Trout Season Opening Day April 7

Opening day of trout season in NJ is next Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 8 a.m.

During the three weeks prior to opening day, all ponds, lakes or sections of streams are stocked
with trout, and almost all of these waters are closed to fishing for all species until opening day. This allows the fish to acclimatize to the new locations.

To fish in NJ for trout or salmon, a valid New Jersey fishing license and trout stamp are both required for residents at least 16 years and less than 70 years of age plus all non-residents 16 years and older.

The regulations for trout fishing in NJ can be confusing to new anglers, so you should check that information online at http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2018/trtregs18.pdf  New regulations are noted in red there.

For example, all Brook Trout caught within the “Brook Trout Conservation Zone” (mostly in northwestern NJ) must be immediately released unharmed. The Conservation Zone includes
all waters west of I-287 and north of Rt 202, extending to, but not including the Delaware
River.

After opening day, which can be quite crowded at the edge of popular spots, trout-stocked waters are open to fishing, including the days they are stocked, unless specifically listed with in-season
closures. In-season closures also apply to designated Seasonal Trout Conservation Areas.

Only one daily creel limit of trout may be in your possession. Once the creel limit is reached, an angler may continue to fish provided any additional trout caught are immediately returned to the
water unharmed.

When fishing from the shoreline, no more than three fishing rods, hand lines or combination
thereof may be used.

Separate stringers or buckets must be used for each angler’s catch. Containers in boats may hold only the combined daily creel limit for each legal angler on board.

Endangered New Jersey Is Nine Years Old

Today this blog is 9 years old. The idea of it is actually 19 years old. It began as a website built in 1999 for the ThinkQuest website competition for students. It was designed to be about endangered and threatened wildlife of the United States with a special focus on New Jersey, and it was built by three sixth grade students (one being my son) and their two teacher-coaches (one being me).

They chose endangered species because it is studied in almost all elementary schools and is popular with kids, but they didn't find any sites online about local New Jersey species. Since I had been a volunteer with the state's Wildlife Conservation Corps for several years, they thought I could help them narrow the website's focus to NJ species.

It went live March 31, 1999, and we notified the State of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection about the site and they provided a link to us on their site. The site was selected by Thinkquest as a Gold Award Winner in the Science and Math category.

The site was featured on New Jersey Search and was included in their search engine database as a "NJ Proud" site. The team presented a program along with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation at their former elementary school and received plaques of appreciation from the association for "promoting wildlife conservation awareness to the citizens of New Jersey."

The team also did a slide presentation on endangered species for the local Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting after a member of the group had seen the site in a newspaper feature and contacted us. The VFW post presented certificates of appreciation to the team members for their "service to the community."

The site was also featured in an article in the magazine New Jersey Outdoors in 2000.

This blog was my attempt to update the mission of the original site, and broaden the scope to include other topics about the diverse environments and species found in New Jersey, the challenges we face and what you can do to enjoy and protect them.

Ou top 5 most read posts over these years are:

1. New Jersey's Two Venomous Snakes
2. Seeing Wolves in New Jersey
3. Is That a Mountain Lion I See Wandering New Jersey?
4. Bobcat Sightings More Frequent in New Jersey     
5. New Jersey's Watchung Mountains

The blog crossed over the half a million visitors mark earlier this year, and I hope that the posts have educated not only New Jersey residents about people outside our state about the tremendous diversity in out wildlife, geography and resources and the challenges we face in protecting them.

Pequest Open House Postponed

Due to significant snow cover and adverse ground conditions anticipated from the nor’easter that hit us again this week, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife is postponing the annual Open House and Flea Market at the Pequest Trout Hatchery scheduled for this weekend.

The new dates for the open house, June 2 and 3, will coincide with National Fishing and Boating Week, which runs from June 2 to June 10, and a statewide Free Fishing Day on Saturday, June 9. The free open house and flea market will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

Existing ground conditions are currently marginal because of previous storms and saturated soil. Snowfall amounts forecast for the northwestern part of the state are expected to completely cover the site, making it difficult for vendors to set up exhibits and for visitors to walk around the property.

The Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center in Oxford Township, Warren County, usually holds an open house before the opening of trout season, which begins this year at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 7.

New Jersey's National Parks

Appalachian National Scenic Trail

You could probably ask as a trivia question "How many National Parks are in New Jersey?" and you would a lot of wrong answers.  Some people - especially people outside of our state - might even answer that there are none.

I'm afraid that the Grand Canyon and Acadia and other National Parks get most of the attention.

Writer and historian Wallace Stegner called national parks "the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

The National Park Service runs not only parks but scenic trails, recreation areas, rivers, and even waterfalls and pinelands.

Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks, and with volunteers and partners, they protect these special places. 275 million visitors enjoy the parks every year.

There are ten National Parks in New Jersey. Perhaps your summer list can include a trip to each of them.

1. Appalachian National Scenic Trail
2. Delaware Water Gap National Rec Area
3. Edison NHS
4. Gateway National Rec Area
5. Great Egg Harbor Scenic and Rec River
6. Middle Delaware National Scenic River
7. Morristown NHP
8. New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route
9. New Jersey Pinelands
10. Paterson-Great Falls

Paterson Great Falls

Jersey Tomatoes

Late winter always gets me longing to get out in the garden. Now is the time to think about garden planning, starting seeds and cleaning up garden spaces. And I can't help but think about my Jersey tomatoes. Any NJ gardener with space for vegetables should be growing tomatoes and though there are many varieties, at least one should be a Rutgers-developed "Jersey Tomato."

I got my 2018 order form for Rutgers 250, Ramapo, Moreton and KC-146 tomatoes (You can also use it to order a Jersey tomato t-shirt.)

In 2008, the "Rediscover the Jersey Tomato" program began with the re-introduction of the Ramapo tomato. That type was released in 1968 and was celebrating 50 years, but it is not your only choice.

The Rutgers 250 resulted from crossing the same parent varieties as the original 1934 "Rutgers’ tomato" with ones featuring high fruit quality and flavor. It was named in honor of the University’s 250th anniversary in 2016. It has a mid-season maturity and firm, crack-resistant fruit with a uniform color. These are semi-determinate plants and best if staked. Rutgers 250 was not bred specifically for disease resistance, but it shows good resistance to bacterial spot and bacterial speck.

The "Ramapo F1" hybrid tomato was developed at Rutgers NJAES and released in 1968. The seeds were unavailable for many years, but Rutgers reintroduced it in 2008. This is a mid to late season tomato (about 80 days) that has medium to large fruits that are resistant to cracking and Verticillium and Fusarium wilt.

The less well known Moreton F1 was Harris Seeds’ first F-1 hybrid, released in 1953 and one of the first hybrids grown by Jersey tomato growers. This early maturing, tasty variety was off the market and re-introduced in a cooperative effort by Harris and Rutgers. Moreton makes a good earlier maturing (70 days) garden choice. Many gardeners will plant several varieties to get ealy, mid and later yields. Moreton is also a treated seed that is popular in extreme climates with short growing seasons and in containers.

KC-146 tomato is also known as Campbell’s 146 because it was developed by Campbell’s Soup Company as a better flavored processing tomato and released in 1956. It was eventually replaced with newer varieties with a more disease resistance, but Campbell’s maintained the KC-146 stock as their flavor standard. A mid to late season tomato, resistant to Fusarium wilt, semi-determinate plants that take 78 days to maturity. This was developed for processing (soup etc.) but has great flavor as a fresh tomato.

• Rutgers NJAES Fact Sheets and Bulletins
• Plant Diagnostic Lab
• Soil Testing Lab
• Rutgers Cooperative Extension County Offices

Spring at the Duke Farms' Eagle Cam

Eagle cam at Duke Farms in Hillsborough. Alexis Johnson speaks with Executive Director Michael Catania.

An "Eagle Cam," like the one at Duke Farms, is the only way most of us will get a close up view of a wild eagle's nest. The coming of spring means eggs and eaglets - hopefully!

The Duke Farms live webcam in Somerset County has been active for 10 years. It has had 13 million viewers who have seen an unfiltered view of eagle life.

There are two eggs there that will likely hatch within the next few weeks.

According to Michael Catania, you are likely to see the eagles bring in food at some point and hat might be fish, turtles, even a young fawn. The action isn't always cute or tame. The Eagle Cam once caught a red tail hawk landing on the nest just as the chicks were hatching and in a flash that hawk became the first meal for those chicks.

In the past decade, 23 chicks have been raised and fledged from the nest. Last year was a year without eggs, so things look more hopeful for 2018.

The first egg this year was laid on Valentine's Day with a second coming three days later.

New Jersey now has about 170 active nests, and in 2007 bald eagles were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species.

The eggs are expected to hatch between March 21 and March 24.

Live Eagle Cam view

Eagle Scout project helps ospreys at Cheesequake State Park

One Cedar Grove Boy Scout, Dylan Green, chose for his Eagle Scout project chose to help a bird species other than an eagle that is also threatened in New Jersey. He coordinated the construction and installation of three osprey nesting platforms in Cheesequake State Park in Old Bridge.

Dylan had an earlier interest in raptors having brought orphaned birds to the Raptor Trust wild-bird rehabilitation center in Long Hill Township.

Ospreys are the only water-based raptors in America. These "fish hawks" are one of New Jersey’s largest raptors. They are well known and highly visible along coastal marshes. When hunting, they can completely submerge in water for fish which makes up almost all of their diet.

Ospreys winter in southern Florida and South America, but return to their previous nesting areas north to breed.

Osprey - photo via flickr.com/photos/albertovo5

Another species, like the eagle, that has been threatened by the past use of certain pesticides and loss of their natural habitat, the osprey is a threatened species of wildlife in New Jersey.

Listed as endangered in New Jersey in 1973, the osprey’s status rose to “threatened” in 1986 due to an increase in pairings increased from about 50 to more than 100. And our coastal sightings in NJ for 2017 were at 668 pairings.

Dylan worked with Ben Wurst, a habitat program manager for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. Environmentalists began providing platforms for nesting in the 1970s and today about 75 percent of the state's ospreys nest in platforms.

The nesting areas have a 3-foot perch for the birds on 16-foot posts. Like many Scout projects, Dylan had many helpers. Major Hardware, a Cedar Grove store, donated all the hardware and
West Essex Building Supply Co. in nearby Verona discounted the lumber. The project cost still amounted to $1400 for the three platforms.

Eagle Scout project helps ospreys - via northjersey.com

Using Trail Tracker for Your NJ Outdoor Adventures

We had a taste of warmer weather recently and some snow coming back this week. The former is good for a trail walk or hike, and the latter may be better for some planning.

The State Park Service launched Trail Tracker at the end of 2017 which is an app that helps park visitors make detailed plans tailored to trails, activities, and terrain that interest them. It is available through Google Play, the Apple app store and the Microsoft app store.

It was developed by the Division of Parks and Forestry’s Geographic Information System (GIS) department as part of a project to map and highlight amenities in the state park system. The state park system boasts nearly 1,000 miles of officially designated trails.

Batso Trail in Wharton

Our NJ park system is comprised of 50 parks, forests recreation areas and marinas, from High Point State Park in Sussex County to Cape May State Park at the southernmost tip of the state.

Hiking opportunities range from the rocky woodlands of the Highlands and Skylands regions to secluded sojourns through coastal marshes, Revolutionary War battlefields, and Pine Barrens forests. Some trails are designated for foot traffic only while others also accommodate bicyclists and horseback riders.

Trail Tracker NJ quick start guide (pdf)