Colonial In The News

Colonial Pipeline Employees Volunteer To Protect Endangered Species With Nature Conservancy In Mississippi

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. — On May 27, Colonial Pipeline Mississippi employees volunteered at The Nature Conservancy’s Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center near Colonial’s Right-of-Way (ROW) in Mississippi. The team worked to improve the habitat for several native and endangered wildlife species in the area. 

This location is on an active military base and harbors and promotes certain species of endangered plants and animals. The base offers protection from predators and ensures survival of many endangered creatures. 

The Colonial volunteers worked with Nature Conservancy staff to harvest Ornate Chorus Frogs that had just morphed from tadpoles, cleaning Gopher Tortoise habitats, planting grass, feeding the animals and checking tortoise burrows for eggs. 

The team did much of this work on Colonial’s ROW in Mississippi, which not only serves as a corridor for moving the energy America needs, but a refuge for wildlife as well. The training center is located near Colonial’s Collins tank farm. 

Among the species protected at this location and encountered by Colonial Volunteers were: 

  • The Black Pine Snake
  • Gopher Tortoises
  • Eastern Diamond-Backed Rattlesnake
  • Eastern Coral Snake
  • Ornate Chorus Frog
  • Red Salamander
  • Mole King snake

Colonial Pipeline has partnered with the Nature Conservancy in Mississippi for years, and in 2016 made a $10,000 donation to support their mission to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Colonial also partners with the Nature Conservancy in Texas and Louisiana. This volunteer activity marked the latest employee engagement with environmental groups who share Colonial’s mission to protect the environment we share our pipeline with. 

CPC Mississippi Volunteers: 

  • Victor Towe, GCD Associate Environmental Manager
  • Doyle Batte, Lead Tech and grandson, Andrew Batte
  • Colonial Retiree, Carroll Cook
  • Stacy Sullivan – GCD Construction Manager
  • Brock McCorkle – Co-Op- Technical Services
  • Ann Lott – Admin. 
  • Tim Graves – Technician
  • John Walker – Technician
  • Corey McAlpin – Technician
  • Rhyan Sparkman – Projects Inspector