HeidelbergCement invites researchers, students and citizens to submit biodiversity projects in its quarries around the world.
The aim of this scientific and educational contest is to raise awareness of the organic value of mining sites and share new best practices with the scientific community, NGOs, authorities and our operating units.
The 5th edition of our contest will start in 2020. More information will be published in due time on this website.
23 Apr 2019
The new brochure introduces the international and national winners.
25 Jan 2019
On December 5, 2018, the International QLA Ceremony took place in Brussels. After introducing to you this edition's international winners, we now want to share a short mood video with you: the cameraman certainly did a great job in capturing the evening's magic.
22 Jan 2019
A group of Turkish students from Izmir wanted to enhance biodiversity in the nearby quarry. To realize this mission, they showed great effort and exemplary team spirit. The students used innovative methods such as vertical planting to enrich the quarry with local medicinal plants.
The team made their way to the Lehigh Hanson Cadomin Quarry to place the boxes on the pre-fabricated stand. Eleven boxes were placed on the nine stand posts, which included traditional designs (three multi-chambers and three rocket-boxes), two of our prototypes, as well as three small multi-chambers that have had previous roosting success in Jasper.
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After a late night of preparation and frayed nerves, our team made their way to the Quarry Site to present in front of Quarry Life Award Judges and Lehigh Hanson Heidelberg. After arriving at the quarry and setting up in anticipation for the big presentation, nerves began to exponentially escalate. The team presented the project with great enthusiasm with a focus on project goals, current accomplishments, and future plans.
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Bat counters can be used in the field to monitor occupancy in bat boxes. They have a sensor that detects movement in and out of the boxes which allow researchers to collect large amounts of data without always being in the field. This type of monitoring is ideal for long-term occupancy studies.
Read moreThe Japanese art of charring wood as a preservation technique called Shou-Sugi-Ban (焼杉板) also known as Yakisugi, which directly translates into “burnt cedar board”. This style of preservation protects leaves the wood with a silvery finish which protects the wood from fire, rotting, insect infestation and has been known to last up to 80+ years. Traditionally, this technique was used on Japanese cedar but in modern times has been used to preserve wood other species such as Pinus and Quercus.
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