Feb. 9, 2022 – For the last 16 years, Vulcan Materials and Ducks Unlimited (DU) have partnered to provide wood duck habitat in and around a 1,300-acre granite mine in Richmond County, N.C., according DU. This conservation partnership led Vulcan to contribute $25,000 to DU’s Southeast Wetlands Initiative. The roots of Vulcan’s relationship with DU can be traced back to former DU North Carolina State Chairman Gary Payne. During his 43-year career with CSX as a locomotive engineer, Payne was assigned to a variety of routes and responsibilities, one of which was hauling finished materials from Vulcan’s Rockingham granite quarry to destinations throughout the Southeast. It was during one of his visits to the mine that he noticed a collection of wood duck boxes along a creek bed. This sparked a relationship that has had a profound impact on conservation in the area. To date, across all of its offices and locations, Vulcan Materials has committed over $100,000 to Ducks Unlimited’s conservation mission.
