This past Tuesday, Pine Island CEO Bill Haines was the recipient of New Jersey’s first ever National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative’s (NBCI) National Fire Bird Conservation Award. The award, presented at the NJ Fish and Game Council Meeting by James Sloan of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJDFW) “recognizes entities and/or an individual’s contributions to that state’s efforts toward habitat-based restoration of wild bobwhite”.

“The work done at Pine Island Cranberry Company over the years through active forest stewardship, combined with their participation in the national Bobwhite Quail recovery initiative could very well change the reintroduction effort in the Mid-Atlantic region for the species,” said Sloan.

Pine Island Cranberry is enormously proud of taking part in this project. Our site was chosen for several reasons, among them a state-approved Forest Stewardship Plan outlining long-term management goals as well as the extent of existing quality habitat already onsite from years of active forestry work, prescribed burning and agricultural best management practices that made it stand out above other sites in the region. Caring for the place where we live, work, and grow is one of our core values, and this project is a unique opportunity to give back to the land which sustains us.

“The actions that Bill and the Pine Island team have taken will continue to create and enhance high quality habitat for the species in the years ahead as plan implementation progresses,” says John Parke, NJ Audubon Stewardship Project Director. “We congratulate Bill and his team on receiving this well-deserved award and commend Pine Island and Pine Island’s forester Bob Williams of Pine Creek Forestry, for their efforts to establish quality habitat for quail and other species, while also helping to address forest health issues such as fuel load reduction, control of forest diseases and pests, and ultimately successful regeneration and forest function.”

“We are honored to receive this recognition, but it is an even greater honor to participate in the project with partners like NJ Audubon, the University of Delaware, Tall Timbers, and the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife,” says Stefanie Haines, who received the award on behalf of her father. “We are proud that our stewardship practices benefit not only our business and our home, but the wildlife which surrounds us as well.”

*Award photo courtesy of John Parke