Stoy Station

About the Program
Marathon Petroleum Company manages more than 1,300 acres of WHC-Certified habitat at multiple locations, including the Stoy Station grasslands in Illinois. The site, which is located roughly between Indianapolis and St Louis, features an 11-acre grasslands and a 0.15-acre fruit tree grove. The Stoy Wildlife Team seeks to grow grasslands vegetation and fruit trees to benefit insect and wildlife species, in particularly pollinators, while also providing for employee education and engagement.

Practices and Impacts

• Mowing of the three grasslands sections, which total 11 acres, is done on a rotational basis to mow each section every three years.
• Every week, members of the Stoy Wildlife Team spend 15-30 minutes on site observing wildlife activity. In 2022, at least 24 wildlife species were observed on-site, including white-tailed deer, red-tailed foxes, eastern cottontail rabbits, blue-jays, monarch butterflies, racoons and bumble bees.
• Monitoring data from 2022 indicates that approximately 66% of the 39 vegetation species found on-site are native species, including great blue lobelia, Kentucky bluegrass and downy phlox, as well as multiple species of trees including prairie crabapple, pawpaw, and pecan.
• Employees are regularly engaged in mowing and monitoring of the project. Over the last two years, members of the Stoy Wildlife Team have spent an average of 66 hours annually observing wildlife in the grasslands area.
• In 2013, the Story Wildlife Team planted 46 fruit trees on site. As of 2022, eight of those trees are remaining, including a black cherry, a crabapple, two fuji apples, a pawpaw, two pecans and a persimmon.
• The grasslands and fruit tree grove are in alignment with Marathon Petroleum Company’s framework for sustainability. Biodiversity is a component of the framework, wherein MPC seeks to protect ecosystems with high ecological importance, including wildlife habitat sites and wetlands.