THREE EMPLOYEES of Fairmount Minerals accepted an award on behalf of the company from Saving Birds Thru Habitat. Pictured from left are Lisa Six from Manistee, Cristine Lews and Mike Anderson from Chardon, Ohio. Fairmount Minerals of Chardon, Ohio has been recognized as “Conservation Partner of the Year” by Saving Birds Thru Habitat (SBTH).

The award celebrates seven years of conservation collaboration with the international sand mining company. SBTH became involved with the company in 2005, and since that time, the organization and company have joined forces on a variety of bird conservation efforts. Those efforts include habitat restoration at numerous Fairmount sites, environmental education for employees during company-sponsored “lunch and learn” presentations, and providing 50,000 jack pines a year for the Kirtland warbler recovery effort.

For six years, the company has also underwritten the purchase of thousands of native trees and shrubs, which were obtained for a partnership between SBTH, Conservation Resource Alliance, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and the Leelanau Conservancy. The plants were all used for habitat restoration.

Fairmount has been generous with SBTH, making annual donations to its operating funds. Two years ago, eight members of the company’s environmental team traveled to Omena to see firsthand how native plants help migrating bird populations. Team members spent half their time working to stabilize the banks around the organization’s “Earth Window” which allows viewing of prairie plant roots. Last month, five Fairmount employees from three states were on hand to receive the award. Four arrived two days early in order to work on habitat improvements. The employees brought a $1,000 grant from the company for native plants, which they personally installed in SBTH’s prairie demonstration gardens.