GM Habitats Appeal to All Senses

At General Motors, we’re committed to conserving the natural resources in our plants while preserving the plants that grow outside of them.

Take our Canadian headquarters in Oshawa, Ontario. More than half of the 200-acre property is a dedicated wildlife habitat that is open to the public throughout the year, free of charge. TheMcLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve is situated along the north shore of Lake Ontario and features 11 trails, one of which is designed to give the visually impaired an opportunity to better experience the preserve’s natural beauties.

Constructed in 1996 in consultation with the Canadian Institute of the Blind, the Dogwood Trail features a paved wheelchair-accessible path lined with a guide rope for easier mobility. Visitors can listen to native woodland birds while learning the history of the habitat from large-text and Braille panels alongside the trail.

The McLaughlin Bay habitat is one of 15 GM conservation programs that earned Wildlife at Work or Corporate Lands for Learningrecertification last week during the Wildlife Habitat Council’s annual symposium. GM leads the auto industry with 26 certified wildlife habitat programsand we’re committed to certifying each of our manufacturing sites where feasible by 2020. We manage more than 4,200 acres of habitat throughout our operations —more than 26 percent of the certified sites’ overall footprint.

The Wildlife Habitat Council’s Wildlife at Work andCorporate Lands for Learning programs recognize outstanding wildlife habitat management and environmental education efforts at corporate sites, and offers third-party validation of the benefits of such programs. Certification requirements require sites to apply for periodic renewal.