Through the Wildlife Habitat Council’s Corporate Lands for Learning® (CLL) program, Marathon’s Catlettsburg, Kentucky, Refinery Wildlife Team volunteers have hosted more than 600 school children for natural science and conservation programs at the refinery’s Savage Branch Reserve. The team also has provided off-site outreach programs to more than 800 school children from four local school districts. The team has provided tours and programs for various professional organizations and facilitated a community service project for an Eagle Scout candidate. The CLL program provides students with a hands-on opportunity to study the forest and aquatic ecosystems. Activities include studying the taxonomy and life cycles; songbird nest box monitoring; and learning about the changing seasons and how those changes affect the Reserve’s plants and animals.
The Savage Branch Reserve program serves as part of the students’ environmental education programs. The Refinery Wildlife Volunteer Team developed partnerships with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and University of Kentucky Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service. For its efforts, the Catlettsburg Refinery was awarded the 2000 Kentucky Business Conservation Partner of the Year by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. Detroit, Michigan, employees support the Rouge River Gateway Project in cleaning up of the Rouge River and developing a Greenway along the length of the river. This Greenway addresses the natural aspects of the river and also celebrates the place the river has had in the history of the area.
The Findlay, Ohio, Office Complex sponsors an annual “Trees for the Future” Program in which Marathon purchases trees to be planted at a local elementary school and plants them with the students. This program is a joint effort of Marathon, the elementary school teachers and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with a goal of teaching children about the importance of trees.
The employees of Marathon’s Robinson, Illinois, refinery maintain three wildlife habitat sites within the local communities; Washington Park, Hutsonville Grade School, and Marathon’s Neil Pit Facility. Washington Park (certified n 2005) and Hutsonville Grade School (certified in 2008) are adjacent to local schools and provide outdoor classroom settings for the teachers and students.