General Motors Company
St. Catharines Powertrain
St Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Certified Gold through 2024
Project Name
Project Type
South Yard Forest
Forest
Avian Species
Avian
Bat Species
Bats
World Environment Day
Awareness & Community Engagement
Barn Swallow
Avian
GM ecoSTEM
Awareness & Community Engagement
About the Program
St. Catherine's Powertrain is a manufacturing facility operated by General Motors in Ontario, Canada. The facility is home to a 5-acre tall grass prairie that functions as a managed habitat area for more than a dozen local avian species. The conservation area is managed in cooperation with Niagara College's Ecosystem Restoration Post-Grad Program. The site is located adjacent to a manufacturing facility that ceased operations in 1995. After its closing, it was discovered that the facility's operations were greatly detrimental to the surrounding land areas. Beginning September 2012, General Motors, along with Niagara College, began a reclamation effort that has successfully reintegrated local species and allowed for many opportunities for public and employee engagement. The Glendale Avenue Site is comprised of an open meadow area with a walking path and efforts have included building bird and bat boxes, clearing invasive species, and planting native species. Partners include Niagara College, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and Land Care Niagara.
Practices and Impacts
St. Catherine's Powertrain is a manufacturing facility operated by General Motors in Ontario, Canada. The facility is home to a 5-acre tall grass prairie that functions as a managed habitat area for more than a dozen local avian species. The conservation area is managed in cooperation with Niagara College's Ecosystem Restoration Post-Grad Program. The site is located adjacent to a manufacturing facility that ceased operations in 1995. After its closing, it was discovered that the facility's operations were greatly detrimental to the surrounding land areas. Beginning September 2012, General Motors, along with Niagara College, began a reclamation effort that has successfully reintegrated local species and allowed for many opportunities for public and employee engagement. The Glendale Avenue Site is comprised of an open meadow area with a walking path and efforts have included building bird and bat boxes, clearing invasive species, and planting native species. Partners include Niagara College, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and Land Care Niagara.
Practices and Impacts
- For the South Yard Forest, Forest project, the Team implemented Phragmites removal, tree pruning and trash clean-up. Monitoring involves tree survivorship and wildlife observations.
- A large nesting structure for barn swallows is installed and new nesting activity is documented. All nest boxes at the facility are cleaned out.
- Installed bat boxes are monitored for bat use by looking for bat guano.
- The Team implements a yearly World Environment Day through themes such as "Clean Air", "Biodiversity", and "UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration" to engage employees in protecting the environment on the facility site.
- The Team GM ecoSTEM, Awareness & Community Engagement implements a yearly event for 8th graders to learn sustainability initiatives, water characteristics, benthic invertebrates and their water pollution tolerance, proper waste disposal, and pollinator's role in the environment. The activity is conducted at Niagara College.
