Over the past decade, hundreds of native trees have replaced the ornamental shrubs and invasive vegetation at Verizon's corporate headquarters in Basking Ridge. Chemically treated and meticulously manicured lawns have given way to native grasses and vibrant wildflowers.
Now, Verizon is gearing up to do it again in Freehold.
"Companies like Verizon don't have to leave enormous footprints on our environment," said Sam Delgado, vice president of external affairs for Verizon New Jersey. "In fact, Verizon's goal is to make the least possible environmental impact and to thoughtfully recreate at our facilities a natural habitat for native vegetation and animal species."
Creating a scrub-shrub habitat through removal of invasive vegetation and planting a mix of native shrubs can benefit numerous migratory birds, such as the field sparrow, willow flycatcher, prairie warbler, and yellow-breasted chat. Establishing dense native vegetation along the stream can also improve local water quality.
The initiative has also included the planting of native warm-season grasses to benefit grassland-dependent birds and pollinators, and scaling back mowing. Verizon has also installed nesting boxes to attract bluebirds, tree swallows, screech owls, wood ducks and kestrels.
"We hope other companies take notice and follow suit on their corporate campuses,” said Eric Stiles, vice president of conservation of the Audubon Society. “It would be good for the environment and healthier for their communities. It also lowers their operation costs, and it's fun for their employees," Stiles said.A few years ago, Verizon began a 10-year partnership with the New Jersey Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a habitat restoration project at the company's 135-acre Operations Center in Basking Ridge. That property borders the Passaic River, adjacent to a portion of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a federally owned preserve of more than 7,000 acres operated by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The New Jersey Governor's Office awarded Verizon in 2007 the Governor's Environmental Excellence in the "Healthy Ecosystems" category.
"Verizon's corporate campus is now full of life," said John Parke, the Audubon Society's stewardship project director for northern New Jersey. "Grassland-dependent birds like the Savannah sparrow, bobolink, meadowlark and field sparrow have returned. Colonies of purple martins nest on the property. Although it is a much smaller site, habitat restoration at Verizon's Freehold campus promises to be just as successful and just as beneficial to wildlife and to the entire community.”
