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!

Did You Know? About Canada Geese

by Jim Northrop, GSWA Volunteer

Sometimes, fall walks with my dog surprise me. Last October, we walked along the edge of a local golf course. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but there were few golfers about. At a turn in the path, my dog saw something interesting and tried to take me to it. After a few steps, I saw that she had found a Canada goose resting in the long grass ----- the golf course “rough.” I stopped the dog, but the goose looked at us and did not move. Then, I swear, the goose spoke to me!

“I have been in flight for days, coming from mid-Ontario. I am not so young any more, and I don’t seem to have the energy of my youth. My mate was killed by a hunter last year, my goslings (her babies) are grown and doing their own thing, so here I am all alone.”

Who would not feel some pity at this story? The goose explained that she was part of a flight of 30 or 40 birds whose destination was Chesapeake Bay. She was glad they were not aiming to spend the winter in Mexico, as she was sure she did not have that distance in her.

“Why did you stop here?” I asked. They liked the available long grass in the rough, and the nearby water trap which were nicely placed within an easy walk. She felt safe, she said, because the only predators were occasional dogs, but she noted that even my dog was on a leash, as most “golf course dogs” seemed to be. This is a beautiful and peaceful place, she told me, except for the day when I was nearly hit by a golf ball, which brought several old men on golf carts to chase me from my nest. She said she realized they were looking for their golf ball, not for her. They had soon found the ball and moved on to complete their game.

I asked my new friend about her family.  Her male goose had been a wonderful father, she said. He would stand tall and guard her while she sat on a nest of eggs. What I would call the incubation period, in which the female sits on and warms the eggs while the male stands guard, lasts for 24 to 28 days after laying, she told me. She remembered how, after the eggs hatched, she and her mate would lead their goslings in a line, usually with one parent in front, and the other at the back. While protecting their goslings, she recalled, they often had to violently chase away threatening nearby creatures ---- anything from small blackbirds to large humans, who might approach. She and her mate would warn intruders by giving off a hissing sound and then attack with bites and slaps of their wings, if the threat did not retreat or actually seized a gosling. “Happily, that never happened to us,” she said.

She continued, “The goslings enter a ‘fledging’ stage any time from six to nine weeks of age. They do not leave their parents until after the spring migration, when they return to their birth place. Once they reach adulthood, she told me, Canada geese are rarely preyed upon (aside from the threat of humans). But the geese must be on the watch for coyotes, gray wolves, snowy owls, the golden eagle and the bald eagle.”

She surprised me by noting that goslings are able to swim immediately. The male and female geese both accompany their babies during their swims. She was proud to report that goslings can dive and swim for 30 or 40 feet underwater, and they eat almost continuously to attain growth for their first migration flight. The mature goslings, now ready for migration, learn the migration routes from their parents and follow the same route in subsequent years.

My friend stopped talking for a moment, and reflected that she had not heard of predators attacking her goose friends in New Jersey ---- except for the humans!  I had to tell my feathered friend that not all humans are a threat ----- many are friends, and keenly anticipate searching the sky in the spring or autumn at the first sound of honking Canada geese, flying by in their V-shaped formations. She said that was encouraging, and did I know that the front position is rotated among several birds since flying at the front consumes the most energy?

The sun was setting, and my dog and I were ready to return to our “nest” for dinner. We were sorry to leave our new goose friend, but she advised us she would be OK, and probably would resume flying south at sun rise.  We wished her safe travel.

Although often disparaged as a nuisance, we gained from this Canadian goose a new respect for these hearty birds, hoping that as long as they would stay away from airplanes in flight, they would continue to grace our open spaces.

Did You Know? ...About Spruce Trees

by Jim Northrop

For many American homes, the centerpiece of Christmas decoration is the Christmas tree, often a spruce tree, cut locally. Year-round, spruces are trees ornamentally popular with landscapers. They are admired for their all-seasons green color, and their tidy symmetrical growth profile. They have dense branches, but they are easy to decorate.

We should know that the spruce tree has more talents than just looking pretty. Spruce is very useful as a construction wood. It has many uses as lumber, ranging from general construction work, to crates, to highly specialized uses in wooden aircraft and as a "tonewood" in many musical instruments (including guitars, mandolins, cellos, violins and the soundboard at the heart of a piano, and the harp. The Wright Brothers' first aircraft was built of spruce.

Spruce is one of the most important woods for paper making, as it has long wooden fibers which bind together to make strong paper. Spruces are commonly used in mechanical pulping as they are easily bleached. Spruces are cultivated over large areas as pulpwood.

Interestingly, the fresh shoots of many spruces are a natural source of vitamin C. Captain Cook made alcoholic sugar-based spruce beer during his sea voyages in order to prevent scurvy in his crew. The leaves and branches, or the essential oils, can be used to brew spruce beer.

Native Americans in New England took the sap to make a gum which was used for various purposes, and which was the basis of the first commercial production of chewing gum. Also, the resin of spruce trees was used in the manufacture of pitch, at least until petrochemicals were found to be better for this purpose.

We have many varieties of spruce trees in the Great Swamp Watershed. Sadly, many of them were damaged or destroyed recently by Hurricane Sandy. The root systems of spruce trees are often quite shallow, making them quite susceptible to high winds. Their graceful presences will be missed for a long time, as it will take decades for new growth to fully replace them.

Editor's note: Some spruce trees, like the Norway spruce (Picea abies), were introduced to North America from Europe, and are now considered invasive species. As they invade an area, the Norway creates a new habitat that few native plants can tolerate. The soil surrounding stand of Norway spruce often becomes acidic and devoid of many important nutrients. Shade canopy also becomes very dense, preventing light from reaching native plants close to the forest floor.

Thankfully, homeowners and landscapers can avoid perpetuating the spread of invasive spruces by choosing to plant native spruce species instead. The red spruce (Picea rubens) is one of these native species. Its natural range stretches from the Canadian Maritimes through the Appalachian Mountains to western North Carolina. The red spruce thrives on moist, sandy loam, and also on dry rocky slopes. These trees can reach heights of 60 to 80 ft.

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!

Rest and Be Thankful?

Okay, but consider volunteering at our Conservation Management Area (CMA) on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Great Swamp Watershed Association (GSWA) will be more thankful!

GSWA will hold a post-hurricane clean up and workday at its Conservation Management Area (CMA) on Sunday, November 25, 2012.

The workday will run 9:30 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

The CMA is located at 1 Tiger Lily Lane in Harding, although many GPS systems place the location in Morristown.

There are tasks for all—from brush cleanup to moving chainsawed logs off the trail, to boardwalk repairs and fencing renovations—in the wake of Sandy's unwelcome redesign of the property.

We will have work gloves, simple tools, and snacks but if there are any chainsaw experts out there we could use their EXPERT help.

All those intersted in helping out are asked to email GSWA's Director of Outreach and Education Hazel England (hazele[at]greatswamp.org) with their availability.  Please provide some indication of the type of tasks you prefer—light-duty or heavy-duty. It's also helpful to let Hazel know how many other volunteers you plan to bring with you.

Anyone who has NOT volunteered for us in the past will need to read and sign a volunteer release form, so please RSVP if you are thinking about attending.

Coffee and donuts will be available starting at 9:00 a.m.

This is your chance to get away from family after the long Thanksgiving holiday, or an opportunity to bring all those relatives together to work as a team to help recover and restore the public trails at the CMA.

Putting Lessons into Learning...

Inspired by her attendance at a couple of GSWA teacher education workshop, Great Swamp Watershed Association member and Madison Borough resident Nancy Kuster recently incorporated some of the water education activities she learned into her class at the Sundance School in North Plainfield.  Kuster is a second grade teacher with 15 years of experience, and also serves as a facilitator for Awakening the Dreamer—a non-profit organization that helps people co-create a just, thriving, and sustainable world.  Thanks to her GSWA workshop experiences and a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, she was able to continue her sustainability education by enrolling in The Cloud Institute’s New Jersey Learns program. Now, she is teaming up with GSWA to develop more ideas for sustainability lessons that she can introduce to her students.

Kuster is developing her new curriculum by introducing year-long, integrated units on sustainability into her daily curriculum.  As she conducts these lessons, she asks her students to think about cycles and systems, including decomposition, product, and water cycles. Along the way, her children have learned that the water cycle is much more than just precipitation and evaporation.  And they have come to understand where their household water comes from and where it goes once they are finished with it.

"Second graders don't typically spend a lot of time thinking about resources and pollution issues," Kuster said, "but they are definitely capable of understanding that we have limited fresh water, and that we need to start taking care of our environment."

After a presentation on water use and the bigger water picture, Kuster's students used their artistic talents and language skills to make a mural explaining the water cycle as they understood it.  They also enjoyed a presentation about non-point source pollution and learned how to clean up after themselves.

Click here to see the student's mural.

In the days and weeks to come, each child in Kuster's second grade classroom will be writing their own "Journey of a Drop"—a story aimed at describing a water drop's long trip from sky to earth and back again.  What a fantastic program our teacher workshops have inspired!

If you are an educator or know one, encourage them to attend one of the three teacher workshops GSWA is offering this academic year. Visit our workshop page at www.GreatSwamp.org for more information and registration.

Getting Past Hurricane Sandy

All of us at GSWA hope this note finds you safe and recovering as quickly as possible from the ravages of Hurricane Sandy.

Storm damage has taken a tremendous toll on the organization's projects and operations. The continuing power outage at our offices in Jockey Hollow prevents staff from accessing valuable work resources, and has interrupted the regular fall event schedule. Most notably delayed is the introduction of our new State of the Streams report for the Great Swamp Watershed. Director of Water Quality Programs Laura Kelm was to present initial findings from this remarkable new report at a November 13 Breakfast Briefing. This event will be rescheduled for a later date, and the complete report will be released in December.

Damage sustained by GSWA's conservation infrastructure is more troubling. High winds and tree falls not only took out power lines in Jockey Hollow, they also wiped out much of the recently expanded deer exclosure at 568 Tempe Wick Road. The exclosure demonstrates what understory regeneration can look like when invasives are removed and native understory is replenished in the absence of deer; a step essential for improving local biodiversity and wildlife habitat.

The forest restoration clock suffered similar setbacks at GSWA's Conservation Management Area (CMA) in Harding Township. Damage to the deer exclosure at the CMA is so extensive that months of volunteer work may be required to close all of the newly opened gaps in the perimeter fence.

Several large trees also fell across various portions of the CMA newly expanded trail system. These obstructions must be removed before the area becomes fully accessible, and new trails will need to be blazed around those tree falls that are too big to shift. The post-storm health of hundreds of saplings and other new native shrubs our volunteers added to the CMA this summer and fall remains uncertain. A survey of these young plant beds will take place over the coming days and weeks and the deer fence will need to be repaired.

See GSWA's Flickr page for photos of storm damage.

The following email sent on November 5 by CMA first-responder and GSWA Board Member John Neale vividly describes the devastation encountered while moving from the front gate of the CMA to the back where GSWA land opens onto our adjoining property. (This email has been edited for clarity.)

I drove to the CMA today, and was detoured a few times, as there are still closed roads, trees and poles still in the roadway.

Supplies from the Spooky Swamp Walk were unscathed, and I took some time to sort them out.

Now the bad news:

The CMA has a lot of damage; the deer fence is down in a number of locations [thanks to] large blow-downs. There are a number of trees blown across the trails as well. I cleared what I could but it's overwhelming.

There are a number of trees blocking the CMA entrance...one cedar by the new benches is down too.

A very large tree on the bank of the [S]ilver [B]rook came down across the brook towards the trail...After you cross [the brook], there is a large blow-down across the trail.

Going straight along the boards from the bridge just, as you take a left turn and go straight, [there is] a very large tree [blown down and the deer] fence is totally down there too. 

[At] the back of the property, the fence was taken out by another very large tree.

The fence is down along the mosquito ditch [thanks to] another tree, [this one is] not far up from the [maintenance]shed.  

These are just a few I [mention], there are more down throughout the property.

I walked the [adjacent] property which also has damage, but [is] not as bad...there are a number of large blow-downs with 8-foot root balls just along the trail which we can get around, [and] then the trail on right side has two very large trees blocking the trail [which will] need to be removed. 

There are also some hangers and leaners across these trails too. It's a shame to see so many trees in this condition.

I hope everyone is getting through this OK.

Regards,
John

See GSWA's Flickr page for a set of photos documenting the recent storm damage.

Our sentiments echo John's: All of us at GSWA hope you are getting through this okay. We also hope that once your own needs have been met you will consider lending your time and your resources to help us rebuild what we all worked so hard to create. Please consider making a small extra donation to GSWA right now, or as you prepare to make your year-end gift. And please consider lending a hand at an upcoming volunteer event. We have a lot of repairs to make and could use all the hands we can get.

Updates on recovery efforts and rebuilding events will be published as they become available.  Please stay tuned and stay safe!