The Nature Conservancy in NJ

Since 1955, The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey has protected more than 56,000 acres.

Their first project preserved 500 acres of one of New Jersey’s last old growth forests at Hutcheson Memorial Forest in Somerset County.

The Chapter now focuses on species and natural communities at risk in three program areas across the state. The program areas have projects in the Skylands, the Delaware Bayshores and the Pine Barrens.

In the Pine Barrens, they have safeguarded nearly 3,400 acres at four nature preserves.

These special places include the 520-acre Oswego River Preserve which spans diverse natural communities, Forked River Mountain Preserve, 1,740 acres linking neighboring protected lands to form an impressive greenway, and the Berkeley Triangle Project, a donation from a developer of nearly 4,500 acres, now protected and open to the public.

The Pinelands, which are not barren at all, spans more than one million acres. It is the most extensive undeveloped area on the eastern sea-board between Boston, Massachusetts and Richmond, Virginia.

The region harbors the largest example of pitch pine barrens on Earth as well as globally rare pygmy pine forests. These fire-shaped landscapes rely on natural fire regimes or ecologically prescribed burns to survive.

Mixed pine and oak forests and Atlantic white cedar swamps also thrive here, as well as many threatened plants and animals including curly grass fern (Schizaea pusilla) and pine barrens treefrog (Hyla andersonii).

Pelicans Delisted

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that the brown pelican is being removed from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

The brown pelican was first declared endangered in 1970 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act, a precursor to the current Endangered Species Act. There are now more than 650,000 brown pelicans found across Florida and the Gulf and Pacific Coasts, as well as in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The pelican may not be a species that has an attachment to New Jersey, but past efforts to protect the pelican actually play an important role in protecting all endangered species.

Early attempts to protect the brown pelican led to the birth of the National Wildlife Refuge System more than a century ago in Central Florida. Paul Kroegel, appalled by the slaughter of pelicans for their feathers, approached President Theodore Roosevelt about the situation and it led Roosevelt to create the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island in 1903. Kroegel was named the first refuge manager.

The Fish and Wildlife Service had already removed the brown pelican population in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and northward along the Atlantic Coast states from the list of endangered species in 1985. The 2009 action removes the remaining population.

Why did the pelicans recover?  That is largely due to the federal ban on the general use of the pesticide DDT in 1972. This action was taken after former Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Rachel Carson published her book, Silent Spring, which alerted the nation to the widespread dangers associated with unrestricted pesticide use.

The FWS has developed a plan designed to monitor and verify that the recovered, delisted population of pelicans remains secure from the risk of extinction once the protections of the ESA are removed. The Service can relist the brown pelican if future monitoring or other information shows it is necessary to prevent a significant risk to the brown pelican.

Find a Wildlife Refuge Near You

The National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the world's premier system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants.

Since President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island as the first wildlife refuge in 1903, the System has grown to more than 150 million acres, 550 national wildlife refuges and other units of the Refuge System, plus 37 wetland management districts.

Don't let the winter weather keep you out of nature. Find a refuge by state, zip code etc. and explore!  If the kids are home on break and getting crazy, there's nothing like the woods to calm things down.

Bald Eagle Rescued in Essex County

According to nj.com, a juvenile bald eagle was discovered trapped in a tall grass embankment at a Short Hills reservoir on the property of New Jersey American Water.

The eagle had entered the ice-cold water in a marshy area nearby and was unable to fly out because of heavy winds and apparent neurological damage from lead it had consumed.

The Raptor Trust, a Millington-based bird sanctuary, was brought in to rescue and rehabilitate the bird. Eagles sometimes contract lead poisoning from eating deer carcasses that contain buckshot. This was the Raptor Trust’s first Essex County eagle rescue.

The reservoir property is a habitat for migratory water fowl and eagle sightings have become more numerous in recent years.

After treatment at the Raptor Trust, the eagle will hopefully be returned to the reservoir and released.