AM/NS Calvert – Waterfowl Habitat / Agriscience Student Project

AM/NS Calvert is a 50/50 joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel Corporation. The steel processing plant is in Calvert, Alabama, approximately 35 miles north of Mobile (Mobile County). The facility serves the automotive, construction, pipe and tube, service center and appliance/HVAC industry by providing high-quality steel of various grades and coatings. AM/NS Calvert is located on approximately 2,400 acres of land with approximately 160 acres of protected wetlands – with this availability AM/NS has cultivated an environmental stewardship focused on wildlife habitat management.

AM/NS Calvert has used the opportunity to improve the waterfowl population. This goal was carried out by commissioning a wood duck nesting boxes project, where AM/NS Calvert partnered with an educational stakeholder to produce man-made nesting accommodations for the local wood duck habitat. In March of 2023, AM/NS Calvert partnered with Mr. Ryan Crews, Citronelle High School’s Agriscience Instructor, to construct wood duck nesting boxes as part of his classroom educational curriculum. In return, members of the AM/NS Calvert’s environmental team hosted a lunch and learn where the agriscience students learned about the local wood duck habitat as they enjoyed pizza and soda for their hard work in constructing the nesting boxes. Later that month, members of the environmental team installed six wood duck nesting boxes in and around AM/NS Calvert’s protected wetlands. As these six boxes become occupied, the environmental team plans to add more nesting boxes to further enhance nesting availability.

The primary goal of this project was to improve the wood duck population within AM/NS Calvert’s managed wetlands, but ancillary value to the ecosystem was generated too. According to ecologists, wood ducks play a significant role in improving the quality of wetland areas. As they move throughout the wetlands foraging for food, they “trans-pollinate” new plants and animal species to different areas creating favorable conditions for cultivating new plant and animal communities within the wetland areas.

The wood duck nesting boxes project is another example of AM/NS Calvert keeping with its Purpose and Values while demonstrating continued support to environmental stewardship and sustainability.