The benefits of bat & bird houses

The Sussex County Association of Realtors and the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group are hosting a bat/bird house building event on Wednesday, September 21, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Lafayette Pond Pavilion in Lafayette, NJ (Route 15). Other realtors, friends, and families are encouraged to take part in the assembling of these homes.

Kits with easy-to-follow instructions will be provided with funding from the Lake Mohawk Preservation Foundation. The houses will later be installed by the Wallkill River Watershed Management Group all along the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, Station Park in Sparta, T.J. Dunn Community Park in Sussex Borough, Woodbourne Park in Wantage, Franklin Borough Park, and the Hamburg Park and Recreational Fields.

Installing bat/bird houses will help preserve the bat and bird populations which will in turn help in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Bats and birds are efficient pollinators and voracious predators of insects (that transmit unwanted illnesses) and have a substantial economic and ecological impact on agriculture, said Pam Vreeland, SCAR Community Outreach Chair.

For more information or to learn how to donate to this cause, contact Pam Vreeland at 201-317-9883 or Jeannette Burke at 973-670-1960.