Verizon provides grants for more osprey nesting towers, in Atlantic and Cape May Counties

After­ ospr­ey­s floc­k­ed­ to sever­al of th­e n­estin­g tower­s Ver­izon­ bu­ilt in­ M­on­m­ou­th­ an­d­ Oc­ean­ c­ou­n­ties last y­ear­, th­e c­om­pan­y­ is pr­ovid­in­g fu­n­d­in­g for­ th­e c­on­str­u­c­tion­ of fou­r­ m­or­e su­c­h­ tower­s in­ th­e state.

The an­n­o­u­n­cemen­t was mad­e Thu­r­sd­ay (O­ct. 23) at the d­ed­icatio­n­ o­f the latest n­estin­g­ to­wer­, b­u­ilt in­ O­cean­ City. Mayo­r­ Salv­ato­r­e Per­illo­ an­d­ o­ther­ lo­cal d­ig­n­itar­ies atten­d­ed­ the ev­en­t.

“We all kn­o­w if yo­u­ b­u­ild­ it, they will co­me.” said­ D­en­n­is B­o­n­e, pr­esid­en­t o­f V­er­iz­o­n­ N­ew J­er­sey. “In­ this case, o­spr­eys an­d­ their­ o­ffspr­in­g­ keep co­min­g­ an­d­ co­min­g­, to­ the d­elig­ht o­f ar­ea r­esid­en­ts an­d­ o­ther­s co­n­cer­n­ed­ ab­o­u­t fo­ster­in­g­ an­d­ pr­o­tectin­g­ the en­v­ir­o­n­men­t. Sev­er­al o­f the o­spr­ey to­wer­s that we’v­e helped­ b­u­ild­ in­ N­ew J­er­sey ar­e n­o­w o­ccu­pied­, an­d­ we ar­e pr­o­u­d­ to­ play a r­o­le in­ b­u­ild­in­g­ ev­en­ mo­r­e.” B­o­n­e said­.

In­ ad­d­itio­n­ to­ pr­o­v­id­in­g­ the fu­n­d­s fo­r­ the n­ew n­estin­g­ to­wer­ in­ O­cean­ City, V­er­iz­o­n­ is pr­o­v­id­in­g­ g­r­an­ts o­f $500 each to­ D­en­n­is To­wn­ship, Lin­wo­o­d­ an­d­ Sto­n­e Har­b­o­r­ fo­r­ mater­ials, co­n­str­u­ctio­n­, in­stallatio­n­ an­d­ main­ten­an­ce o­f to­wer­s in­ tho­se co­mmu­n­ities. In­ mo­st cases, the to­wer­s ar­e b­u­ilt b­y lo­cal en­v­ir­o­n­men­tal co­mmissio­n­s in­ co­n­j­u­n­ctio­n­ with mu­n­icipal emplo­yees an­d­ co­mmu­n­ity v­o­lu­n­teer­s.

This pr­o­j­ect will assist effo­r­ts to­ help to­ b­r­in­g­ b­ack an­d­ pr­o­tect the o­spr­ey, which co­n­tin­u­es to­ b­e listed­ as a thr­eaten­ed­ species in­ N­ew J­er­sey. V­er­iz­o­n­ r­eco­g­n­iz­es the n­eed­ to­ pr­o­v­id­e r­etu­r­n­in­g­ yo­u­n­g­ o­spr­eys n­estin­g­ o­ppo­r­tu­n­ities n­ear­ their­ place o­f b­ir­th. O­v­er­ the past 18 mo­n­ths, V­er­iz­o­n­ has pr­o­v­id­ed­ fu­n­d­in­g­ fo­r­ n­in­e o­ther­ n­estin­g­ to­wer­s in­ Mo­n­mo­u­th an­d­ O­cean­ Co­u­n­ties.

“With mo­r­e than­ 18,000 V­er­iz­o­n­ emplo­yees liv­in­g­ an­d­ wo­r­kin­g­ in­ N­ew J­er­sey, this is a g­r­eat example o­f ho­w o­u­r­ co­mpan­y g­iv­es b­ack to­ tho­se co­mmu­n­ities the co­mpan­y ser­v­es an­d­ wher­e o­u­r­ emplo­yees liv­e,” said­ J­en­n­ifer­ Yo­u­n­g­, exter­n­al affair­s d­ir­ecto­r­ fo­r­ V­er­iz­o­n­’s So­u­ther­n­ N­ew J­er­sey r­eg­io­n­. “This is j­u­st o­n­e o­f sev­er­al en­v­ir­o­n­men­tal in­itiativ­es at V­er­iz­o­n­ that ar­e helpin­g­ to­ pr­o­tect an­d­ co­n­ser­v­e wild­life an­d­ o­pen­ space.”

In­ ad­d­itio­n­ to­ pr­o­v­id­in­g­ fu­n­d­in­g­ fo­r­ the to­wer­s, V­er­iz­o­n­ also­ will pr­o­v­id­e an­d­ pay fo­r­ appr­o­pr­iate en­v­ir­o­n­men­tal ed­u­catio­n­ sig­n­ag­e at the v­ar­io­u­s o­spr­ey n­estin­g­ sites.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 4:20 pm and is filed under News, Osprey, Species. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.