• Marathon Petroleum employees and community members constructed and installed a bat condo to house more than 6,000 bats in Hancock County, Ohio.
• The bat condo located at Aeraland Recreational Area, in rural Hancock County, is designed to help replenish a dwindling bat population in the area.
• This project builds on another project from 2021 when employees constructed 25 bat houses in the area using a grant from Marathon Petroleum.

The bat population in Hancock County, Ohio, recently got a home upgrade thanks to employees from Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s (MPC) Findlay office and a team of volunteers from the community. MPC’s Brandon Burrow, Terminals Electronic Services manager, spearheaded the construction of a bat condo at Aeraland Recreational Area just outside of Findlay in rural Hancock County.

In 2021, Burrow led efforts to construct bat houses for the Hancock Park District (HPD). MPC donated the funds, and by the end, more than two dozen structures took shape, becoming an integral part of Hancock County parks. Due to the project's success, HPD Naturalist Chad Carroll had bigger plans, the construction of a bat condo at Aeraland.

“Always up for a challenge and a way to serve the community, I agreed to head up making the project happen.”

“After the success of the 25 bat houses in 2021, Chad approached me to see if I had the ability and interest to design and build a bat condo,” said Burrow. “Chad had seen a bat condo in Danville, Ohio, and he thought that Hancock County could benefit from a similar structure. Always up for a challenge and a way to serve the community, I agreed to head up making the project happen.”

Burrow enlisted friends and coworkers to help design a plan for the condo. Using a modified design from a game commission, they developed an approach that allowed most of the build to be completed off-site. A bill of material, project plan and cost estimates were all developed. HPD applied for a grant from MPC and received the necessary $11,000 for the project.

Construction started in late summer of 2023 to allow for optimum building conditions. Even with the funds secured, a key component of the build was missing – poles to elevate and support the condo.

“We were able to partner with Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative to donate and set four utility poles needed for this project,” Burrow said. “Their poles were exactly what we needed to be able to support the size and scale of this structure.”

Another community partner also volunteered to help with a key part of the project. Alvada Construction gifted the use of its equipment and volunteer hours to lift and set the house on the poles.

Burrow estimates that nearly 400 volunteer hours were invested in the project. Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative, Alvada Construction and HPD provided more than 100 hours, MPC employees spent more than 90 hours volunteering, and Burrow himself gave 150 hours to the project.

According to Carroll, the bat condo will act as a maternity roost for species such as the little brown bat. The bats tend to like man-made structures to nest in, and it will take them a couple of years to find the structure and move in. The condo is designed to hold more than 6,000 mother bats and their young.

The bat condo will also provide a benefit to the surrounding area.

“Less mosquitoes are the big benefit,” said Carroll. “Hopefully, people are able to enjoy the parks more when mosquitos are not driving them crazy. Bat populations in general are in trouble. Numbers statewide have been dropping due to a number of factors, so if we are able to provide any assistance to the local bat populations that is a big plus in my books.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was recently held at Aeraland to celebrate the successful conclusion of the project and the volunteers who made it happen.

Burrow and the bat condo was recently featured on WTVG-TV, the ABC affiliate in Toledo, Ohio. WATCH IT HERE.