Left to Right: BCAS Field Trip Chair Chris Takacs, NJSEA Senior Natural Resources Program Specialist Gabrielle Bennett-Meany, BCAS President Don Torino, BCAS Education Chair Marie Longo

The Bergen County Audubon Society came calling at DeKorte yesterday with a very generous, and very much appreciated, donation for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority: $5,000 to be used toward the purchase of hundreds of native tree shrubs, plants and grasses.

The new vegetation will help restore and enhance areas around DeKorte Park including the Kingsland Overlook and the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve. The plantings will be done by NJSEA staff in the early spring of 2017.

“The Meadowlands and especially DeKorte Park is a diverse, unique habitat, critical to many thousands of migratory birds, butterflies and pollinators,” said Don Torino, president of the BCAS. “Our donation will enable the NJSEA to add many new native plants that will ensure a healthy and vital habitat for generations to come. Many thanks to our Bergen County Audubon members who love and cherish the New Jersey Meadowlands for making this project possible.”

This is just the latest of many significant donations that Bergen Audubon has made to the NJSEA over the years, and we couldn’t be more thankful. For instance, the incorporation of milkweed plants at the Kingsland Overlook  thanks to a previous BCAS grant greatly increased the amount of butterflies seen in DeKorte Park this year.

Thank you once again BCAS!