Action shot of Mount Olive 6th graders during their 2012 Stream Clean Up

Our annual Stream Clean Up is around the corner on Saturday, April 20th from 9 am until 12 pm. We look forward to seeing you at one of our sites located across the headwaters region of the Raritan River! As we prepare for this event, the Raritan Headwaters Association wanted to take a moment to thank all of the conservation-minded artists who submitted their original artwork for our t-shirt design contest.

We were impressed with their creativity and interpretations of wildlife and nature. We truly appreciate their support of this important community event. Since there can only be one winner, we were inspired to incorporate the work of our younger runner-ups into a promotional poster for next year.

These designs are featured below, except of course our winning design by Wende Dasteel, which will be revealed on the day of the stream clean up. Wende is a renowned artist residing in Tewksbury Township and a champion of RHA.

Design submitted by Angela Kearsley, Age 12	Design submitted by David Kearsley, Age 8
Jessica Mooney, Age 14 and Kelly Mooney, Age 10	Design submitted by Michelle Kearsley, Age 15
Design submitted by Andrew Bozzi, Age 8	Design submitted by Tyler Cheung, Age 7
Design submitted by Trent Aurand, Age 8

Dan North, a retired journalist who lives in Jersey City, discovered Fairview Farm in 1996 while bicycling past on Larger Cross Road. When he rode down to explore, he loved what he saw and has been coming back to wander around ever since. We are pleased to feature his essays here on our web site. His book, The Slow Walker, is a collection of 52 beautifully constructed reflections on his walks in the woods. Copies of The Slow Walker are available from RHA — please contact Kate Deans at 908-234-1852, ext. 216 or via Email for more information.

Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)

A neighbor’s abandoned backyard pool has turned into a man-made vernal pool (an ephemeral body of water replenished by rain and snowmelt). This type of habitat is perfect for development of young amphibians and insects because of the lack of competition or predation by fish; frogs and salamanders are free to look around for these habitats because of their amphibious nature – you can even help these little ones cross the road in the spring, if you feel so inclined! Note: uprooted trees (thank you, Sandy!) may create vernal pools in the empty space left by their root mass, so check it out next time you see one!

I have come to learn that Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) are pretty amazing creatures. First off, they are the state amphibian of New York (New Jersey does not have a state amphibian [?!]). Besides their political notoriety, they are also well known in the science world for their tolerance to freezing temperatures. Wood Frogs hibernate in leaf litter or in the soil close to the surface, and actually allow their blood and up to 65% of their body tissue to freeze! They are very terrestrial for a frog – their toes are only partially webbed to allow them to walk efficiently on land. They can be found in cool, moist ravines, forested swamps and even upland areas throughout the summer, and typically relocate to areas close to breeding pools in the fall to overwinter (so they don’t have far to go in the spring).

When the frogs emerge from hibernation (i.e. thaw out), they migrate to nearby pools where the males announce their availability with loud,

Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Amplexus and Eggs

quack-like croaks. A mating embrace called amplexus follows, aided in part by the male wood frogs enlarged thumbs that give him a strong hold of the female. Eggs are attached to shallow, submerged vegetation and the algae that grows on them acts as camouflage from predators. Multiple females lay their eggs close together, keeping them a bit warmer than if they were laid separately. The first stage of development – egg to tadpole – depends on water temperature, and the second stage – tadpole to froglet – depends on temperature as well as food availability (tadpoles are omnivorous and feed on algae, decaying vegetation, and even eggs of other amphibians).

Since vernal pools are filled solely with storm water runoff, they can become full of non-point source pollutants like household chemicals, herbicides/pesticides, and road salt. It is important that the pool’s water is free of these types of impurities for it to host amphibian young (whose skin is very porous, allowing water to flow in and out of their bodies freely). Take the River Friendly Resident quiz to see if you are doing your part to reduce non-point source pollutants like these!

Come on down to Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve to see if you can spot a wood frog in the pond, or take a walk on the trails looking for a vernal pool in the early months of spring! Raritan Headwaters engages in land preservation and stewardship to help protect habitat for amazing creatures like the Wood Frog, as do our partners at the NJDEP and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. Contact us for more information about how you can help!

Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), USFWS

I like to run — it’s something I do five or six days a week, year-round. I enjoy running for many reasons, not the least of which is that it affords me the opportunity to see, hear and smell many things that I miss when I’m covering the ground in an automobile.  I often get my first hint that the seasons are changing during my early morning jaunts along the roads and trails near my home.

Although the calendar declared that Spring had arrived last week and I finished boiling off all the sap I’d collected to turn it into maple syrup, I wasn’t really feeling it. Then, one morning this week, I heard them — the creatures that, to me, represent the true onset of Spring.  Spring Peepers have begun serenading one another, and all of us in the Raritan Headwaters region, as they search for mates. Take a walk along any path or roadway near water between now and the end of May and you’ll almost certainly hear their distinctive high pitched chirp “peep, peep, peep, peep.” Where Spring Peeper populations are large, the chorus of calling frogs can be almost deafening!

Spring Peepers are found through New Jersey in wooded areas. These treefrogs breed in ponds and swamps in the spring. While their calls are most noticeable during their breeding season, males often call on warm rainy days during the summer and even the fall. They hibernate under logs and loose bark during the winter months. You are much more likely to hear Spring Peepers than to see them! They are very small – adults range in size from ¾” to 1 3/8”. Spring Peepers may be olive, gray, brown or yellow. They all have a dark “X” shape on their back.

Worldwide, amphibian populations are in decline. This phenomenon is poorly understood and may have significant implications for entire ecosystems. Amphibians have been identified as important indicators of ecosystem health due to their physiology and diversity of ecological requirements. The planetary decline in many species of amphibians has resulted in an increased level of research into their life histories.  Scientists and conservation organizations all over the world have initiated monitoring projects to document the status of amphibian populations and to gain insight into why some species are declining. If you’d like to learn more about Spring Peepers and other frogs and toads, check out one of the links below.

North American Amphibian Monitoring Program

A Thousand Friends of Frogs

New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Online Field Guide for Reptiles and Amphibians

Bill Kibler and Tim Dillingham are working to help ensure that New Jersey’s response to Hurricane Sandy includes investments in restoration of damaged ecosystems as well as built communities.

Nearly 100 members of RHA recently gathered for the organization’s annual membership meeting. The group came together at the Oldwick Manor for an evening program in late February that featured a program by Tim Dillingham of the American Littoral Society.

After a social hour and buffet dinner, guests heard from RHA’s Executive Director Cindy Ehrenclou and Director of Policy and Science Bill Kibler. They spoke briefly about our current efforts to protect water quality in the Headwaters region, noting among other initiatives the expansion of the Community Well Test Program underway in municipalities across the region, the 25+ stream clean up events that will take place on Saturday, April 20th in Hunterdon, Morris and Somerset Counties, and a guide to public participation in environmental permitting that will debut in the next few weeks.

The highlight of the evening was a presentation and discussion about the effects of Hurricane Sandy on New Jersey’s coastal communities, both human and natural. The storm was by far the most dramatic environmental story of the past year. The storm damaged ecosystems, destroyed property, disrupted infrastructure and cost $74 billion and more than 100 human lives. Sandy presented clear evidence of the critical importance of conserving land and natural resources. Across the state, areas with healthy, intact natural ecosystems (from coastal dunes to historic woodlands and protected stream corridors), helped mitigate the impact of wind and flooding. Areas of eroded, degraded landscape and poorly planned development suffered some of the worst damage. With photos to illustrate the changes wrought by the storm, Dillingham provided a stirring narrative about some of the ways Storm Sandy changed the physical landscape and the lives of shore residents. The discussion then turned to New Jersey’s guaranteed right to rebuild and the implications that right has regarding the State’s vulnerability to future storms.

According to Ehrenclou, “While it was a lot of fun to engage our members in a social setting over dinner, the conversation was thoughtful. In this region we were lucky to escape the majority of Sandy’s destruction, but we have great concern for our neighbors to the east. Striking a balance between the need to rebuild homes and livelihoods, the need to protect critical natural resources and the need to avoid hugely expensive infrastructure repairs after the next storm hits is New Jersey’s biggest challenge.” Kibler added, “Hurricane Sandy did a lot of things, and one of those was to remind us of the role that ‘green infrastructure’ such as reefs, barrier islands, marshes and floodplains play – it is a natural defense system. We’ll work hard to be a voice for reason and environmental protection as the State forges a new path for redevelopment.”

In response to Sandy, and taking advantage of residents’ heightened awareness of our warming climate, we have intensified RHA’s focus on high-priority conservation and education actions within the Raritan Headwaters region. We are helping restore damaged areas. We are providing training and resources to help residents be better prepared and more knowledgeable about water quality and environmental issues. We are expanding our research efforts and disseminating our findings more widely to the public and municipal leaders.

This free event will feature drive-thru service and off-loading of your items from your car to make recycling your old computers, printers and other electronic waste as easy as possible. All area residents, businesses and organizations may participate.

The following items will be accepted: TVs, computers, monitors, printers, stereos, phones, VCR/DVD players and many more items. For a complete list of accepted items, please visit: www.newtechrecycling.com.

Newtech Recycling Inc. will handle the recycling of the “e-waste” in their state-of-the-art facility in Somerset, NJ. They are a NJDEP Approved Processor of Obsolete Electronics and committed to a zero-landfill policy.

To learn more about the Green Team and its upcoming events, visit: http://www.bernardsvilleboro.org/Departments/Green-Team/

Clear the attic, deliver your “e-waste” and help celebrate Earth Day. You’ll be glad you did.

AmeriCorps Week is a time to salute AmeriCorps members and alums for their service, thank AmeriCorps community partners, and communicate AmeriCorps impact on communities and on the lives of those who serve.

Hundreds of events are taking place across the United States, including here in New Jersey. Individuals, families, students and groups are welcome to participate. We encourage you to join the AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassadors at one of their cleanup events!

A newly installed Screech Owl Box is visible in a pine tree near Ethicon’s Child Day Care Center.

Eastern Screech Owls in central New Jersey have some new housing options thanks to the efforts of RHA and Ethicon Inc. Associates (employees) of Ethicon recently teamed with staff from the watershed conservation group to build and place seven nest boxes for eastern Screech Owls on the Somerville campus of the Johnson & Johnson company.

Eastern Screech Owls are native to New Jersey, although RHA’s Director of Education and Stewardship Lauren Theis says they are more frequently heard than seen. According to Lauren, the nocturnal hunters are found in wooded areas near water throughout our region, both in rural areas and suburbs. But they blend into their surroundings so well – they perch in trees during the day – that even veteran woods-walkers rarely see them. On the other hand, Lauren says many of us have heard their distinctive calls, which she describes as trills and whinnies. She remarks that “They can sound spooky — particularly the whinny, which typically lasts up to a couple of seconds and is used by the owls to defend their territory.”

Ethicon Associates show off the nest boxes for Eastern Screech Owls they assembled.

The owls nest in the cavities of large deciduous trees, but when adequate nesting sites are not available, they will readily take to nest boxes. Lauren says that now is the time to get nest boxes installed, explaining “Eastern Screech Owls typically mate in April but we’ve seen them nesting as early as mid-March. After an incubation period of about 26 days, the babies hatch and then spend the next month in the nest before they fledge.”

Lauren Theis and Robert Reid select a tree on which to place a nest box.

One day in late February, Lauren conducted a ‘lunch and learn’ program about Eastern Screech Owls for Ethicon Associates. Afterward she and Robert Reid, who oversees land stewardship for RHA, helped the Associates assemble and install cedar nest boxes along the forested edge of parking lots and along the nature trail of the business campus.

RHA and Ethicon have been conservation partners for ten years. Twice each year Ethicon Associates visit one of RHA’s eleven land preserves to provide a day of service and last year Lauren and Robert helped create a bluebird trail (a series of ten nest boxes of Eastern Bluebirds) at the Ethicon campus. This latest project was part of Ethicon’s continuing work to achieve certification as a River Friendly Business from the New Jersey Water Supply Authority.

RHA works with businesses across the region to foster environmental stewardship through employee learning programs, corporate service opportunities and conservation projects. For more information about how your business can get involved in RHA’s watershed protection efforts, please contact Lauren.

Photo by Stephen Maxson, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The American Woodcock, commonly known as the timberdoodle, is a forest-dwelling shorebird that lives in much of the eastern United States. It migrates to warmer climates for the winter and typically begins arriving back in our region as the temperatures start to rise in late February or early March. The mixed habitats of forest and meadow at RHA’s Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve attract a significant number of these birds each year, and we’ve just started to see and hear them as we leave our office at the end of each work day!

The American Woodcock is a chunky looking, robin-sized bird with mottled brown and russet plumage and a short, brick-red tail. It has a long bill which it uses to probe the soil for worms. The population has been in decline for about fifty years – research indicates that the loss of young forest and shrub habitats is the primary cause. It is listed as a Species of High Concern by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, a Game Bird Below Desired Condition by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a “yellow list” species in slow decline and of national conservation concern by the National Audubon Society, and a species of greatest conservation need by many states throughout its range. Federal and state agencies have worked together with independent organizations to develop a Woodcock Conservation Plan and establish regional habitat initiatives to to create healthy, productive tracts of young forest in which the American woodcock (and many other species of native wildlife) can live.

The birds have a fascinating courting ritual that takes place on warm mornings and evenings at this time of the year. Males establish territories in clearings in brush and young forest known as “singing grounds.” These singing grounds are all around us — we have seen males in the edges of pastures and fields near woods roads and along country lanes. The male begins his peenting call at sunup and sundown. To attract a female, he first struts in circles on the ground and then takes flight, circling and whistling 100 feet high. The whistling turns into a high pitched twittering, ceasing suddenly as the lovesick bird flutters to the ground, only to begin the dance again. The woodcock is so caught up in his romantic ritual that the observer can get close to this otherwise evasive bird!

The sights and sounds of the woodcocks are truly enchanting, and we’ll host a special “Woodcock Watch” program at Fairview Farm to help bird enthusiasts become more familiar with them. On Thursday, March 21st, we invite you to join us from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Fairview Farm for a chance to see and hear them. There is no cost to attend this program. Of course, we can’t guarantee a sighting, but the sunset at Fairview Farm alone is worth the visit and if the “Singing Field” is quiet you can listen to the sounds of the evening!

If you can’t make it to our Woodcock Watch, you can venture out on your own at dawn or dusk. Just scope out a likely place (you are welcome to visit Fairview Farm, where you have a good chance of seeing and hearing them without even leaving your vehicle if you park either in one of the spots by the large field on the left as you come down the driveway or next to our office) and arrive just before sunrise or sunset so you can get in place before the show begins. If you are really lucky and get a good photo or video, please share it with us — we’d love to get some great images for our web site!

Kids have a great time at RHA’s Nature Day Camp each summer

The summertime nature day camps offered by the Raritan Headwaters Association provide children a unique outdoor learning experience.  By using nature as a classroom, children develop a strong appreciation for the outdoors and learn how to protect our natural environment. Each week-long program is led by Associate Naturalists and trained assistants.  Children explore wildlife, habitats, adaptations, plants, and more through field activities, stories, crafts and projects.  Four day camp programs will be offered this summer.  To learn more and get your child registered, please click here.