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County touts environmental friendliness of Toms River facilities

By Toms River, NJ on Jul 14 2011
Filed under: Toms River Community, Toms River Politics

TOMS RIVER – From the lawns outside the historic Ocean County Courthouse on Washington Street to the plantings around the Ocean County Administration Building, the county’s Department of Buildings and Grounds takes an environmentally friendly approach in maintaining county properties.

“With attention focused on the use of fertilizer and its affects on our waterways and environment, we conducted a review of how Ocean County maintains its many properties throughout the county,” said Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Department of Buildings and Grounds. “Not only are we in compliance with recently passed legislation but we have been taking an environmentally friendly approach in maintaining our properties for many years prior to its passage.”

The legislation, signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Chris Christie, establishes statewide fertilizer standards, restricts the amount of nitrogen used along with fertilizer content.

“While this law outlines the dos and don’ts for the proper fertilization of properties, I am confident that in Ocean County we have been doing the right thing for the environment for many years,” Vicari said, noting the county implemented an Integrated Pest Management Program a decade ago.

“Our buildings and grounds staff are always looking at new and innovative ways to take care of the land around county facilities,” he said.

While groundskeepers still use pesticides and fertilizers to control pest populations, the current approach puts an emphasis on using products that are providing the nutrients plants need and not harming the environment.

“We now employ a variety of strategies including bi-weekly monitoring, rather than applications based on the calendar,” Vicari said. “By finding problems sooner, it makes control easier and less costly.”

Organic in nature, products used by the County for fertilizing lawns and for pre-emergent weed control are in compliance with the new legislation.

“We have been using these products long before the legislation was signed into law,” Vicari said. “This Board has always made an effort to be environmentally proactive and our groundskeepers have helped substantially in those efforts.”

Composted poultry manure, rock phosphate, sulfate of potash, ammonium sulfate and methylenc urea make up the county’s fertilizer, which encourages a buildup of a carbon foundation in the soil that allows for the reduction of excess fertilizer.

“The soil first approach improves biological activity, with a healthy soil, you will have healthy lawns and trees,” Vicari said.

Also, for the last decade, Ocean County has used corn gluten for weed control. The corn gluten acts as a non-toxic alternative to traditional chemical-based weed and feed products.

“This is yet another example of an organic and yet effective way of staying green and reducing our use of chemical based products to achieve our goals,” Vicari said.

He added another step taken by groundskeepers is to monitor watering.

“While we cannot control the amount of rain or humidity, we can use irrigation practices more effectively, reducing water cost by watering only when needed,” Vicari said.

In addition, the county uses biological controls like the Brachymeric Intermedia wasp to help in the control of gypsy moths.

“When we use less pesticides, natural predators are encouraged to do their job the natural way,” Vicari said.
The county also is taking steps to begin planting disease and insect-resistant varieties of trees and plants.

“Ocean County will continue to be proactive in maintaining its grounds,” Vicari said. “I want to commend Joseph LaManna and George Stryker, who lead our groundskeeping staff for their dedication to keeping the county green without reliance on harmful products. With more than 135 facilities throughout the county it is important we lead by example and we are doing just that.”

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