The Museum of Science in Boston has teamed up with researchers at Tufts University and Fitchburg State College to study fireflies.  With the help of people like you and me, they are conducting studies to track the geographic distribution of fireflies and their activity during the summer season.  Fireflies may be affected by human-made light and pesticides in lawns, so the scientists are hoping to learn more about those effects through the studies.

It is simple to participate in Firefly Watch.  After you register for the study, the idea is to spend ten minutes one evening every week during the summer to watch for fireflies in your backyard (or a nearby park or field, if you don’t have a yard).  Each time you check for fireflies, you submit a data sheet noting your observations via the Firefly Watch web site.  It’s really that simple!  

The Firefly Watch web site provides lots of helpful information about what to look for and how to figure out what you are seeing.  For example, each species of firefly exhibits its own flash color and pattern that it uses to seek a mate.  You’ll quickly learn how to distinguish at least a few species as the summer progresses.  Throughout the summer, the organizers of Firefly Watch will update the online map of everyone’s firefly sightings, so you can check on the project’s progress and perhaps find a local firefly hotspot in a public access area that’s close to you.

If you decide to participate, please let us know.  Perhaps we can have a local gathering of Firefly Watchers during the summer to meet one another and share what we discover with one another!

In the 42 years since the first designation of Earth Day, there have been many slogans to encourage people to demonstrate their concern for the health of our planet: 

• Love Your Mother Earth
• Go Green for the Earth
• Earth Day Every Day
• Think Green
• Think Globally, Act Locally
• Mobilize the Earth

In 2010, before the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the organization that evolved to advance the global environmental movement – the Earth Day Network — launched an ambitious campaign with a new slogan to inspire individuals all around the world to make a commitment to reduce their impact on the planet.  Called A Billion Acts of Green, the campaign utilizes the internet to reach out to people far and wide and asks them (us) to take action to live more lightly on the land.  It builds upon Margaret Meade’s famous notion, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 

The Earth Day Network asks people to consider what steps we can take to reduce carbon emissions and support sustainability, decide which one(s) we’ll follow through on, register our commitment to take action by pledging at its web site and then make good on our promise(s).  The goal is to register one billion actions before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that will take place in Rio de Janeiro in June of this year.  Over 900 million pledges have been registered thus far — people have registered to do things like eat more local foods, stop using pesticides and toxic cleaning products, plant gardens.  The campaign truly serves as a testament to the collective power of individual action.

Here at RHA, even though we consider ourselves fairly enlightened when it comes to living lightly on the land, we must admit that there is still more that we can do to walk our talk.  We’ve therefore made (and kept!) pledges to drive less by occassionally running or bicycling to work, plant gardens, use a clothesline to dry laundry, increase the amount of recycling we do… the list goes on and on.  

We hope that you’ll give some thought to the campaign and become a part of it, too!

The European honey bee is not native to our region, but it is a species you may see throughout the spring and summer months as it visits plants to extract nectar

Would you like to experience a warm, fuzzy feeling that makes you feel relaxed and hopeful about the future?  While I’ll admit that sharing a nice bottle of wine with friends might bring about that result, that’s not the activity that I’m referring to right now.  No, I’ve got another idea to share with you…  one that will make you feel good, take you outdoors into the fresh air and get you involved in an important conservation project.

You can join the world’s largest citizen science project focused on pollinator conservation by planting a few flowers in your garden (or in pots, if your outdoor space is limited to a small patio or balcony), observing the bees that visit them and recording your observations via an easy-to-use web site.  Your investment of money and time will be minimal, but your observations will become part of a huge database that will help researchers learn more about pollinator populations in urban, suburban and rural areas in the United States.

The name of this “backyard bee count” is the Great Sunflower Project, and it operates out of San Francisco State University.  Scientists there established the project in 2008 to better understand the reasons for and impact of declines in bee populations.  Some bee populations have experienced severe declines in recent years, and since bees pollinate so many of the plants that become part of our food supply, it behooves us to learn what is happening and how it is affecting us.  Pollinator researchers like the biologists at SFSU are working to measure how much pollination is happening over different regions and how bee population declines are influencing food production. As the researchers point out, many plants can’t set fruit until they have been visited by a bee. The Great Sunflower project uses observational bee data collected by citizen scientists to create a nationwide online map of bee populations.

The idea behind the project is to plant flowers, observe how many bees visit those flowers and how often they visit, and then enter that information into a database on the Great Sunflower Project web site.  Lemon Queen sunflowers were the flowers of choice in the first two years of the project, but the researchers have since expanded the flower list so that citizen scientists can now also plant and observe bees on Bee balm, Cosmos, Rosemary, Tickseed, and Purple coneflower.

I’ve participated in the project since its inception, and I’ve really enjoyed growing the plants and watching the bees (and other insects) that are drawn to them.  The web site for the project can be a little confounding, as it doesn’t have a menu bar that lets you quickly find information when you are looking for something, but the instructions for observing and reporting are easy to find and follow.  There is a wealth of information available on the site, including links to other pollinator study groups.  Being a part of the project has truly been rewarding – I’ve learned a lot about bees and other pollinators, become a bee enthusiast and felt as though I’ve been part of something that contributes to the greater good of our society.  I’ve caught the buzz, and encourage you to do the same!

The organizers of the effort hope participants will do more than simply turn out lights for an hour – they are using the campaign to encourage people to take real action to improve the environmental health of the planet.  They have launched “I Will if You Will,” a YouTube based challenge program whereby people can commit to taking action in small and large ways.

Of course, there are naysayers – people who pooh-pooh the Earth Hour as a campaign of extremists who want to convince governments that there is massive public support for legal mandates and punitive taxes that will prevent individuals from freely using resources and thereby hindering human progress.  There is even one group – the Competitive Enterprise Institute — that is encouraging its followers to make sure they turn their lights on from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.!  That outlook on Earth Hour seems off-track, at best, and I can’t understand why people feel the need to divide into “us versus them” camps over issues such as the health of the natural systems upon which we all depend.  While perusing the Earth Hour web site this week, I saw no indication of any effort other than to ask people (and businesses and yes, governments) to take a close look at ways we can live more efficiently, waste less and reduce our ecological footprint.  That seems like a reasonable request…  Of course, public policy initiatives will arise from such individual and collective thought and action, but these initiatives are not inherently bad — public policy based on sound science, shared goals, stakeholder involvement and social justice can truly be good for society!

So… I’ll be turning my lights off tomorrow evening.  If the storm that is forecast for tomorrow has passed by 8:30 p.m., I think I’ll head outside to do some star-gazing and some soul-searching about what steps I can take to live my life in a less destructive manner.  And if it is still raining, I’ll think about Mother Nature’s gift to our aquifers as I consider not only how I can live more lightly on the land, but also what I can do to demonstrate that my commitment to a healthier planet is not just symbolic.

Check for toilet leaks, a big water-waster, by adding food coloring to your toilet tank. Do not flush — if color appears in the bowl (you’ll see it within minutes), your toilet is leaking. Visit www.epa.gov/watersense/fixaleak  for do-it-yourself repair tips and videos.

Twist & tighten fixture connections with a wrench or apply pipe tape to ensure that connections are sealed tight. To save water, twist WaterSense labeled aerators onto bathroom faucets – you’ll use 30 percent less water but won’t notice a difference in flow.

Replace old fixtures if you’ve tried the twist & tighten step and you still have leaks.  Purchase fixtures with the WaterSense label.  This label means that the fixture uses at least 20 percent less water and was independently certified to perform as well as or better than standard models. If you replace inefficient showerheads with WaterSense labeled models, you’ll shrink your household’s water footprint by 2,300 gallons each year and save energy too (enough to run a television for an entire year, according to estimates provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).

American woodcock, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Scolopax minor — the American woodcock — is a short, plump little bird with a long bill that it uses to poke through dirt to find worms. It is a forest-dwelling shorebird that lives in much of the easternUnited 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 Fairview Farm attract a significant number of American Woodcocks each year, and 2012 is no exception — in fact, I’ve seen and heard more of them late this winter than in any recent year!

This bird has a fascinating courting ritual that takes place on warm mornings and evenings at this time of year. The male woodcock begins his “peenting call” at sunup and sundown. To attract a female, he emerges from the forest where he spends the day into a nearby field. 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 couple of special “Woodcock Watch” programs next week to help you become more familiar with them. On Tuesday, March 6th and again on Thursday, March 8th, you are invited to join us from5:30 p.m.to6:30 p.m.at Fairview Farm (2121 Larger Cross Roadin Bedminster) for a chance to see and hear them. 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! Sunset will occur just before6:00 p.m.so please plan to arrive no later than5:30to park your vehicle and walk to one of the fields while there is still light in the evening sky. One (or several) of our staff members will be on hand to help you learn more about these normally reclusive birds that so enchant us with their displays each day as we leave our office!

Unlike a wildfire, which burns uncontrolled across the landscape, a prescribed burn is a fire conducted by people with significant training and experience for specific, clearly stated purposes that is confined to a predetermined area under specific weather conditions.  Much like a physician writes a prescription for medication after thoroughly examining a sick patient, a land manager writes a prescription for a burn after carefully evaluating the condition of a particular habitat patch and determining how fire can be used to accomplish habitat improvement goals.  The burn prescription is usually dominated by weather parameters, since the behavior of fire is influenced primarily by wind speed and direction, relative humidity, and fuel moisture levels.  Once a prescription is written, a burn plan is developed to describe the conditions under which a prescribed fire can be conducted.  It includes site descriptions and maps, descriptions of the steps that will be taken by assigned personnel to conduct the burn, and methods for evaluating the burn during and after the burn.

Crews carefully lit the edge of the field

We’ve been conducting prescribed burns in some of the meadows and fields at Fairview Farm each winter since 2009.  We typically burn or mow only half of the field acreage here each year, allowing wildlife to migrate to fields left standing.  Earlier this month, “Burn Boss” Scott Mortensen led a crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (an arm of the Division of Parks and Forestry, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) which conducted three prescribed burns in grasslands.

Members of the burn crew carefully monitored the borders of the fields to keep the flames in the prescribed area

The burns were quite spectacular, although each one lasted just minutes.  The amount of time spent preparing the fields for the burns and coordinating plans, people and equipment far exceeded the length of any given burn.  This is typical — safety is always a priority, and we are delighted that the recent burns at Fairview Farm  went off without a hitch!  We’ll provide updates in coming posts on this blog so that everyone can see the transformation of the now-seemingly bare patches of land into thriving native meadows!

Flames reached a height of about 15 feet

As 2011 came to a close, we were thrilled to bring to conclusion a long effort to preserve an ecologically important and aesthetically beautiful 58-acre tract of land in Lebanon Township.  The Spruce Run flows through the site as it makes its way toward the Spruce Run Reservoir, a critical component of our State’s drinking water supply system.  Preserving the land that surrounds the stream goes a long way toward protecting water quality in the stream, thereby protecting the quality of water in the reservoir and in our drinking water.  The land itself also holds many treasures — there are 30 acres of wetlands on the property — these wetlands filter water that percolates downward into the soil, becoming the groundwater that many nearby residents then draw upon for use at home via private wells – and a flourishing hardwood forest with many species of native plants.  All this makes for a rich habitat for native wildlife.  We salute our Director of Policy and Science Bill Kibler and our partners from the New Jersey Water Supply Authority, Lebanon Township and the Hunterdon Land Trust for their hard work to preserve the Fisher property.  The site, which is being managed by Lebanon Township, is open to the public for passive recreation.  We encourage you to visit soon — you can access its hiking trails from Anthony Road north of its intersection with Woodglen Road.

At the end of January a second parcel in Hunterdon County was preserved after years of efforts.  This one, a 108-acre parcel in Raritan Township known as the Urbach Farm, features farm fields which will remain in production, mature forests, scenic vistas across eastern Hunterdon County, waterfalls and the Assiscong Creek.  Its setting amidst the fastest growing population in the County offers easy access to residents.  Like the Fisher property, the Urbach Farm is open to the public and its rich habitat offers many opportunities for wildlife observation.  This is another success story for Raritan Headwaters Association, Sol and Ada Urbach and our partners from Raritan Township, the Hunterdon Land Trust, Hunterdon County and the NJDEP Green Acres program, all of whom worked together to preserve the farm.  The property is being jointly managed by Raritan Township and the Hunterdon Land Trust.  Visitors can access it from a parking area on Klinesville Road just north of Barton Hollow Road.