ENVIRONMENTAL EFFORT

FCA employees plant grass, flowers

Autoworkers put their green thumbs to use outside the Windsor Assembly Plant Sunday morning for the 11th year in a row. FCA’s joint workplace environment committee partnered with the Essex Region Conservation Authority and the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup again this year to continue naturalizing an area just south of the assembly plant. “I think this is incredible,” said Richard St. Denis, a co-chair of the environment committee and Unifor Local 444 representative. “For generations to come, this whole area is going to be naturalized for the community. We’re doing some positive things, and we’re making a difference.”

In 2008, members of the committee began planting trees on FCA property along Grand Marais Road East; more than a dozen years ago, Chrysler tore down the building that once stood there and maintained a green lawn on the empty space.

This year, a record number of about 150 volunteers, FCA employees and members of the general community, planted native wildflowers and grasses along a long strip of the space.

With 1,000 trees currently in the ground, it’s important to add meadow habitat to the restoration sight, according to Gina Pannun- zio, the partnership and outreach co-ordinator with Essex Region Conservation Authority.

“It feels nice to know that everyone’s happy to help,” said Pannunzio. “Encouraging other people to learn about biodiversity in our area is great.

The Detroit River Cleanup, which Pannunzio is also a member of, helps provide the FCA volunteers with supplies and funding support for plant materials. “It’s pretty amazing to see us from the plant get out in the community and try to help the environment,” said Dan Mustac, co-chair of the committee and a plant manager. “The idea is to increase the local biodiversity. You look at old photos of this land and realize how much work we’ve done, and it feels great.”

In August, the project was designated an urban habitat restoration site by the Wildlife Habitat Council, a global organization that promotes and certifies habitat conservation on corporate lands. Next year, the committee plans to continue creating a meadow habitat along the land towards Walker Road, said St. Denis. Once all of the planting is complete, volunteers in future years will be able to participate in bio blitzes and species counts, and perform maintenance on the land, said Pannunzio.