TIMBERLAND GREENS URBAN SPACES AROUND THE WORLD: PRESERVING NATURE IN TAIPEI, TAIWAN

Since first serving at the Guandu Nature Park for an Earth Day project in 2009, volunteers from the Timberland team in Taiwan have returned to help maintain the park for half a day every month.

Just a ten-minute walk from an MRT train stop, Guandu is the only wetland park in the city of Taipei. The park is a mosaic of freshwater and brackish ponds, mudflats, marsh, rice paddies and woodland where 229 species of birds have been recorded, so far. Each month, Timberland volunteers, along with consumer volunteers, help weed the park, clean the ponds and tend to the rice.

Long-time volunteer, Timberland employee and Global Steward, Marty Shen, says, “There are only three employees in Guandu Nature Park who are responsible for maintenance, so they depend on volunteers to help maintain the whole wetland. We serve there regularly and they really rely on our service.”

Building an Urban Farm in Brooklyn, NY

For Earth Day 2015, Timberland retail, sales and corporate employees, along with volunteers from some of our key wholesale customers, convened in Brooklyn, NY to help Grow NYC create an urban farm and garden. The 80 volunteers built raised beds, moved soil, painted signs and constructed picnic tables on the grounds of a decommissioned water pumping station.

Julio Ceballos, Senior Account Executive for National Accounts and Global Steward for our Sales Team, said, “The farm is a thriving green space, right in the heart of Brooklyn, that has many ripple effects in the community including providing healthy food and education opportunities to residents.  Our volunteers had a fantastic day helping to forward the mission of Grow NYC.” 

Restoring Green Space in Girona City, Spain

The Timberland team in Spain spent Earth Day restoring a wetland area in Girona City in partnership with Ajuntament di Girona. Within the wetland known as Les Hotes de Santa Eugenia, Timberland volunteers helped create a walking area and replaced wood railings impacted by vandalism and the weather.

The volunteers also created observation or viewing areas that were accessible to people with disabilities. As Sheila Otero, Area Visual Merchandiser and Global Steward for Spain, said “our aim was to recover and restore this space to its original state and bring it the dignity it deserves.”