New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast ~ Part III

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Support New Jersey’s ospreys with donations matching a $12,500 challenge to help Conserve Wildlife Foundation purchase a boat.

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Surveying a nest on Long Beach Island in 2017, the last year we were able to utilize a state owned boat. photo by Northside Jim.

Ospreys are living barometers. They symbolize the resilience of life along the New Jersey coast. As a top tier predator who feeds exclusively on fish, their collective health is a direct link to the health of our coastal waters. Anyone can tell you that a healthy coast is essential to life at the shore. Clean water with abundant and healthy wildlife equals a booming shore economy. We have all benefited from actions and policy that have protected our air, land and water since the 1970s. Ospreys are no exception.

Over the past decade, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, while working in close partnership with NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program, has managed the osprey population through the New Jersey Osprey Project. In that time we have installed over 175 nesting platforms, and the population has grown by 40%, from 400 nesting pairs in 2006 to 668 pairs in 2017.

A critical piece of the puzzle had been a reliable work boat. Our past access to a boat through a partner is no longer available, so today we need to secure our own boat to lead this project into the future.

Today we launched an online fundraiser to help us purchase a boat for our Osprey Project. Our osprey work receives no dedicated funding from the state or federal government. Thanks to the Osprey Foundation, who is matching funds donated to this campaign, this means we need to raise $12,500 to leverage the match to purchase a $25,000 boat.

Will you help us to reach our goal before the end of March, when ospreys begin returning their breeding grounds in New Jersey?

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