EarthShare New Jersey (ESNJ) is hosting the 11th annual Green Day Challenge to get businesses involved with our environment. This challenge invites employers large and small from across the state to partner with an ESNJ partner or friend for an environmental project (projects are available in most counties). Once the project is complete, the team and site will be evaluated for overall scope and impact by panelists. The results will be tabulated and awards will be presented for Best Overall Challenge, Team Work, Spirit, and more on June 12 at EarthShare Celebrates NJ 2026 at the Patterson Family Barn! Each company participating receives 1 ticket to attend the celebration!
Each 3 – 4 hour volunteer event at a site you select includes water, supplies, tools and guidance. The participation fee also includes a donation. Lunch can be added for an additional cost.
Your team will play a pivotal role in restoring the native understory an urban forest. This hands-on volunteer experience will focus on planting hundreds of native plants, including landscape plugs and divided perennials, to help combat invasive species and restore vital habitat in areas of the park still recovering from past neglect. Once a forgotten site used for grazing, sports, and even as a dumpsite, this park has undergone a remarkable transformation since its restoration in 2022. Today, it’s a thriving wetland home to 200 species of birds, fish, turtles, and more. Volunteers will work alongside park staff and volunteers to plant in critical areas, reinforcing the park’s ecological health while learning about the importance of working in harmony with nature.
Get outside and help restore the White Trail! Plant pollinator-friendly wildflowers and shrubs for visitors and wildlife to enjoy. Volunteers like you have removed almost 13 acres of invasive species, planted 3000+ natives, and revitalized this habitat—let’s keep it growing!
The park has a 75-acre deer fence to ensure we can protect our forest. Periodically we perform deer drives to push any deer that have got into the park out of the enclosure. Volunteers will be walking through the woods off trail. We will have a safety briefing ahead of time, provide high visible jackets and whistles. Teams of Volunteers will form human chains following color coded paths through the forest. The goal is to ensure the deer move towards the open part of the fence and leave.
Mix it up with us on the trails! We’re blending hard work, fresh air, and community spirit to create the perfect recipe for a healthier preserve. Ingredients: you, some tools, and 14 acres of possibility. We plan to remove invasive species, spruce up our garden beds for spring, and clear our trails from winter debris.
Springtime brings everything to life, and invasive vines and plants come back fastest of all! Help us get a jump on maintaining native plant habitats on one of our most beautiful trails. It is truly cheering to see the impact your work has done!
This project is an all-encompassing effort to enhance the safety, navigability, and ecological health of the refuge. Volunteers serve as essential stewards of the land, performing a variety of hands-on tasks that protect our resident animals, improve the visitor experience, and restore native habitats. Because we work in a dynamic outdoor environment, specific daily tasks will be prioritized based on current weather conditions and the refuge’s most urgent needs.
Our project takes place on an unpopulated island in the middle of the Delaware River. Due to its location, it often “catches” trash as it moves downriver. Join us as we hike around the island, meeting its inhabitants, learning about its role in history, and removing large amounts of trash from its banks. You will be amazed at not only the amount of trash, but also the types of trash (you will never look at that disposable water bottle the same again!).
Help us spruce up our wildlife gardens for the spring season. We will be removing invasive species and planting some pretty annuals to add a pop of color. Plant vegetables in our community container gardens. Perform trail maintenance by pruning, weeding, and mulching. Help us set up a tent for our upcoming native plant sale.
For over 20 years our 1.5 acres of landscaped grounds have engaged school groups on field trips and adult groups with its lush plantings, pond and flowing stream, all connected with winding pathways and new discoveries around each bend. Over 44,000 school children have enjoyed environmental education field trips here over the years. As with any gardens, regular maintenance is required such as plantings, weeding, trimming and perhaps the addition of new amenities to engage visiting members of the public. Volunteers are a valuable assistance in helping the Center gardens thrive, improving the venue while enjoying this engaging urban oasis within the city.
Help get the two pontoon boats – the “Robert H. Boyle II” and the “Geraldine Theresa” ready for launching! Each year our 30-foot “floating classrooms” need to have the ‘toons repainted (plus some extra nautical TLC) so they’re ready for our captains to start their environmental education tours on May 1, 2026.
Join us for a community tree planting event to improve human health while restoring critical habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife: native and migratory birds, frogs, turtles, and more! Volunteers will work alongside our friendly staff to plant native trees and shrubs that enhance forest cover, improve water quality, reduce erosion, and create connected habitat corridors. These native plantings support biodiversity by providing food and shelter for pollinators, migratory birds, amphibians, and other wildlife essential to healthy ecosystems.
Join as we work to restore the 0.5 mile lakeside trail. This trail offers a scenic stroll where visitors can enjoy the local wildlife from turtles sunning themselves on a log to the osprey hunting overhead. Keeping the trail open and clear ensures the safety of the hiker, protects the surrounding environment and provides space to appreciate our natural resources. We will be using a variety of tools from loppers, rakes and hand pruners to cut back overgrown vegetation and clear the path of debris. All tools and gloves will be provided. We recommend bringing water, sunscreen and bug spray!
Join us for a seasonally appropriate restoration project at a newly acquired preservation. Help us to make this land safe and enjoyable for new visitors!
Help keep the beautiful beaches of Sandy Hook National Recreation Area clean! Participants will walk the beach to collect trash and debris, while enjoying the scenery and spotting wildlife along the way.
Join the Beach Grass Planting! 🌱🌊 Help us protect our coast by planting beach grass! Its roots hold the dunes together, shielding our communities from storms, while providing vital habitat for ground-nesting birds and other wildlife. Get involved and make a difference, come plant with us!
Help us maintain our beautiful park! This is an well known environmental justice project, a park for anyone to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Participants will be helping us clean up gardens, remove invasives, mulch gardens, remove trash, plant native plants…
Join our cleanup so NJ can enjoy cleaner beaches, and we can protect our wildlife. Beach cleanups help us understand and measure the waste that washes up on the beaches each week. Cleaner beaches also bring measurable economic benefits to our communities. Finally, a day at the beach is typically great for relaxing. Our beach cleanup incorporates meditation exercises for an even stronger mental health boost. Conscious breathing exercises will lower your stress and increase your focus and contentment.
Come clean the beach (and maybe remove some invasives), have some fun and collect important data to help protect the oceans, waves & beaches! Our local beaches are stewarded by volunteers just like you! We welcome you to an engaging day of toes in the sand raising awareness about litter and plastic pollution. By taking practical action to protect the environment, your efforts help use data to influence environmental laws and reduce plastic waste at the source.
You’ve heard of a “paint and sip?” This is a “paint and hike” – with trail assessment and maintenance! Volunteers will meet at our historic building and channel their inner artist to paint uplifting images and messages on river rocks, which they will then place along a section of trail. While on the trail, volunteers will also complete a trail conditions assessment and perform light maintenance (any needed pruning, clearing, etc). This art and maintenance project is in preparation for Mental Health Awareness Month, whereby we will encourage hikers to hit the trails and enjoy the uplifting messages along the way, as time in nature has proven mental and physical health benefits!
Help us remove invasive species from our nature preserve! Invasive species prevent native plants and animals from thriving. Your work will help protect New Jersey’s native environment while providing a fun and educational experience!
Join us for an epic showdown against our most formidable foe—the relentless, ever-spreading, unstoppable BAMBOO! This Green Day Challenge, we’re calling all volunteers to grab their weapons of choice (loppers, power tools, and hand cutters) and help us reclaim our sanctuary from the bamboo invasion.
Why are we fighting bamboo? While it might look pretty, this aggressive invader is a bully in the plant world! Bamboo spreads like wildfire through underground rhizomes, choking out native plants that our local wildlife depends on for food and shelter. It creates dense thickets that block sunlight, prevent native seedlings from growing, and turn diverse habitats into bamboo monocultures. Birds, insects, and other critters lose their homes and food sources when bamboo takes over. By beating back the bamboo, we’re giving native species a fighting chance to thrive again!
Our river is home to eels, egrets, herons, fish and other wildlife. It is prone to serious flooding from heavy rainfall during all times of the year, which washes trash and other debris into the waterway. In 2024 our watershed group worked with local, state and national partners to install New Jersey’s first “Litter Trap” device. The “Litter Trap” is a floating cage anchored by two booms which direct floating trash into the cage where it is captured to be removed at regular intervals by municipal staff and volunteers. This clean-up will be a chance for volunteers to see the “Litter Trap” in action as we remove and tally debris captured in the device and other litter along the floodplain. Just upstream from the litter trap (same parking location), our organization has installed an artificial eel habitat – corporate volunteers will also have a chance to join us in eel monitoring/an eel count.
Winged Euonymus, Knotweed, Kudzu, and Castor Aralia, Oh my! Spring is a wonderful time to learn invasive plant identification and removal techniques. Help restore our 5-acre native woodland by identifying and removing these invasive plants. Learn about forest health, stormwater management, and basic trail maintenance. Get your hands dirty planting native trees and helping restore ecological diversity to our precious woods.