Taste Some Wine, Taste Some Water, Bring A Friend!

You're invited to GSWA's first Water ‘n’ Wine party!

Here’s the deal.

On Wednesday, December 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Great Swamp Watershed Association will present Water ‘n’ Wine, where we'll put your taste buds to the ultimate test. The party is free, but you must bring a friend!

For every friend you bring, an anonymous donor will contribute $25 to GSWA!

If your friend becomes a member on December 4, the same donor will contribute another $25!

More About the Event

Party-goers are invited to taste test a variety of waters, including local, bottled, and city varieties. All those who partake will cast a vote for their favorite and find out which water is voted "Best-tasting."

In addition to water tasting, attendees will enjoy an informal wine tasting and delicious hors d’oeuvres. GSWA’s Director of Education and Outreach, Hazel England, also will entertain guests with a fun game! Prizes will be awarded!

All the festivities will take place at GSWA's headquarters located at 568 Tempe Wick Road in Morristown, New Jersey. Map it!

Please register by emailing drice@greatswamp.org or by calling 973-538-3500 x22.

Accolades for Bernards High School Students Working Toward Cleaner Water

Advanced Placement projects benefit Great Swamp Watershed Association, win award from The Nature Conservancy

Bernards High School students in Karen DeTrolio’s AP Environmental Studies class made a big splash with their year-end projects this June.  Working in teams of 3 or 4, they examined their own relationships with water and turned their discoveries into practical information everyone can use to avoid pollution and conserve natural resources.

The 20 projects, which included everything from a review of the impact of common household chemicals on water supplies, to an explanation of the links between clean water and healthy wildlife, were developed in partnership with the Great Swamp Watershed Association (GSWA).

Dedicated to protecting the waters and the land of New Jersey’s 55-square-mile Great Swamp Watershed region, GSWA will incorporate the students’ work into the organization’s upcoming Watershed Friendly Homes program.  GSWA Director of Education and Outreach Hazel England worked with DeTrolio to design the classroom collaboration and provided guidance and support to students as their research progressed.

“GSWA was excited to initiate this project and collaborate with students from a school within the watershed,” said England.  “Their work will form a cornerstone for future outreach to residents in Bernardsville and the nine other towns of the Great Swamp Watershed as GSWA launches its new Watershed Friendly Homes program aimed at changing water use behavior in the region.”

Students were asked to present their final projects over the course of two days to an audience made up of their peers and several visiting environmental experts from GSWA and other local community groups.  Visiting experts were asked to assess each group’s presentation, and choose their favorites.

Awards for excellence went to four groups of students.  Seniors Lauren Thomann, Abby Parker, and Erin O’Brien chose to survey their peers and the surrounding Bernardsville community to learn more about local water use and what might keep people from engaging in more conservation-oriented behavior.

Senior Morgan Blain, senior Christian Torres, and junior Jon Carter explored the true cost of bottled water production and what it would take to convince consumers to replace boutique water brands with ordinary, clean tap water.

Seniors Bina Patel, Kathryn Levin, and Edi Lima ventured under the sink to discover more about the environmental effects of those household cleaning products we all use and wash down the drain when we are done with them.

Seniors Addie Clayton, Erin Doran, and Sophie Reddi documented the construction of a rain barrel they and their friends built from scratch.  Their double-barrel rainwater collection system, which cost $200 to construct, is already at work diverting rain from the roof of Bernards High School into a courtyard garden where it nourishes a multitude of watershed friendly native plants.

A fifth group, which included seniors Matt Whitlock, Katie Hildebrandt, and Till Rosscamp, went above and beyond their teacher’s requirements and submitted their project to The Nature Conservancy for consideration in the environmental organization’s Show Us Your H2O competition for school groups and civic organizations from New Jersey’s Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, and Somerset Counties.  Structuring their research to meet stringent contest parameters, the trio created a presentation that carefully tracked the source of drinking water for the Borough of Bernardsville, and systematically analyzed the environmental risks facing that water supply.

Their hard work was repaid in full when they took top honors for their submission.  As a reward, Matt, Katie, and Till will be acknowledged for their integral role in the placement of a new rain garden that The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey will construct free of charge on the grounds of Bernards High.

“I am so pleased with the success of the project for both the GSWA and for my students,” said Bernards High teacher Karen DeTrolio.  “It provided my classes with a meaningful project-based learning experience, and the GSWA with the building blocks for their Watershed Friendly Homes program.  As a teacher, it was incredibly rewarding to watch my students apply what they learned throughout the year to a real-life situation.”

Congratulations to all of the participating Bernards H.S. students for a job well done.  Their work will appear online early this fall as part of GSWA’s Watershed Friendly Homes program.

Mother Nature, Morristown, and the Revolutionary War Soldier

Great Swamp Watershed Association and Morristown NHP partner to tell the story of George Washington’s Jockey Hollow Encampment of 1779-80.

The headwaters of Primrose Brook, one
of the 5 major streams of the Great
Swamp Watershed, rises inside the
Jockey Hollow Unit of Morristown
National Historical Parl.

Most Americans remember the plight of ill-equipped Revolutionary War soldiers at Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge Encampment during the harsh winter of 1777-1778. As young children, we learn the story of patriots who starved, froze, and, marched without shoes; and those imagined scenes stick with us for the rest of our lives.

Fewer realize that an even worse season of snow and bone-chilling wind awaited those same troops only two year later.  In 1779-80, while General George Washington pondered the British stronghold in New York City, he needed a place to camp the bulk of his Continental Army.  He chose Jockey Hollow for his encampment—an area of land situated between Mendham and Morristown in New Jersey—and it was there that his men began digging in for what would become the coldest winter on record.

Despite the prospect of bad weather, the landscape in and around Jockey Hollow offered several advantages.  The surrounding hills were militarily defensible.  Proximity to the British and land routes in out of New York offered a perfect base for observation and spy missions.  And an abundance of natural resources—clean water, wood cover, and fuel—meant a better chance for soldiers to survive winter’s oncoming wrath.

While more than 1.2 million Americans visit the national park at Valley Forge each year, only 300,000 or so visit Morristown National Historical Park annually.  It was at Jockey Hollow that Washington’s troops honed their ability to endure, and it was this trait of the soldiery that became one of the keystone strategies that ultimately won the nation’s independence.  How unfortunate is it that more of us—especially those of us living nearby—are so unfamiliar with this story of persistence, dedication, and patriotism?

The Great Swamp Watershed Association and Morristown National Historical Park will work together this June to spread the word about these heroes from our past. And part of the retelling of that story will focus on how a Revolutionary-era soldier’s relationship with the outdoors helped him and his comrades survive to march and fight.

On Sunday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to noon, join representatives from both partner groups for Jockey Hollow Explorers: Water and the Revolutionary War.  Start the morning with a stroll through the history and the natural history of the Jockey Hollow encampment.  You will learn more about how soldiers used natural resources—especially water—at the site and what condition those resources are in today.

Following the hike, meet a National Park Service interpreter for some hands-on activities.  Water, in the 18th century, served not only in cooking and washing but also as a source of power, as a highway, a moat and even a dump.  Learn about the role of water in daily life in the 18th century as well as the role of oceans and rivers in the American Revolution. Join the Park ranger in a role-playing game in which the adults represent England and the kids become the Patriots using waterways to defend their homeland.

This is a free event is open to all who wish to attend.  Online registration in advance of attendance is strongly encouraged.  Register by visiting the Great Swamp Watershed Association at GreatSwamp.org.  To register via telephone, please call and leave a message at 973-538-3500 x22.

The Jockey Hollow Unit of Morristown National Historical Park is located at approximately 600 Tempe Wick Road in Morristown, NJ.

For more information about Morristown National Historical Park, please visit www.NPS.gov/morr.  For more information about the Great Swamp Watershed Association, please visit GreatSwamp.org.

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.

Primrose Farm Saved!

After five years of intense negotiation and advocacy, the 113-acre Primrose Farm in Harding Township has been preserved as open space.  Ownership of the land was officially transferred to the Harding Land Trust on December 27, 2012.  The Great Swamp Watershed Association (GSWA) and other Primrose project partners were on hand for the final closing.

In 2008, GSWA was the first community stakeholder to recognize the intrinsic natural value of Primrose Farm.  Upon learning that the entire property was slated to become a large residential subdivision, GSWA Executive Director Sally Rubin quickly approached The Trust for Public Land and recommended Harding Land Trust as the ultimate land owner.

The new conservation acquisition will spare Primrose Farm from the bulldozer and work to maintain the ecological balance of the wetlands, forest, meadows, and steep slopes it encompasses.  This is good news for native plants and wildlife like the endangered Indiana bat, which relies on Primrose’s mix of woods and fields to provide summertime roosting and feeding grounds.  It’s also good news for all those who believe that clean water is an essential community resource.  Open spaces like Primrose Farm play a critical role in filtering and retaining the water that falls to Earth during storms.  Our communities rely on them for everything from maintaining clean drinking water supplies, to mitigating floods and droughts.

GSWA contributed $200,000 toward the purchase of Primrose Farm through a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program.  The organization will fulfill its responsibilities as a co-owner by identifying and organizing environmental stewardship activities on the property, and by using the entire site as teaching tool for its many environmental education programs.

Primrose Farm is now free and open for public use.  The Township of Harding has retained 16 acres of preserved land adjacent to Barrett Field for future expansion of that park.  Over time, the remaining 97 acres will be made available for hiking, cross-country skiing, bird watching, horseback riding, and other passive recreational activities.

Read the press release issued by The Trust for Public Land. [release no longer available]

Congratulation to GSWA’s members and the people of Harding for wholeheartedly supporting the conservation of Primrose Farm!

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!