Keep South Carolina Wild

Category: WAIT

WAIT Partner Update: Shaw Industries

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Shaw Industries has been a valued Wildlife And Industries Together (WAIT) partner in the Midlands since 2016. Located along the Saluda River, Shaw’s property is a wintering place for waterfowl such as wood ducks and bufflehead. The property’s habitat, which includes maturing forest, a wetlands area, and thickets, provides nesting opportunities for neo-tropical migrants like the summer tanager, white-eyed vireo, and hooded warblers.

Game cameras have recorded numerous white-tailed deer, racoons, and even coyotes!


By allowing brush piles to remain on the property, they have provided habitat for many other mammals, such as eastern striped skunk (a favorite food of great-horned owls) and reptiles. With the recent installation of several wood duck boxes, Shaw Industries hopes to help this species by providing a safe place for them to raise young.

Thank you, Shaw Industries, for your support over the years, as well as your support for local wildlife on your property!

Why WAIT?

SCWF Partners with conservation-minded businesses throughout the state who want to help wildlife thrive by enhancing their properties and providing educational opportunities for their employees and communities.
Read more about the WAIT Program, and how to join here.

WAIT Partner Update: Mark Anthony Brewery

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Scott Hicks and the WAIT team from Mark Anthony Brewery have been busy this year assisting with nest box placement throughout the property, as well as providing input and direction for the pollinator garden that was installed by Heritage Landscape earlier this fall.

Eastern screech-owls have declined approximately 37% in the last fifty years, but will readily use nest boxes if the habitat is ideal. The brewery has such habitat and the team decided to install three owl boxes to help this beautiful species.

Image Captions L to R: Bluebird nesting box; Eastern screech owl nesting box.

Six Eastern bluebird boxes were also installed at the entrance of the property, and at the employee outdoor area next to the factory. During a recent visit to inspect the boxes, SCWF’s Industry Habitat Manager, Jay Keck, was able to identify bluebird nests in many of the boxes!

The pollinator garden, located a bit closer to the factory, is filled with native plant species that will attract many insects which could potentially become prey for both the bluebirds and the owls located on or near the property. We’d like to thank Scott and his team at Mark Anthony Brewery for their time and energy needed to create a beautiful and beneficial landscape for our local wildlife!

Why WAIT?

SCWF Partners with conservation-minded businesses throughout the state who want to help wildlife thrive by enhancing their properties and providing educational opportunities for their employees and communities. Read more about the WAIT Program, and how to join here.

WAIT Partners Installing Wood Duck Boxes

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The Brian Knight Insurance Agency donated five wood duck boxes this winter, which were then installed by our Wildlife And Industry Together (W.A.I.T.) partners at Spartanburg Water on one of their reservoirs that did not have any wood duck boxes previously. Over the next several years, these boxes have the potential to produce hundreds of Wood Duck offspring in the area, ensuring this species will continue to thrive in the upstate of SC. Spartanburg Water has been a certified W.A.I.T. site for many years, and we greatly appreciate their love of wildlife, as well as their support of our mission. It always makes us smile when businesses, resources, and the love of wildlife meet to create conservation stories such as this.

As South Carolina becomes increasingly developed, there is less land available for wildlife. Corporate landowners can offset habitat loss by devoting their under-utilized lands to wildlife. This is achieved by matching site employees who are interested in wildlife with community partners to develop habitat plans. The W.A.I.T. program assists corporations, employees, facility neighbors, and other groups who desire to develop environmental projects in partnership with each other. To learn more about the W.A.I.T. program, and how your company can become involved, visit this page on our website.

As South Carolina becomes increasingly developed, there is less land available for wildlife. Corporate landowners can offset habitat loss by devoting their under-utilized lands to wildlife. This is achieved by matching site employees who are interested in wildlife with community partners to develop habitat plans. The W.A.I.T. program assists corporations, employees, facility neighbors, and other groups who desire to develop environmental projects in partnership with each other. To learn more about the W.A.I.T. program, and how your company can become involved, visit this page on our website.

New WAIT Site Certified at Shaw Industries

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Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF) certified Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Plant 8S as a Wildlife And Industry Together (W.A.I.T.) site on June 16th.  The W.A.I.T. program recognizes industries who are dedicated to protecting the environment and keep wildlife needs in mind when making their land management decisions. Shaw joins 28 other plants in the state with this distinction.

Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Plant 8S is a nylon and polyester fiber manufacturing facility located in Columbia, South Carolina that has more than 300 employees. The plant’s products are used to make a variety of different types and styles of nylon and polyester carpet.  Shaw Industries is the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floor covering provider. The company manufactures and distributes carpet, custom rugs, hardwood, laminate, resilient, and tile and stone flooring products for residential and commercial applications worldwide. A recognized environmental leader, Shaw takes a holistic approach to sustainability including a keen focus on its 2030 goals related to water, energy, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, safety and designing to Cradle to Cradle protocols.

SCWF acknowledged that Shaw is proudly committed to being good stewards of the environment.  The W.A.I.T. certification recognizes that Shaw Plant 8S has taken a leading role in environmental protection, in part by setting aside property around the plant that includes planting food plots for wildlife, creating two butterfly gardens, constructing hawk perches, installing duck and bird boxes and building numerous walking trails for its employees to enjoy the abundance of wildlife along the Saluda River in Lexington County. Associates from all departments are involved in W.A.I.T. projects.