Local Organizations, Businesses Unite To Produce The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt

Far-ranging geography game promotes awareness of nature, culture, history in northern New Jersey.

Morristown, NJ—On May 11, starting at 9:00 a.m., 18 area organizations and businesses will work together to present The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt—a free, outdoor event created by the Great Swamp Watershed Association, and designed to promote greater public awareness of some of the most significant natural, cultural, and historical locations found in northern New Jersey.

Part game and part celebration, The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt takes participants on a 40-mile adventure through the state’s Great Swamp Watershed region. This is the place where the mighty Passaic River rises, where George Washington’s troops survived the coldest winter of the Revolutionary War, where the U.S. government created the first federally-designated wilderness area east of the Mississippi, and where many seriously injured wild birds have found sanctuary and healing.

Scavengers spend a fun-filled day hunting down special tokens from more than 15 sites of interest throughout the watershed.  Featured locations include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, the National Park Service’s Morristown National Historical Park, Morris County Park Commission’s Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, Somerset County Park Commission’s Environmental Education Center at Lord Stirling Park, New Jersey Audubon’s Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, The Raptor Trust, Harding Land Trust’s Primrose Farms, the Great Swamp Watershed Association’s Conservation Management Area, the Friends of the Great Swamp’s Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center, Millington Gorge, Meyersville Café, and the Rolling Knolls Superfund site.

“What a great event,” said Jenny Gaus-Myers, superintendent of environmental education at the Morris County Park Commission.  “We love being part of the scavenger hunt and introducing lots of new visitors to our center and the wonders of the Great Swamp Watershed.”

Cathy Schrein, manager of Somerset County Park Commission’s Environmental Science Department, echoed Gaus-Myers’s sentiment, adding: “Events like The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt and the Somerset County Environmental Education Center’s Swamp Search are such fun ways for the public to learn more about their immediate environment and to enjoy the outdoors.”

Geocaching enthusiasts will experience twice the fun at The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt by logging special caches that have been carefully hidden at each location by members of Northern New Jersey Cachers (NNJC.org)—one of the nation’s most respected geocaching organizations.

“NNJC has partnered with GSWA for a number of years, from boardwalk construction and kiosk building, to presenting a spooky Halloween hike,” said John Neale, president of NNJC.  “Like geocaching, The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt is another great example of getting folks together to enjoy the outdoors and learn about their local parks.”

At 4:00 p.m., scavengers will gather at Loantaka Brook Reservation’s Kitchell Pond Pavilion (Morris Township) where they will be treated to a free picnic barbeque and will be able to exchange the tokens they collect for an opportunity to win one of several top-notch prizes.

This year’s prizes include premium outdoor gear and gift certificates to notable area restaurants donated by event sponsors at Investors Bank of Madison, Morris Tap and Grill in Randolph, Meyersville Café in Long Hill Township, and Shanghai Jazz Restaurant and Bar in Madison.  Additional prizes and giveaways will be supplied by Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Madison, Smarties Candy Company of Union Township, and other event partners.

“We want people to know that there is so much out there to see and learn in the Great Swamp,” said Liz Adinaro, head of marketing and media for Morris Tap and Grill.  “We believe in supporting our community, as the community gives back to us by visiting our restaurant.”

Food for the Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt Picnic will be donated by event sponsors at Whole Foods Market Rose City Madison, and Costco East Hanover.  Grills and buffet tables will be staffed by the Great Swamp Watershed Association and Northern New Jersey Cachers.

Scavenger hunters who choose to join the afternoon picnic are welcome to contribute a covered side dish to share with the rest of the group.  Drinks, hot dogs, hamburgers, and an additional healthy main dish will be offered free of charge while supplies last.

Visit GreatSwamp.org or call 973-538-3500 x22 for more complete information about The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt, including start time and location, a basic description of rules, and picnic details.  Online registration is free and recommended.  Donations in support of the event are sincerely appreciated and may be made at time of registration or during the event at Kitchell Pond Pavilion.

Volunteer Use Thanksgiving Weekend to Give Back to GSWA

by Hazel England, Land Steward and Director of Education and Outreach, GSWA

Some came to connect with family and give back to the watershed by working together.  Some came to catch a break from family after the long Thanksgiving holiday; others because they are longtime members and volunteers, or because they were offered extra credit by savvy Environmental Science high school teachers.  Some even came for the coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts!  Whatever reason, a lot of volunteers  turned out on Sunday, November 25 for an outdoor workday at the Great Swamp Watershed Association’s Conservation Management Area.

Check out photos from our workday event on Flickr!

Once again our volunteers re-created a one-mile trail first laid out in early 2011.  It’s been repaired three times now; once after Hurricane Irene flooding devastated it, again after the losses from the 2011 Halloween snowstorm blocked it, and now following Superstorm Sandy.

More than 30 adults, teenagers, and kids spent a cold Sunday working in crews.  Each crew was headed by a chainsaw expert, and included some strong muscles for moving large chain-sawed logs.  The rest of each team was composed of support workers who raked trails free of downed sticks, branches, and fallen leaves.    Many of the logs the crew cut up were used to edge and delineate our CMA trails, or piled to make giant brush piles which other volunteers will clear away at future workdays.

A few volunteer groups worked to remove felled trees from multiple points along the 7,500-foot deer fence that encloses 28 acres of the CMA.  Blow-downs from Sandy breached the seven-year-old fence in several places, and both temporary and permanent fence repairs were required after much of the wood was removed.  Some truly giant trees subsumed stretches of fence more than thirty feet long.  In these spots, where volunteers could not venutre and the fence remains pinned to the ground, hungry deer now have free reign to decimate all of the protected native vegetation GSWA has been trying to restore.  Scores of fresh hoof prints inside our fence perimeter testify to this particular problem.

There were a few other places where our ruined fence could only be pulled up off the ground and onto temporary supports.  GSWA will need an emergency infusion of cash to purchase new permanent support posts, and entirely new fencing that is not riddled with large, deer-sized holes.

Many of our most faithful volunteers showed up to work.  There were also many new faces joining us thanks to a last-minute appeal for volunteers distributed by local media outlets.  Regulars and first-timers worked side by side, and it was truly humbling for me as GSWA’s land manager to see so many people giving back to an open-space property that serves so many local communities.

Now that much of the damage wrought by Superstorm Sandy has been repaired, we hope that you and many others will visit and take a walk along our newly restored and opened trail system.  As you stroll along, check out all the fresh sawdust—a clear sign of all the busy beavers who worked so hard Thanksgiving weekend to the benefit of all.  Words cannot express how grateful I am for all our committed volunteers!

Springtime Is Volunteer Time!

March at the Great Swamp Watershed Association was all about volunteering and working outside this year. On Sunday, March 18, Director of Water Quality Programs Laura Kelm worked with the Morris County Park Commission and the Americorp NJ Watershed Ambassadors to lead more than 20 volunteers through cleanup activities at a new inside Loantaka Brook Reservation (Morris Township). After three hours of hard work, the nonnative plants are out and the natives are in along this short stretch of Loantaka Brook near Seaton Hackney Stables.

On Saturday, March 24, Director of Outreach and Education Hazel England, who also doubles as our land steward, led another large group of volunteers through trail maintenance tasks at our 53-acre Conservation Management Area (CMA) in Harding Township. Bridges were built, trails were mulched, and weeds were pulled. After all this hard work our CMA is ready for springtime visitors, so remember to pay us a visit at 1 Tiger Lily Lane.

Want to get the scoop on what really happened during our March volunteer days? Check out these two recent updates from our two volunteer group leaders, Laura and Hazel.

GSWA’s Annual Stream Cleanup & Enhancement by Laura Kelm

You might remember previous Great Swamp Watershed Association (GSWA) stream cleanups at Kitchell Pond where our volunteers collected trash from the grounds of Loantaka Brook Reservation. The good news is that our gatherings there have made a real difference! This year there was minimal trash around the pond, so we decided to change our work site and the focus of our event.

GSWA worked with Geoff Knapp from the Morris County Park Commission and Stephanie Queirolo, the AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador for the region, to plan this year’s volunteer work. On March 18th, 21 volunteers converged on Loantaka Brook Reservation’s South Street Recreation Area to refresh and enhance the stream bank along Loantaka Brook. Many of the participants were new to GSWA, including several students from Passaic County Community College.

Located next to Seton Hackney Stables, the area we focused on sheltered many invasive plant species and nuisance vines that were overtaking nearby trees and reducing local biodiversity. Using clippers and lots of manpower, the volunteers removed the vines and invasive plants and planted 15 native trees in their place.

The native trees that we planted will provide wildlife habitat, and their deep roots will help to stabilize the bank of Loantaka Brook. The plant material we removed from the site was collected by the Morris County Park Commission to be turned into mulch. We got much more accomplished than we had planned, but there is still more to be done to rid the entire area of invasive plants. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out, and we hope to see you at future cleanups!

Check out photos from the Loantaka Brook volunteer day below or on GSWA's Flickr page!

Volunteer Workday At The Conservation Management Area by Hazel England

Twenty-three people from near and far enjoyed the warm March weather and early blooming trout lilies and spicebush, while readying the GSWA CMA for spring.  After the hurricanes and flooding of August, and the freak snows in October, the trails were in need of some TLC. Our volunteers spread wood mulch over paths leading a third of a mile away from the CMA entrance to the Silver Brook boardwalk bridge. This will allow hikers access without muddying up their boots quite so much.

Students from Passaic County College helped us clear introduced, non-native plant species away from several hundred small native shrubs. This will give our native plants time to establish themselves successfully without competing with invasives for light or nutrients. Because the CMA has a 28-acre fence around it to exclude deer, we have found that removing invasives and replanting native plants has allowed the forest understory to flourish.

Ten volunteers from the REI’s retail store in East Hanover—easily identified by their bright orange volunteer shirts—helped us construct a temporary bridge crossing that will join the CMA’s existing trail system with lands conserved by our neighbors at the Harding Land Trust. In the coming year, new trails will be created on HLT lands that will expand the total number of trail miles visitors can access. When all is said and done, a hike that begins at the CMA gate off of Tiger Lily Lane and concludes on HLT property along Harter Road will cover almost 2.5 miles of ground. 

Thanks to all who volunteered their time!  GSWA will having more weekend volunteer days as we manage the property and restore it to a functioning floodplain forest. Our next scheduled volunteer workday takes place on June 16. Register online at www.GreatSwamp.org/EventReg.htm.

Check out photos from the CMA volunteer day below or on GSWA's Flickr page!

Please join us at a future volunteer event!