wildlife. Active management of the prairie grasslands has been ongoing since 1998 and is designed to restore soil function to promote a self-sustaining, diverse native prairie habitat for a wide array of wildlife and flora. Cemex has worked with consultants and contractors to undertake reclamation mapping and maintenance activities like planning, weed control and native planting. In addition, Cemex informally coordinates management of prairie dog habitat, which supports the endangered black-footed ferret, with Boulder County Parks & Open Space.

Practices and Impacts

• Over 200 acres of grasslands at the Dowe Flats Quarry and over 350 acres at the Lyons Quarry have been reclaimed during the past 20 years using a variety of methods, including native planting.
• Stockpiled soils from mining operations contain seed stock that, once redistributed across an area, provide advanced vegetative cover, which is augmented by active vegetation management.
• Through carefully planned vegetation management, the project team has promoted the establishment and long-term sustainability of native prairie grasslands on-site, comprised of 85% grasses and 15% shrubs and forbs. The largest threat to this grassland area is invasive species, which are controlled via conventional weed management methods.
• Goats are used for grazing the grassland, benefiting the grassland by controlling weeds and fertilizing the soil.
• In addition, Cemex maintains previously restored landscape with pollinator gardens to improve the habitat for native pollinators.
• Cemex leads an environmental education program for middle school and high school students, including construction of squirrel habitat and bat boxes for usage on the property.