CASE Construction Equipment, Sonsray Machinery, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Team Rubicon teamed up for a heavy equipment operator training and improvement project at the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. Sonsray Machinery provided four machines – two CX80C excavators and two SR210 skid steer loaders – and Team Rubicon brought in four instructors and nine volunteers from across the U.S. for the event, which involved classroom instruction as well as practical hands-on training in safety and machine operation.

Located on the southern rim of San Diego Bay, the Refuge is an important stopover for migratory birds, and supports a diverse array of natural habitats for a variety of wildlife including rare birds, butterflies and other wildlife that are critical to the area’s ecosystem. In addition to training nine new heavy equipment operators, Team Rubicon also made improvements to an access road, and removed over 50 tons of concrete from an old dairy complex within the Refuge.

CASE Construction Equipment dealer Robert Childs Inc. donated the use of five CASE machines to Team Rubicon to be used for land-clearing and grasslands restoration in the Coonamessett Reservation fields in Hatchville, Mass. The donated equipment—two excavators; a CX80C and CX130C, and three skid steers; an SV185, SR270 and SV300—were used to help clear the land of overgrown invasive brush that had overtaken the native sandplain grassland.

Restoring the Native Habitat
Located within the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, the land is managed as part of the refuge and in alignment with refuge goals by the nonprofit Falmouth Conservation Commission. The Coonamessett Inn operated on the land in the 1950s. Eventually, it was demolished, and the land has been managed for conservation. The native sandplain grasslands—home to a variety of birds, butterflies and other wildlife, as well as several endangered species—are critical to the Cape Cod ecosystem. But habitat has dwindled as the area has continued to develop.