Building cars, engines and boardwalks: Toyota aids Harvest Square Nature Preserve

HARVEST – When you think about Toyota, what is the first thing that pops into your mind?

Woodlands? Wetlands? Nature trails? Fishing ponds?

Probably not, but you may be surprised to know there is more to Toyota than just another pretty car, rugged truck, or roomy SUV.

And to prove it, Toyota teamed up with the Land Trust of North Alabama and the National Environmental Education Foundation last Saturday to celebrate National Public Lands Day with a $150,000 multiyear Toyota grant.

The grant will support various projects focused on physical and visual accessibility. The funding is part of Toyota and NEEF’s 2022 Driving Mobility and Accessibility on Public Lands Grants. These are awarded to projects focused on mobility and accessibility considerations on public lands and waterways across the country.

Fifty Toyota volunteers from the Huntsville engine plant came out to kick off the three-year-long project to improve mobility throughout one of the Land Trust’s smallest but most popular parks, the Harvest Square Nature Preserve. Toyota employees are expected to continue to volunteer throughout the year, with additional volunteer opportunities created by the Land Trust for the public.

NPLD is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer event for public lands, created and coordinated by NEEF, and held annually on the fourth Saturday in September. Toyota is the national corporate sponsor.

Kevin Butt, senior director for Environmental Sustainability for Toyota North America, said Toyota is looking to build on this grant over the next three years to give better access to the preserve.

“This project will create more opportunities for people who may not currently have that access like people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities that make them hesitant to come out and enjoy nature,” Butt said. “It will provide that access and educational opportunities for students, adults and anybody else who wants to get out and see what is going on here.”

Butt said the project includes boardwalks through the preserve.

“At different times of the year, the preserve is marshy and under water,” Butt said. “We are going to build boardwalks so people have accessibility, the ability to maneuver through the park regardless of their loss of mobility.

“It will also make it a safe and natural place for schools and students to come enjoy a real educational experience.”

There are nearly two miles of trails winding through the Harvest Square Nature Preserve and it is a popular spot for summer camp. But, what makes it exceptional, according to Hallie Porter, development director at the Land Trust, is the variety of woodlands, wetlands, and even agriculture as part of the trail runs through farmland.

“You wind back around to man-made ponds that will have little docks where people can get closer to the water and provide better access for students who can safely get in the water and study the invertebrates that are here.”

The three-year project starts with infrastructure. Part of Saturday’s kickoff saw 50 Toyota team volunteers drill in the first deck boards to the new boardwalk, widen trails, and install an accessible lunch table.

“The second year, we will install pollinating areas,” Porter said. “The preserve is a natural pollinating area but native pollinating species like birds, butterflies, bats, ants, beetles and bees are on the decline right now.

“It makes for a real educational opportunity, and we will add educational planning in the second year so people can learn how they can help bring pollinators back to the area.”

The third year is a culmination of everything coming full circle. Things like signage being posted throughout, and an audio tour will be added making it possible for visually impaired people to experience what everybody else experiences.

“Our mission is actually mobility,” said Bekah Schmidt, corporate communications analyst for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama. “We are transitioning into a mobility company, so projects just like this make it possible for everyone to join in while having a good relationship with our planet and help establish sustainable practices.

“Partnerships like this with the Land Trust and NEEF are at the heart of it.”

Butt said he has a theory that every action of conservation matters.

“The more you can educate people when they are here, the more they can return home and say to themselves, ‘I can build a pollinator garden, or I can plant a native species that is better for my yard and better for the ecosystem’,” he said.

“That’s what we hope to accomplish and the more people we can get involved, the more we can conserve nature.”