009 Landfill, GA

About the Program
From 1948 to 1980, the Hercules 009 Landfill operated as a waste disposal site on the coast of Georgia, just 80 miles south of Savannah and 70 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida. This 16.5-acre landfill in Brunswick, Georgia, ceased operations in 1982 due to contamination levels on-site. The site has since been remediated and serves as a variety of habitats for native wildlife and plant species. With the addition of nest boxes, coverboards and a pollinator hotel on the remediated landfill, the site attracts a variety of avian, amphibian, reptilian and pollinator species to the area where they can forage and thrive in the pond, meadow and forests on-site. 

Practices and Impacts

• The landfill has since been remediated after it was shut down in 1982 and has been left undisturbed to revegetate to natural conditions. Ashland provides updates on these remediation goals and efforts on its website, where the public can learn further about the purpose of this remediation. 
• In 2020, nest boxes were added to attract native cavity-nesting birds such as American robins, eastern bluebirds, carolina wrens and barn swallows. These boxes are monitored monthly and unfortunately have not been used in the past two years. There are plans, however, to move these boxes to different locations to attract more birds. 
• Two coverboards were added to the site in 2018 and have since been monitored monthly for amphibian and reptile activity. Four different species of amphibians, including skinks and salamanders, have been found in the past few years seeking shelter in these boards.
• A game camera on-site helps collect data on wildlife using the grassland habitat such as red fox, white tailed deer and eastern cottontail. With little luck of sightings in 2021 and 2022, there are possible plans to relocate the camera to a better spot.