Another Dangerous Tick-Borne Disease Spreads To NJ

It may seem early to be thinking about ticks biting in New Jersey, but an early warning is what we have for a new tick-borne disease that has appeared in our state. In this case, people are what is threatened and endangered. Warming weather and more people getting outdoors increases the possibility of tick bites.

The same tick that carries Lyme disease has caused Powassan, otherwise known as POW. It is a virus infection that can impact the nervous system, memory, thinking and balance.

The disease has been recognized in the United States, Canada and Russia. In the United States, cases of POW virus disease have been reported primarily from northeastern states and the Great Lakes region, according to the CDC. These cases occur primarily in the late spring, early summer and mid-fall when ticks are most active.

There is not widespread awareness about the disease, but no need for panic currently. Cases of the Powassan virus remain rare in New Jersey, with just three cases reported since 2013. Those three cases were in Warren and Sussex counties, according to the N.J. Department of Health. The last reported case took place in 2015.

Two types of ticks carry he disease: the woodchuck tick (Ixodes cookei) and the black-legged or deer tick (Ixodes scapularis). The deer tick is found across New Jersey and it is likely that this species is spreading POW in the region.

Some people bitten by a tick do not show symptoms at all. However, symptoms may show up one week to one month after being bitten by an infected tick. The infected tick needs to be attached to a person for a certain amount of time before it may transmit POW virus. The timeframe needed for POW virus is not known, but it is thought to be less than the time needed for other tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease (24-48 hours) and anaplasmosis (12-24 hours).

What is frightening is that there is no treatment for POW, which differentiates it from Lyme disease. People with severe POW virus illnesses often need to be hospitalized to receive respiratory support, intravenous fluids, or medications to reduce swelling in the brain. About 10-15% of people that get POW have life-long neurological conditions afterward.

The NJ Department of Health's Communicable Disease Service says that approximately 75 cases of POW virus disease were reported in the United States over the past 10 years. Most cases have occurred in the Northeast United States and Great Lakes regions. Signs and symptoms of infection can include fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, seizures, and memory loss. Long-term neurologic problems may occur.

Preventative measures are the same as other tick-related diseases:

• Avoid areas with high grass and leaf litter and walk in the center of trails when hiking.
• Use repellent that contains 20 percent or more DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 on exposed skin for protection that lasts several hours.
• Use products that contain permethrin to treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents or look for clothing pre-treated with permethrin.
• Treat dogs for ticks. Dogs are very susceptible to tick bites and to some tickborne diseases. They may also bring ticks into your home. Tick collars, sprays, shampoos, or monthly “top spot” medications help protect against ticks.
• Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors to wash off and more easily find crawling ticks before they bite you.
• Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon returning from tick-infested areas. Parents should help children check thoroughly for ticks. Remove any ticks right away.
• Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing after you come indoors. If the clothes are damp, additional time may be needed.

MORE INFORAMTION

• Printable (pdf) information sheet from NJ Dept. of Health
• https://www.cdc.gov/powassan/ 
• http://www.raredr.com/news/powassan-makes-way-to-nj-and-pa 
• http://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/powassan.shtml

Sedge Island Summer Field Experience

Did you know that the bay area around the Sedge Islands is the state's only Marine Conservation Zone? 

Sedge Island is a very unique and pristine salt marsh ecosystem that is home to a variety of wildlife, including the state's most densely populated colony of nesting ospreys (a state-threatened species).

Sedge Island is located just off of Island Beach State Park in the Barnegat Bay.

Summer programs for adults and children at Sedge Island are offered by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, our partner in many management, research and educational programs. Programs range from fishing to kayaking to professional development workshops for teachers.  To learn more, visit the CWF's Sedge Island Summer Field Experiences page.

10 Ways to Make Every Day Earth Day

Image via www.bmwatlanticcity.com

Upcoming at Sandy Hook

Gateway National Recreation Area, which covers parks in in NY and in NJ, offer programs to the public throughout the year - but as the weather improves they certainly get more visitors.

There are three geographic units: Sandy Hook, New Jersey; Jamaica Bay and Staten Island, New York City. The NYC units include Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Fort Tilden, Riis Park in Queens, Floyd Bennett Field and Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn. Staten Island has Great Kills Park, Miller Field and Fort Wadsworth. These sites and others make up the 27,000 acres of Gateway, one national park.

Two events upcoming this weekend at Sandy Hook:

Surf Fishing Clinic
Building #18, Littoral Society Headquarters
Saturday, April 21, 8 AM - 3 PM
Join Jeff Dement, Tagging Director, for a day of surf fishing and instruction on the beach. He will cover the basics of casting, knot tying, lure/bait selection, and "reading" a beach. All skill levels are welcome. Rods, reels and tackle will be provided. Children under 18 are welcome with a supervising adult. Bring lunch. This is a fee-based program. Call (732) 291-0055 to make a reservation.

Clean Ocean Action's 33rd Spring Beach Sweep
Parking Lot D
Saturday, April 21, 9 AM - 12:30 PM
Clean Ocean Action's Beach Sweeps is a biannual, statewide beach cleanup that occurs at over 70 locations throughout the state of New Jersey. Each beach sweeper becomes a citizen scientist for the day as they record each piece of debris that they collect. This turns a one-day, cleanup event, into a legacy of data that impacts research and legislation. For more information, please visit Clean Ocean Action's website:www.cleanoceanaction.org or call (732) 872-0111.

Earth Day 2018

Next Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day 2018 and this year the day is dedicated to providing the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behavior about plastics.

From poisoning and injuring marine life to disrupting human hormones, from littering our beaches and landscapes to clogging our waste streams and landfills, the exponential growth of plastics is now threatening the survival of our planet.

If you have ever walked a beach in almost any part of the world, including our beloved Jersey Shore, you have seen evidence of plastic pollution.

I have written here about pollution in the air and water and on the ground, and plastic pollution actually affects all three area although its presence in water gets the most attention.

To look at it locally, consider micro-beads which cannot be filtered from household waste water by sewage treatment plants. Eventually, these very small pieces of plastic end up in the ocean.

Take this globally and you can look at the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" and the North Atlantic Garbage Patch (trash vortex). These two areas (and there are other areas too) are made primarily up of trash fragments ranging from a millimeter to the size of a pencil’s eraser.

The highest concentrations of plastic were found roughly from the latitude of Virginia to the latitude of Cuba. Scientists have gathered data from 22 years of surface net tows to map the North Atlantic garbage patch, which lies to the east of Bermuda. It is estimated that the average concentration of plastic in this area is about 4,000 pieces per square mile, though it is as high as 250,000 pieces per square mile in some places.

The size of the Atlantic trash vortex compares in size to the area of France. This micro/fine trash, poisons fish and marine mammal and kills seabirds.

We know that balloons and plastic bags and larger pieces of plastic are also floating out there and are a danger, but the micro-beads are easily swallows along with other food and water and clog the guts of creatures with indigestible beads that make them unable to eat and so they starve to death.

The Great Pacific garbage patch (also described as the Pacific trash vortex) is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean discovered between 1985 and 1988. The patch extends over an indeterminate area of widely varying range depending on the degree of plastic concentration used to define the affected area.

These patches include concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. It has a low density and so it can't really be detected by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. The suspended, often microscopic, particles are in the upper water column.

But that probably sounds far away from you and your daily life.

The EarthDay.org website offers three paths to get involved in the pollution that exists in your neighborhood.

1. Individual: learn and act to End Plastic Pollution for yourself and your close communities.
2. Organization: organize for Earth Day and beyond.
3. Educator: resources to teach and help others organize to End Plastic Pollution in your school or university.

How About a State Amphibian and a State Reptile for NJ?

Look up the New Jersey state amphibian and state reptile and you will find - nothing. We don't have them. Well, we have amphibians and reptiles, but none are officially designated.

That may change soon.

Bills to make the Pine Barrens treefrog the official amphibian of New Jersey and to make the bog turtle the state reptile were approved by a state Senate committee this year.

a puffed up Pine barren Treefrog

According to S2297, the Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii) was listed by New Jersey as an endangered species in 1979 due to habitat loss and upgraded in 2003 to threatened “based on improved population numbers and a determination that its habitat in the state is well protected by the New Jersey Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.” The bill says designation as the state amphibian would further help in conservation of the species and its habitat by raising its profile among the public.

Populations of the Pine Barrens treefrog are found in only three places worldwide. They are the New Jersey Pinelands, the panhandle of Florida, and the sandy hills of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Then we have bill S1925, for the bog turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii). It is one of the smallest turtles in the world. It has a distinct orange patch on either side of its head and a brown to black shell, and it is one of the rarest in North America.

bog turtle

The bog turtle can be found in wet areas in 12 New Jersey counties. It was listed as endangered in New Jersey in 1974 and threatened in the U.S. in 1997. Designation as the state amphibian should also give it more exposure and help conserve it by raising public awareness.

If the bills get past the state Senate and Assembly and are signed by the governor, these two species will join other official species such as:

• the eastern goldfinch as the state bird
• the horse as the state animal (the U.S. Equestrian Team is headquartered in New Jersey)
• the brook trout as the state fish
• the honeybee as the state “bug”
• the black swallowtail as the state butterfly
• Hadrosaurus foulkii, the fossil of which was discovered in Haddonfield, Camden County, as the state dinosaur

Free Tree Seedlings This Week at Pequest

Seedlings Available In celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day, the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife will be giving away up to 20 free tree and/or shrub seedlings per person to promote native landscaping and wildlife habitat in your backyard. Trees will be dispensed on a first-come, first-served basis April 16-20 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Warren County. Plant selection includes: White pine, flowering dogwood, arrowwood viburnum, and mixed oaks. Trees are provided by New Jersey State Forestry Services.  Directions to Pequest

Getting Out Into Our a Garden State Garden

Kids in the garden from the 2016 White House Garden

Has there been enough warm weather and green shoots to get you out in the garden?

April is a lot of clean up for me, along with turning over the soil, planting seeds, moving plants, adding new plants, and planning my vegetable garden.

Henry Rangkuti wrote me back when it was cold and said that he stumbled upon an article on the site about vegetable gardening. 

Henry passed along two recommended links: motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/10-best-garden-crops-for-beginners and on his own site gardeningjourney.com/vegetable-gardening-for-beginners/.

Of course, we love our Garden State and many people plant flowers and ornamentals. And we love our Jersey tomatoes and backyard vegetable gardens too.

I keep my own gardening calendar records every year where I record the appearances, blooms and harvest times. They do vary year to year, but most years I can see a pattern for that year. Perhaps it is a warm spring or mild winter and we are a week ahead of last year. I record frosts and freezes.

The Old Farmer's Almanac and other sites online will give you the aggregated planting calendar dates. You can check your local microclimate at almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar/NJ - but don't be too surprised if we still get a snowstorm or freeze or frost that doesn't agree with years past. 

This month is a good time to be planting lettuce and other salad greens outside. It's the time to have our tomato seeds sprout inside, but we need to wait for May to move them into the garden.

We are the Garden State and not the farming state, but New Jersey is still home to more than 9,071 farms covering 715,057 acres of farmland. The state is among the leaders in many forms of agricultural production.  For example, New Jersey ranks: 5th in blueberry production, 3rd in cranberry production, 3rd in spinach, 3rd in bell peppers, 4th in peach production.  The state also produces an abundance of tomatoes, corn, apples, strawberries, potatoes, hay, soybeans and nursery stock.

New Jersey promotes its outstanding agricultural industry through its Jersey Fresh campaign. Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables must pass a grading program to ensure they are the highest quality.

The Delaware Bay Looks Reddish - Don't Panic

If this week you see portions of the Delaware Bay, Stow Creek and Mad Horse Creek looking reddish in color, don't panic. It is not pollution, red tide or anything dangerous to wildlife, fish or people.

Two dye applications will be made in the upper bay in Salem County starting near early morning high tides the week of April 9 and continuing until late evening.

This dye release is a way to measure water flow and dispersion in waters used for shellfish harvesting. The dye used in the study is not harmful to people or the environment and is used commonly in water-quality and dispersion tests.

Information collected during this study will be used to evaluate potential water quality improvements that would result in a water classification upgrade.

The dye will be pumped into the bay from a point on land near Stow Creek. The extent of discoloration could be fairly widespread but will disperse.

The study is known as a hydrographic dye dilution study and is conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to aid in the classification of shellfish harvesting waters. Stormwater runoff from uplands and wetlands inhabited by wildlife affects the quality of water in the bay.

The DEP’s Bureau of Shellfisheries and Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring manage and protect more than 720,000 acres of estuarine and ocean beds used to raise clams, oysters and mussels for public consumption. The DEP works closely with the FDA and New Jersey Department of Health to ensure the safety of shellfish brought to market.


For more information on the DEP’s Bureau of Shellfisheries: nj.gov/dep/fgw/shelhome.htm

For more information on the DEP’s Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring: nj.gov/dep/bmw/

Source: nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2018/18_0025.htm

Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival at Branch Brook Park

The Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival at Branch Brook Park is a springtime tradition - even if the weather seems to indicate otherwise some days in April.

The more than 5,000 cherry trees that produce beautiful blossoms this time of year is a great place to visit. There are events that take place during the Cherry Blossom Festival and here are some starting this weekend.

Cherry Blossom Challenge Bike Race
Saturday, April 7th
7am – 1pm
Oval, Northern Division
Race through the Park in the Cherry Blossom Challenge! Various races will occur throughout the morning. Come cheer on the cyclists while enjoying a day in the park. Free to enter the Park and watch!

Cherry Blossom 10K Run
Sunday, April 8th
10am – 12pm
Cherry Blossom Welcome Center, Extension Division
Race through the historic cherry tree groves in this 10K race! The top three finishers in each age category will receive a commemorative fleece jacket. A portion of the race proceeds benefit the Special Olympics. Same day registration begins at 8am. Advanced registration is recommended. Race starts at 10am. Disabled Run starts at 10:10am. Free to enter the Park and watch!

1-Mile Fun Run/Walk
Saturday, April 14th
10am – 11am
Concert Grove, Southern Division
Join your family and classmates in the One-Mile Fun Run, part of our 42nd annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Children can enter individually on race day. All participants will receive a commemorative t-shirt and an award at the completion of the race.

Essex County Family Day
Saturday, April 14th
11am – 3pm
Concert Grove, Southern Division

Bloomfest
Sunday, April 15th
11am – 5pm
Cherry Blossom Welcome Center, Extension Division and Concert Grove, Southern Division
Enjoy a family day in New Jersey’s pinkest park! A packed schedule of events includes Japanese cultural demonstrations, children's activities, live music, a crafter's marketplace, food and more!

Cherry Blossom Bus Tours
Wednesday, April 18 – Sunday, April 22
Several tours each day
Cherry Blossom Welcome Center, Extension Division

Learn more at the Essex County Parks website essexcountyparks.org

The Shad Are Migrating Up the Delaware River

American Shad - Photo:by Duane Raver, USFWS

Another sign from nature that spring is here is the annual American shad migration up the Delaware River to spawn.

The timing and the number of shad migrating does vary year to year depending on water temperature and conditions. Anglers need accurate, up-to-date information on the "shad run" and there are several NJ resources for that.

• Lewis Fishery Reports done by Steve Meserve of the Fishery in Lambertville offers an email update. Sign up at LewisFishery@comcast.net to be added to his list.
• The Delaware River Shad Fishermen's Association offers updates at 610-954-0577 or 610-954-0578 for the latest updates.
• Woo's Shad Fishing Reports reports shad activity.