Jersey City Birds Receives 2026 ANJEC Environmental Achievement Award

(October 2, 2026)

Jersey City Birds has received a 2026 Environmental Achievement Award from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) for our For the Birds collision monitoring project. The award was presented on September 25 at ANJEC’s 2026 Environmental Congress in New Brunswick, an annual gathering of environmental leaders, commissions, nonprofits, and advocates from across the state. ANJEC’s Environmental Achievement Awards recognize exceptional projects undertaken by environmental commissions and community groups.

Launched in spring 2024, For the Birds began with a small group of volunteers from Jersey City Birds and the Feminist Bird Club of Jersey City investigating bird-window collision hotspots and developing protocols for monitoring, rescue, and transport. The project has since grown into a community-wide effort involving trained volunteers who monitor collision hotspots during spring and fall migration and transport injured birds to certified wildlife rehabilitators. Through spring 2026, volunteers had rescued more than 150 birds over three monitoring seasons, while documenting hundreds of birds killed by building collisions.

The impact of the project extends beyond the birds rescued in the field. Data, photographs, videos, and stories collected through For the Birds helped demonstrate the scale of the collision problem locally and supported Jersey City Birds’ successful advocacy for Jersey City’s bird-friendly buildings ordinance. The framework and advocacy strategy developed here also helped inform Hoboken’s bird-friendly buildings ordinance, and Jersey City Birds continues to share what we have learned with communities interested in making their own cities safer for birds.

This recognition from ANJEC is an important milestone for a project built largely through volunteer effort and community support. We’re grateful to the volunteers who monitor before sunrise, transport injured birds, collect data, and advocate for change; to our For the Birds partners at the Feminist Bird Club of Jersey City; and to NYC Bird Alliance, American Bird Conservancy, and other experts who have supported the work. The award is both a celebration of what this community has accomplished and encouragement to keep building on that progress.