MUSCATINE, Iowa — When they’re at work, Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions employees Marcia Canfield and Sharon Wood aren’t just doing what they get paid to do.

They also encourage and assist their co-workers in some on-site recycling efforts.

Canfield asks her co-workers to donate their empty cans by placing them in a nearby bin.

“I turn them in and donate the money to charity,” said Canfield.

Wood has spearheaded a paper recycling effort at the plant.

“We only have one planet,” she said.

Monday evening, Canfield and Wood took their green ambition outdoors and volunteered in a nature count on the grounds surrounding the Bridgestone Bandag headquarters at 2905 U.S Highway 61 N.

Bridgestone Bandag’s environmental services engineer, Paul Crosser, led the count, which also included employees Susan Jensen and Nita Larson.

Armed with binoculars, pens and pads, the small group walked around the pond behind the headquarters and sifted through the recently landscaped native plantings, counting bugs, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

The count was part of the company’s native landscape project, and will help determine if that project leads to improved biological diversity.

The native plants also provide an improved habitat for wildlife.

The 15-acre project, which surrounds the headquarters, is an extension of the 10 acres of native landscapes established in 1999 around the company’s Learning Center.

The native plantings landscape is being designed and overseen by Conservation Design Forum, an Elmhurst, Ill.,  company that was founded by Muscatine native and company president James Patchett.

Completing the wildlife  inventory of the native landscape project and pond  is part of the process Bridgestone Bandag is completing to gain Wildlife Habitat Council certification.

The certification process is part of the company’s One Team, One Planet environmental campaign.

Another count will be taken next year for comparison purposes.

Another count was taken July 24, and Crosser will add those results to Monday night’s numbers.

On Monday, the group counted a variety of species including Canada geese, farm ducks, minnows, pigeons, monarch butterflies.

As the native landscape continues to fill in and flourish, Crosser said the wildlife population will likely increase.