{"id":38488,"date":"2022-10-26T13:47:13","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T17:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/?page_id=38488"},"modified":"2022-11-16T12:23:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T17:23:30","slug":"wildlife-enhancement-program","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/member-services\/vegetation-management\/wildlife-enhancement-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife Enhancement Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-38780 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/SCIREMC_WildlifeProgram_fcWEB-400x115-1.png\" alt=\"South Central Indiana Wildlife Enhancement Program\" width=\"45%\" height=\"115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/SCIREMC_WildlifeProgram_fcWEB-400x115-1.png 400w, https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/SCIREMC_WildlifeProgram_fcWEB-400x115-1-340x98.png 340w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>South Central Indiana Rural Electric Membership Corporation (SCI REMC) recognizes its responsibility to its members, community, and environment. That\u2019s why in conjunction with the mission to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective electricity, the cooperative works to create, promote, and preserve wildlife habitats through its Wildlife Enhancement Program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>As of early 2015, SCI has installed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"two-columns-pwd-nr\">\n<li>136 Bat Nesting and Colony Boxes<\/li>\n<li>469 Bluebird Boxes<\/li>\n<li>89 Wildlife Food Plot Areas<\/li>\n<li>4 Eagle and Osprey Nesting Platforms<\/li>\n<li>11 Raptor Perches<\/li>\n<li>9 Red-Tail Hawk Nesting Platforms<\/li>\n<li>50 Kestrel and Screech Owl Nesting Boxes<\/li>\n<li>39 Barred Owl Nesting Boxes<\/li>\n<li>5 Barn Owl Nesting Boxes<\/li>\n<li>18 Flying Squirrel Colony and Nesting Boxes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Wildlife Enhancement Program targets 3 key areas:<\/p>\n<h2>Habitat<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Where possible, dead trees are left standing and trimmed below power lines to provide habitat for squirrels, raccoons, bats, bluebirds, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, bees, and other pollinators.<\/li>\n<li>Where property owners allow, brush and wind-rolled piles are left in right-of-way corridors to provide nesting and shelter habitat.<\/li>\n<li>Most cleared right-of-way areas are reseeded with a seed mixture developed to protect against erosion, promote a more desirable and manageable right-of-way floor, and foster indigenous species and pollinator habitat.<\/li>\n<li>Most slow\/low-growing trees\/bushes suitable for wildlife are left undisturbed.<\/li>\n<li>SCI uses the Basil method of herbicide application, which targets undesirable, fast-growing tree species that may interfere with electric reliability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Wildlife<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Where possible, active bee, den, and nesting trees are left undisturbed.<\/li>\n<li>SCI REMC installs bluebird boxes, bat boxes, owl and hawk nesting boxes, nesting platforms, and hunting perches throughout its service territory to foster wildlife.<\/li>\n<li>Work is scheduled\/performed to minimize known nesting\/active sites disturbance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Education<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Employees are trained yearly on endangered\/protected species of animals, plants, and pollinators.<\/li>\n<li>Supervisors are annually certified with the State of Indiana in herbicide application\/use.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>History of the Program<\/h2>\n<h3>2005<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>SCI developed its Energy for Wildlife Program, making it the second utility and first REMC in the nation to do so.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2006<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>SCI received a certified endorsement of its wildlife program through the National Wild Turkey Federation (NTWF) and the NTWF\u2019s first Energy for Wildlife Award.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2009<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>SCI developed its internationally recognized Raptor Enhancement Program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2015<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>SCI enhanced wildlife seed mixture to be more pollinator beneficial by adding wildflower seed to mix.<\/li>\n<li>Relinquished ties with NWTF Energy for Wildlife Program and established its in-house Wildlife Enhancement Program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Central Indiana Rural Electric Membership Corporation (SCI REMC) recognizes its responsibility to its members, community, and environment. That\u2019s why in conjunction with the mission to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective electricity, the cooperative works to create, promote, and preserve wildlife habitats through its Wildlife Enhancement Program. As of early 2015, SCI has installed: 136 [&#8230;]\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"parent":38480,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38488"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39598,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38488\/revisions\/39598"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciremc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}