Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

photo by Annie Taggart

By Dr. Emile DeVito
Manager of Science & Stewardship
New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Volunteering can be as simple as carefully putting one foot in front of the other!

About 80 hikers gathered at the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford on Dec. 11. They weren’t there to simply enjoy the crisp air and gorgeous scenery, but to help New Jersey Conservation Foundation restore a struggling forest.

The mission of the “Volun-Deer Hike” was to form a human walking chain that would gently encourage as many white-tailed deer as possible to leave the 300-acre “exclosure,” or deer exclusion area, built one year earlier at this Passaic County preserve.

The fenced exclosure is designed to allow native plants to regenerate and thrive, and is the largest fenced forest restoration area in New Jersey!

The hikers at Apshawa that chilly Sunday morning were a hardy, experienced bunch. As they registered, they wondered how we could possibly fan out across 300 acres (half a square mile) and convince deer to exit through temporary openings in the fence. They got their answer as soon as they stepped into some of New Jersey’s most rugged Highlands terrain, which includes steep hillsides, rocky outcrops, stream crossings and wetlands.

The deer drive actually consisted of two separate sweeps, both of which started along a central axis. Volunteers spread out, each about 20 yards apart, walking slowly but deliberately toward openings at the far corners of the fence. The idea was not to cause deer to panic, but to slowly herd them toward the openings.

photos by Sandy Stuart Perry

The marchers were guided by GPS maps and markers set by expert geo-cachers using satellite images and data! The going was slow, but our Volun-Deer hikers succeeded in ushering six of nine deer out into the wilds on the other half of the preserve.

It might not sound like a lot, but having only three (instead of nine) voracious deer browsing on these 300 acres will significantly lessen the damage to young woody trees and shrubs during the cold winter months.

For most New Jersey Highlands forests to be able to recover their native plant understory, the deer populations must be less than 10 per square mile (640 acres), or about 15 percent of current levels. Until our human society decides to confront the forest threat posed by deer, and fund a serious deer reduction initiative, for now we must experiment with recovering pieces of the ecosystem.

The Volun-Deer Hike was New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s second deer drive. In December 2010, our inaugural effort pushed about 11 of 19 deer out of the newly-built exclosure. It was a good start, but we still need to improve the fence operation and get more volunteer monitors to watch for downed trees or open gates. If you would like to volunteer to help monitor the fence, please let us know!

A few months ago we were able to quickly repair “blowdowns” from Hurricane Irene; luckily it takes a while for deer to discover fence holes. Overall, the local deer herd seems to be learning to avoid the fenced area, perhaps because they don’t like walking along its perimeter, and perhaps because it is easier to hang out in unfenced areas.

photos by Annie Taggart

By the way, the fence is built with small gaps for turtles and other small animals, and tree crossings and tunnels for bears and bobcats. We’re continually experimenting with ways to make the fence less pervious to deer, and more pervious to non-hoofed animals.

The fence was installed in the summer of 2010 using a $125,000 grant from the National Forest Foundation. The grant paid for the installation of 3.2 linear miles of fence, removal of invasive plants like Japanese barberry and Oriental bittersweet, and the re-introduction of common native plants like seedling spicebush, viburnum, hazel, and many wildflowers.

The project also included the installation of eleven pedestrian gates along the perimeter of the fence, to encourage public access to the preserve’s trails. The preserve is jointly owned and managed by New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the Passaic County Park System.

Deciduous forests like the one at Apshawa are under dual attack from overabundant white-tailed deer and invasive alien plants. It becomes a cascading effect: The deer overbrowse the native plants, allowing the invasives to gain a foothold. Then, because deer eat the invasives less, the invasives thrive while the natives become increasingly scarce. The food chain then crumbles, and animal populations dwindle.

Small deer exclosures have been shown to rapidly reverse the trend of forest degradation and regain plant species diversity, but few are large enough to aid in the increase of animal diversity. Ambitious projects that include fences and/or deer herd culling are underway in many other county park systems, including Essex, Morris, Union, and Monmouth.

photo by Sandy Stuart Perry

The Apshawa project should demonstrate that finding a statewide solution to lower the deer herd to an ecologically tolerable statewide level, within closed-canopy, maturing forests, will help to recover our declining wildlife.

Within a few years, visitors to Apshawa should see a marked improvement in the density of shade- tolerant and shade-loving species in the forest understory – the internal core of a healthy forest. Without excessive deer browse, hundreds of native plant, insect, amphibian, reptile and bird species will be able to thrive as the natural food chain is restored beneath the shade of the forest canopy.

For more information about the New Jersey Conservation Foundation:

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By Cindy Ehrenclou, Executive Director
Raritan Headwaters Association

It just made sense – the urge to merge!  On October 1, 2011, the South Branch Watershed Association (SBWA) and the Upper Raritan Watershed Association (URWA) joined together to become the Raritan Headwaters Association. These two 52- year-old New Jersey watershed organizations worked for 18 months to accomplish a complete restructuring.

Over the past few weeks, Bill Kibler (former Executive Director of SBWA) and I (former Executive Director of URWA) have been swamped with generous congratulations and “how-did-it-go?” inquiries from our colleagues and partners.  With the dust settling and only the administrative details to work out, Bill and I are amazed that the merger is completed and that it all went so well.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how the idea to “merge” came about, but it was Bill who first put it on the table at lunch in late 2009.  The two of us discussed the concept several times before bringing it to our boards in February 2010.  Despite some initial skepticism, we were given the charge to explore the possibility.

My first call was to Rich Cochran of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy.  Rich had received a national award, “The Collaboration Prize,” for successfully merging 8 Ohio land trusts.   Rich shared a wonderful story of growing his organization and building the Conservancy’s capacity to preserve critical lands.  His strongest recommendation was to work with an objective, outside consultant.  He went so far as to offer his personal cell phone number to any one of our trustees who challenged the idea that hiring a professional consultant was the key to a successful restructuring.

Our next step was to sit down with some of our close friends in the environmental community and The Fund for New Jersey and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  We were looking for thoughtful input and support to move forward.  The conversations set in motion funding to support a negotiation process between the two watershed organizations.  The Fund for New Jersey granted funding for a legal due diligence process and the Dodge Foundation provided generous funding to engage LaPiana Consulting to facilitate negotiations.

On February 4, 2011, URWA and SBWA began a formal negotiation process.  Four representatives each from SBWA and URWA were selected to join a Negotiating Committee, including the two ED’s, Board Chairs and two additional trustees.  A senior manager of LaPiana Consulting, Jo DeBolt, skillfully set the tone for an efficient and comprehensive series of meetings.  In the first meeting we established goals for shared outcomes to: leverage skills and strengths to achieve greater impact; increase program capacity and effectiveness; be more sustainable; have a stronger voice in Trenton; serve as a model for others.

Jo DeBolt facilitated five, 3-hour meetings and one phone conference between February and June 2011, alternating between URWA’s and SBWA’s offices.  Over that period of time governance plans for a new organization were designed, including the size of a merged Board of Trustees, bylaws and committee structure.  Executive leadership and an organizational chart for staff and programs were proposed.  Fiscal practices and compensation leveling were addressed and a draft consolidated budget was presented.

In May, a formal legal due diligence process began with the help of attorney Kate Buttolph, best known for her work at the Hunterdon Land Trust.  By June, the negotiating team felt prepared to bring forward to both boards a “Resolution of Intent to Merge.”  The resolution included a contingency that the due diligence process would be completed and a Three Year Business Plan produced over the summer months.  The SBWA and URWA Boards unanimously approved the resolution.

Soon after the June board meetings, Bill and I hit the ground running.  We continued to share policies, records and files with Kate to keep due diligence on track.  Meetings with both staffs were scheduled to take an in-depth look at each program to discover where there was duplication, what was and what wasn’t working.  A cost-benefit analysis was conducted on each program activity.  Development practices and events were examined to establish a proposed calendar and work plan.  An informal feasibility study was conducted to better inform the revenue lines on a three year budget.  We worked through the summer of 2011 to develop a proposed, detailed three year business plan.

Over this same period, a Communication Plan was developed and implementation began as we needed to be poised for action when (and if) our boards voted to merge at our September board meetings.  Tasks were identified, a marketing budget created, a timeline and assignments were made.

Before negotiations began, Bill and I had been warned that often the smallest issue can derail the process.  For many, choosing a new name is just this sort of delicate issue.  Again, we might credit Jo DeBolt for setting the tone for healthy collaboration, but we are proud to say that arriving at Raritan Headwaters Association was easily accomplished at a final meeting in August.  At that same meeting the legal due diligence report was presented and the “Terms of Merger Agreement” finalized.

Much of early September was focused on preparations for the upcoming board meetings and filings with the State of New Jersey, all aided by Kate.  The Communication Plan was in full swing.  Press releases, letters to donors and fact sheets were written.  Close friends and longtime donors were visited.  A logo and placeholder website were developed, along with plans for events to announce and celebrate a merger.

The South Branch Watershed Association held its board meeting on the evening of September 14th, when a Resolution to Merge was brought forward.  Sometime around 8:00 I received a text message from Bill, “unanimous”!  The Upper Raritan Watershed Association’s meeting took place on the following evening, the 15th.  The vote was taken at 6:00…unanimous!  At 6:30, SBWA trustees joined URWA counterparts on Fairview Farm, the new headquarters of the Raritan Headwaters Association to celebrate the merger. Minutes into the celebration, someone arriving announced that there was a double rainbow in the sky.  You can imagine the excitement over this perceived sign of promise and unity!

The foundation work to accomplish a merger ended that evening.  Today we are working on the logistical details of merging databases, unifying timesheets/payroll/insurance, producing new printed materials and so on.  For staff, job descriptions and work plans are under development as roles have shifted.  The board is working on committee charters and calendars.  Bill and I are operating on the assumption that the dust will settle by the end of the year.

There are so many reasons why this merger makes sense.  From my perspective, the most important is that this combined organization will be speaking with one strong voice to protect the whole of the Raritan Basin headwaters – a major source of clean drinking water for millions of New Jersey’s citizens.  Bill continues to be astounded by the ease in which this merger occurred and when asked about it, he remarks, “I am amazed how well it all went and I guess that is testament to how well our two organizations complemented each other.”

Cindy Ehrenclou (Executive Director) and Bill Kibler (Director of Policy and Science), Raritan Headwaters Association

So has this merger made us more relevant?  Yes!  Are there more organizational efficiencies?  Yes!  Can we make a bigger impact on watershed protection?  Yes!  Are we energized?  Yes! Yes! Yes!

Learn more about the Raritan Headwaters and the impact they have on New Jerseyans.

Images courtesy Raritan Headwaters Association

By Steve Eisenhauer
Regional Director of Stewardship and Land Protection
Natural Lands Trust

Before the kids follow my request to step out of the kayaks into knee-deep water, one or two often ask the same questions: Are there any alligators in here? Electric eels? How about sharks? My answer includes a comment about how the snapping turtles here aren’t hungry now, eliciting alarmed looks. A reassuring smile sets them at ease.

Most of our water trips with groups of first-time kayakers don’t travel far—maybe a hundred yards or so. The first lesson after learning a few paddle strokes is to tip over, swamping the kayak. Their fear of tipping often then turns to a willingness to get wet this way again and again.

The second lesson is finding aquatic creatures with their hands by digging in the sandy lake bottom. Handfuls of sand and gravel from Millville’s Union Lake may contain a half dozen or more Asiatic clams ranging from pea-size to an inch or so. There must be millions, perhaps billons, of these clams in the 950-acre lake. Members of the local sailing club say they first noticed the clams a couple decades ago when the water seemed to get clearer. Clams and mussels clarify water by siphoning it through their system in search of food particles, such as algae.

The story of these clams – considered by many scientists a nasty invasive in the U.S. – is complex, but they certainly serve as a readily-available “hook” catching the attention of kids and adults. For the hundreds of students I take wading, canoeing, and kayaking each year, this ubiquitous bivalve makes the lake or river bottom come alive, and students often soon start looking around more closely and discovering other complex natural wonders. Fears of snapping turtles, snakes and leeches are overcome by the excitement of discovery. Bigger native mussels – often 4 inches long or more – are sometimes the next discovery, which invariably brings the next question: Can we eat them? The answer is yes, they’re edible and reportedly quite tasty, but also no, it’s illegal to harvest clams and mussels in freshwater.

In the spring and summer of 2011, Natural Lands Trust led 32 New Jersey field trips involving 13 schools and camp groups. All of these trips visited local waterways, and most involved students getting wet up to their knees or – especially on kayak trips – head to toe. Luckily, in Cumberland County where most of the trips occur, the water quality is usually high enough to permit full submersion. One lesson continually emphasized is how water quality determines the species range of aquatic creatures like fish and mussels. A seining net is part of nearly every field trip. Aquatic life caught are identified by species, and native vs. non-native species provide an ongoing topic for discussion. On one field trip in Lawrence Township, the students visit three lakes on the same creek. They catch aquatic life with the net in each lake and see how the species mix changes as water quality improves in the more upstream lakes furthest from agricultural runoff.

Through Dodge’s funding, Natural Lands Trust initiated this outreach program a decade ago and has been working to make improvements ever since. By September, 800 students, campers, parents and teachers had participated in the 2011 program. Perhaps the most interesting expansion for this year has been with the mid-summer program. In July and August, 120 campers and counselors from Millville’s Camp Cedar Knoll participated in 8 kayak and canoe day trips to Union Lake and the Maurice River. And 35 summer program campers from Millville’s Lakeside School and the Port Norris Middle School visited Union Lake and Strathmere’s Corson Inlet State Park. Kayaks, seining, getting wet and handling wildlife were included in all field trip activities.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegill and red-bellied sunfish, chain pickerel, eastern mudminnows, kingfish, Atlantic silversides, striped killifish, stinkpot turtles: these are some of the aquatic creatures caught and released by students this summer. But the Asiatic clams seemed to be the most mesmerizing to many students. Perhaps it was because they could catch so many with their bare hands. Perhaps it was the range of sizes: whole families in one handful. Close-up, they look a bit like gold nuggets, and the question always comes up: Are there pearls inside? Perhaps it is their life story; they have a foot that moves them, are both male and female in the same clam and, if you place them in submerged sand and wait a few minutes, they’ll wiggle out of sight. Are they really a nasty invasive like the zebra mussel that is destroying fish populations in the Great Lakes, or are they something more benign that will eventually fit in with Union Lake’s other aquatic life? Stay tuned. In a few years, after a thousand more students handle these little bivalves and keep forcing me to learn more about them, we may have the answer to this question.

For more about Natural Lands Trust:
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images courtesy Natural Lands Trust

This is the second of two posts from our friends at the Hunterdon Land Trust, led by Executive Director Margaret Waldock. In case you missed it last week, read Margaret’s blog post about the linkges beween farms, farmers markets, community building and your local economy. Today, Margaret is talking about the importance of land preservation:

By Margaret Waldock
Executive Director
Hunterdon Land Trust

A few weeks back my 8 year old niece, Irene, who hails from the wilds of Western New York State, told me that when she grows up she is going to move to New Jersey because it’s beautiful and green, and the people are friendly and talk to you. When you consider the prevailing negative impressions of our fair state and that they come mostly from driving on the New Jersey Turnpike or watching reality television, this is kind of astounding.

The reason Irene has formed such a positive impression of our state is that she has directly experienced the fruits of decades of land preservation efforts throughout New Jersey. When Irene and her older sister visit me, we tube down the Delaware River, sun bathe on public beaches, and cycle down bike paths. Her experiences make land preservation relatable to her, so she appreciates what many others fail to see in New Jersey and dreams of one day living in such a green and friendly place.

Making land preservation relevant is essential to efforts to protect New Jerseys farms, forests, and waterways and to fostering a sense of stewardship and responsibility in the next generation.

Recently, my organization hosted a day for the public to explore our Lockatong Preserve in Delaware Township, NJ. Local naturalists and a professional photographer donated their time to lead visitors on guided walks, instructing visitors on the best photography techniques to capture the beauty of nature and pointing out native flora and fauna and our management practices to foster those communities.

Some of the folks that came were people who knew of the land trust, but most didn’t know the preserve existed and that this was a place they could come and enjoy with their families. It’s become apparent to me as executive director of a county wide land trust that events like these are essential to building long term support for our mission.

There is a saying that we protect what we love and we love what we know. Those of us concerned for the future of New Jersey’s unique and special landscapes should follow my niece Irene’s lead – get outside and share the places you know and love with the ones you know and love.

For more information about Hunterdon Land Trust:
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Images courtesy Hunterdon Land Trust

We welcome back David Wheeler, Director of Operations for Edison Wetlands Association, for the second of his two guest blogs about incredible comeback stories of New Jersey’s natural resources. In case you missed it, his first post told us the story of the restoration of the Raritan River. Today, read about the renewal of the Dismal Swamp, the “everglades of Central Jersey.”

Blue flag iris in the Dismal Swamp

By David Wheeler
Director of Operations
Edison Wetlands Association

At first glance, the wooded slopes of the Bound Brook appeared to be something from a Bram Stoker nightmare in the Carpathian Mountains. Sharp-pointed wooden stakes jut from the ground every few feet, like the handiwork of Vlad the Impaler.

Yet the cause of these stakes is something far more benign: the hard-working American beaver. Beavers returned to the Bound Brook’s headwaters here in the Dismal Swamp Conservation Area around a decade ago, after nearly a century away. Industry’s historic legacy on New Jersey water quality, combined with the endless push of development, rendered the watershed largely unsuitable for the beaver and many other water-dependent wildlife.

Once beavers returned to the Dismal Swamp, they made up for lost time. As in other natural areas, their handiwork creates habitat for other species. Along the Bound Brook headwaters in Edison, Metuchen, and South Plainfield, a number of remote areas host beaver families. Yet this stretch of the brook near the Triple C Ranch marked the first time I observed so many freshly cut trees – at least 50 in all – in a single place.

Beaver-cut tree along the Bound Brook

Hard to believe we are in one of the most highly developed, densely populated regions in the country. Surrounding this natural oasis are condos, strip malls, and traffic. Look at a Google Earth map of northern Middlesex County and you’ll see all that sprawl around one wild green heart. This heart beats with American kestrel, red-shouldered hawk, green heron, muskrats, red fox, spotted turtle, snapping turtle, and crayfish. Over a dozen threatened and endangered species can be found here in the Diz, as we affectionately call the Dismal Swamp.

Baltimore oriole

Cormorant eating a fish at Turtle Pond

Tree swallow

In his book, H2O: Highlands to Ocean, Tony Hiss memorably describes the Dismal Swamp as “a hidden emerald of the H2O Region…forested freshwater wetlands interspersed with pure springs, small streams and green meadows that 12,000 years ago served as a winter camp for the first Native Americans to enter the area after the glaciers had retreated.”

Yet this green emerald didn’t survive the past century’s intensive regional development push by accident. At first – as its very name suggests – the Dismal Swamp escaped the bulldozer for the singular reason that it was undesirable. (As if “swamp” wasn’t menacing enough for early settlers, they had to clarify that it was also “dismal”).  Instead of being converted to farms like the surrounding area, the Diz became the home of midnight dumpers, illegal hunters, and destructive off-road vehicles, a virtually lawless no-man’s land.

EWA’s Environmental Education team examines the catch from a kick net study (from left: Krysti Sabins, Tori Bingham, Nguyen Tran, Jillian Weislo)

That began to change when local residents got involved. Activist Jane Tousman spearheaded the Save Our Swamp grassroots group, which teamed with Bob Spiegel’s newly-born Edison Wetlands Association in the early 1990’s to preserve a huge parcel of land from a housing development. Spiegel also saved the 40-acre Triple C Ranch – the last remaining farm in the area – from becoming another cookie-cutter residential complex.

EWA has worked since then to preserve many other key Dismal Swamp properties, partnering with groups like NY-NJ Baykeeper and New Jersey Audubon Society, and agencies like the Middlesex County Freeholders and the NY/NJ Port Authority to save over 800 acres in Edison and nearly 100 acres in South Plainfield from overdevelopment. And the Dismal Swamp State Preservation Commission was formed to establish a regional protection plan for the area.

Equally important is introducing the public to this long-hidden natural oasis. EWA is working on a number of trails projects to expand opportunities for hiking, birding, and wildlife viewing in the area. In 2011 the Middlesex Greenway just opened the newest leg of its trail connecting hikers and bicyclists from Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, and Edison with Metuchen’s portion of the Dismal Swamp. EWA continues to work with elected officials and the Edison Greenways Group to extend the greenway into the heart of South Plainfield’s Dismal Swamp.

David Wheeler and snapping turtle

Cooper’s Hawk

Unfortunately, ill-advised development proposals continue to rear their heads: the controversial proposal to divert Green Acres-protected land at the Visco site in Edison; the Quincy Place Associates plan to build on illegally filled wetlands; and the Hollywood Avenue diesel truck highway proposal to bisect the heart of the Dismal Swamp.

For EWA, it is clear that the Dismal Swamp will only be protected with continued vigilance and public involvement. One positive sign is the increase in community interest in seeing the Diz first-hand through ecotours, nature hikes, volunteer cleanups, birding trips, and working on the volunteer community garden and rain garden. Each time a school group, scout troop, or civic organization tours the area, a visitor is almost guaranteed to exclaim: I had no idea we had such a beautiful area right in my own backyard!

For information on the Dismal Swamp Conservation Area, visit www.NJDismalSwamp.org

David Wheeler is the Director of Operations for Edison Wetlands Association and the author of Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State.

Images courtesy Edison Wetlands Association