Partners for Parks project at Avian Bird Center

WANTAGE — Selective Insurance employees spent the day recently working hard to improve the grounds at the Avian Wildlife Center in Wantage as part of the Land Conservancy of New Jersey's Partners for Parks project.

Volunteers planted flowers that would attract birds around the cages, built a rock wall around an enclosed aviary for birds that are rehabilitating and painted sheets of wood to replace old and damaged walls.

"We rarely have time to get this type of work accomplished and the support of the Land Conservancy and the Selective volunteers was extremely important to us," Giselle Chazotte Smisko, the Avian Center Director stated.

The Partners for Parks Program is The Conservancy's stewardship program, bringing corporate groups of volunteers out to New Jersey's parks and arboretums in order to complete projects that otherwise are difficult or impossible to complete due to the lack of resources. Partners for Parks is made possible in part thanks to corporate sponsorships. 2013 sponsors included: BASF, Novartis, PSEG, United Water & investor's Bank.

Founded in 1981, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey is a member supported non-profit land trust dedicated to preserving and protecting natural lands and water resources. For more information, to volunteer or make a donation, call 973-541-1010, or visit our website at www.tlc-nj.org.