Girl Scouts Swoop in to Save Bluebirds in GM Plant Community

There are a number of things that have contributed to the decline of the bluebird population in the United States.

Forest clearings.

Competition from other birds for nests.

Because they feast on insects found in grassy areas, bluebirds prefer to nest in trees that give them a vantage point for their next meal.

But as those trees begin to disappear, so too have the bluebirds.

As the situation worsens, more and more wildlife groups have flocked to build nesting boxes that help give bluebirds their advantage back. (We’ve even gotten into the act at our Milford Proving Ground.)

At our Wentzville Assembly plant in Missouri – a plant working toward earning wildlife certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council – one of our environmental engineers, Kelly Peters, brought in a Girl Scout troop to build bluebird nesting boxes as a way to earn their Bronze award.

The goal of the Bronze Award is to learn more about the community where you live, and pick a project that can be a benefit. This seemed like a natural fit, so Peters gave the girls a quick presentation on the plight of the bluebird, then got down to work.

“We built 20 nesting boxes out of cedar over the course of two days, and the girls each took one home  with them,” said Peters. “One girl found a bird inhabited her nest almost immediately.” The rest of the nesting boxes went back to Wentzville Assembly.

Not all projects return such immediate dividends, but it showed the Girls Scouts that GM is a company concerned with more than just building vehicles.

All in all, GM has 26 wildlife habitat programs at facilities around the world that are certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council – more than any other automaker. Within these sites, 26 percent of the land mass is actively managed as wildlife habitat.