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Archive for the 'ecological restoration project' Category
Tags: edison wetlands association, wma 9
Posted in ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $4000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The Dismal Swamp Conservation Area Trails Project was conceived in 2003 by the nonprofit Edison Wetlands Association (EWA). As the largest natural area remaining in this densely populated region of the state, the 1240-acre Dismal Swamp habitat enjoys a wide range of biodiversity, with nearly 200 species of birds sighted as well as a dozen threatened species. EWA has led the effort to preserve the Dismal Swamp since 1990, and has preserved approximately half of the area.
EWA continues to engage the public through mainstream media, blogs, videos, the web, and social media sites, as well as through public meetings, presentations, tours and cleanup events.Unfortunately, it has been historically difficult for the public to access this natural oasis. That changed in 2011 with the opening of the first fully public trail in the Conservation Area–Songbird Trail, a half-mile trail created, designed, and constructed by EWA in partnership with the Township of Edison. The trail currently offers hiking and mountain biking through an upland area crossed by waterways and adjacent to a public park and neighborhood. EWA has conducted cleanups, and installed security cameras, signs, kiosks, and benches. In the next few years, EWA will be hanging bird feeders, marking trees with identification tags, adding bike racks at trail heads, constructing bird blinds, and designing additional trails for future phases. They are also considering options for restoring native wildlife habitat.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails; Environmental education
Total Project Cost: $302,000
Status: While EWA completed the Songbird Trail, it offers additional opportunities for expanding side trails to incorporate the 70-acre South Plainfield Holdings, Adams Farm property, and General Pallet Factory tract. Funding is needed to help with upcoming projects, and ongoing outreach efforts.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: american littoral society, wma 13 (barnegat bay)
Posted in biological diversity, ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $5000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
Oysters were once prolific in the lower-salinity waters of the BarnegatBay–Little Egg Harbor estuary, which contained approximately 12,800 acres of oyster beds. Their loss is primarily attributed to overharvesting, due to a lack of resource management and regulation. Historic oyster reefs served to filter and buffer freshwater nutrient inputs to the estuary. The bay has been degraded by eutrophication and the loss of aquatic habitat, such as tidal wetlands lost to development and shallow water areas lost to hardening of shorelines. Thus re-establishment of oyster reefs is an important adjunct to other efforts aimed at improving the bay, such as hard clam restoration, reduction in nutrient inputs, and softening shorelines.
This project will build upon oyster restoration efforts of the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program (BBSRP) by expanding the reef restoration site created in 2008. As part of the BBSRP, approximately 8,000 bushels of clamshell and 110,000 oyster seed were planted in December 2008 on a one-acre parcel within historic oyster habitat off Good Luck Point, at the mouth of Toms River, a major source of nutrient input to the bay. The area was selected by NJDEP as the best site among all other candidate areas surveyed in the bay for their oyster restoration potential following a site-selection process that included State-designated open waters.
A diver survey contributed by Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences confirmed bottom type and the suitability of the site for oyster restoration. The American Littoral Society contributed funds from the NOAA-Restore America’s Estuaries Partnership to the planting of the clamshell and ReClam the Bay volunteers reared the oyster seed in land-based nursery systems (upwellers). Oyster seed (a disease-resistant strain) was purchased by the Division of Fish and Wildlife from Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory hatchery at the Delaware Bay cape shore. This was the first activity of its kind in the bay and serves as a model of how citizen organizations can work with state and federal agencies to improve the environment. Since 2008, an additional 360,000 oysters (cultchless and spat-on-shell) were planted on the reef.
Project goals:
Enhance benthic habitat in historic reef area with shell to support live oysters;
Engage the bay community in oyster restoration; and
Restore functional oyster reef to Barnegat Bay and build community support for and identity with the oyster as a critical component of a healthy bay.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- filtration
Biological Diversity: Ecosystem restoration; Habitat- restore healthy reef habitat
Total Project Cost: $296,386
Status: The American Littoral Society has secured $130,560 in cash from the NOAA-RAE Partnership, and $128,759 in in-kind services, equipment, and facilities usage from several sources including scientists, trained volunteers, bayside landowners, and Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Science.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: d&r greenway land trust, wma 10
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, ecological restoration project, projects funded by conservation resources
In 2011, this project received a $7,500 grant through CRI’s Carbon Sequestration and Restoration Grant Program.
The J. Seward Johnson Sr. Woodland Preserve is a 14-acre nature preserve located in Princeton, NJ. While the Preserve’s canopy trees are notably diverse, the shrub and herbaceous layers have been degraded by Princeton’s historic overpopulation of deer, and a resulting invasion of non-native plant species, including large populations of several emerging-invasive shade-tolerant shrubs, most notably Oriental Photinia. Through a 3-acre fenced exclosure, and planting of a native shrub understory comprised of 1800 shrubs, grasses, sedges, and wildflowers, D&R Greenway intends to guarantee the future carbon-sequestering capacity of the preserve. These plants will be sourced in large part from D&R Greenway’s own Native Plant Nursery, and will be custom grown for the site from local-ecotypic wild seed collections. 
D&R Greenway will also conduct Early Detection/Rapid Response surveys and eradications across the entire 14-acre preserve, removing thousands of stems of Oriental photinia and other emerging invasive plants, in partnership with the New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team. The innovative nature of this restoration, in a fragmented suburban woods burdened by emerging invasive species and a high deer population, suggests this project as an ideal model for future restorations in similar contexts region-wide.
Effectiveness of carbon sequestration will be measured by comparing a stem count of native saplings within the deer-excluded area to a similar three-acre area of the preserve, which will remain unfenced and unplanted, five years after planting. Saplings will be defined as tree species at breast height or above, less than 3” dbh. Amount of carbon sequestered will be based on biomass extrapolations for these saplings; the true carbon sequestration impact of these trees will be in the long-term, as they replace the existing canopy trees over time.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- reforestation
Biological Diversity: Ecosystem restoration- invasive plant removal and ecosystem management
Total Project Cost: $25,350
Status: D&R Greenway will be erecting fencing and controlling for invasives this winter, and planting during the 2012 growing season.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: conserve wildlife foundation, wma 15 (great egg harbor)
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, ecological restoration project
The Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) is planning to restore the 24-acre Shaw property, part of the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area in Upper Township, Cape May County, NJ. Essential to this restoration will be the removal of Autumn olive and Phragmites, two invasive species that are prevalent in the wetland habitat. They also plan to remove debris from the property, do some minimal grading, and reforest the site with native trees and shrubs that provide food and cover to wildlife. They will focus on restoring early-successional and forested habitats to provide habitat for wildlife, especially migratory songbirds. The site will be monitored for at least three years following the restoration.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- reforestation
Biological Diversity: Habitat- scrub-shrub habitat for migratory songbirds; Ecosystem restoration- invasive plant removal
Total project cost: $204,050
Status: The CWF is seeking funding to carry out this project.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: franklin parker small grants program, friends of princeton open space
Posted in biological diversity, ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $2,000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) has worked for 40 years to preserve and restore open space in Princeton, NJ. Its home base is Mountain Lakes Preserve, in the middle of 411 acres of preserved land, 300 of which are publicly owned. Sometimes called “Princeton’s Central Park”, this popular destination for hikers is well-situated for public outreach, being in the middle of the township, well connected to bike trails and bounded by three schools. A FOPOS-maintained system of trails allows easy access to all preserved lands. Preliminary plant inventories have been made of the complex of habitats, which vary in soil type and elevation from spring- or stream-fed wetlands to mature oak-hickory forest and upland meadow.
Though ten years of intensive deer control has greatly improved prospects for native flora, past farming and browsing pressure mean much work is needed to reintroduce native understory species. Invasive shrubs are pervasive, with Photinia villosa of particular concern, while invasions by herbaceous exotics such as lesser celandine and Lespedeza cuneata are in earlier stages.
Various initiatives to manage and restore the publicly held lands are underway through FOPOS, including the planting of a wet meadow, management for native flora in a spring-fed marsh (WHIP grant), restoring populations of native chestnut, butternut and hazelnut, deer exclosures to be built as mitigation for the dam and lake restorations, invasive removal by individuals and school groups, conversion of Mountain Lakes House landscaping from exotic to native, native seed collection and growing.
There is a need to integrate all these initiatives within the framework of a detailed ecological assessment and stewardship plan that will offer a comprehensive vision, identify priorities, partners and opportunities, and provide a plan for reaching a set of ecological and educational goals.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Biological Diversity: Ecosystem restoration- invasive plant removal, ecosystem-level management and planning, restoration of native wetlands and forest species
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails
Total Project Cost: $22,600
Status: Approximately 15 acres of the property have been cleared of Photinia villosa. Further funding is needed to continue efforts to remove this species, as well as develop an integrated ecological assessment and stewardship plan.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: franklin parker small grants program, new jersey audubon society
Posted in biological diversity, completed projects, ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3500 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
In 2010, the New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) was awarded a Franklin Parker Small Grant to assist in the construction of a 2-acre wetland at the Elvin W. Georges Grassland Preserve. The preserve is a 71-acre parcel that, in addition to wetland enhancement, is being planted in native warm season grasses. Wetland construction began in late July 2011 and was completed by October. By late November the wetland was already showing the transformation from a seep with non-native invasive vegetation to the beginnings of a functional wetland. Insects, frogs and some birds began using the wetland nearly immediately.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection and expansion of wetlands
Biological Diversity: Habitat- extend habitat for amphibians and migrating wetland birds; increase diversity of habitats on preserve
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails; wildlife viewing
Total Project Cost: $16,300
Status: The wetland is complete. This wetland restoration project was partially funded by NRCS and was designed by NRCS engineers. The New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) obtained a WHIP grant that provided about $10,000 towards construction costs. Additional funding sources for the wetland included a NRCS WHIP grant and NJAS.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: carbon sequestration and restoration grant program, conserve wildlife foundation, wma 16 (cape may)
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, ecological restoration project, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2010, this project received a $5,000 grant from CRI, Elizabethtown Gas, and PSEG through CRI’s Carbon Sequestration and Restoration Grant Program.
The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) is helping to restore habitat for migratory birds in one of the best birding regions in the world– Cape May, New Jersey. CWF is working with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to reforest fairways and create habitat to encourage wildlife, and wildlife-watching, at a former golf course called Ponderlodge. During the spring and fall the Cape May Peninsula, at the southern tip of New Jersey, plays an essential role in providing habitat for wildlife to rest and refuel. Each year, millions of migrating songbirds, raptors, and shorebirds are funneled into the Lower Peninsula during fall migration.
This important stopover site on the Cape May Peninsula was purchased by New Jersey’s Green Acres Program in February 2006 and it is now managed by the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife (NJDFW). As its name suggests, this property was a functioning golf course just prior to being purchased for open space. After being purchased, it was instantly prized by residents and outdoor enthusiasts for its size, location, and recreational opportunities. However, in its current state, the 253-acre site has limited value to wildlife because of the low-quality habitat left behind from the golf course operations. Remnants of the golf course, including a lodge, a burned down mansion, paved trails, and many ponds and sand traps remain.
Forested habitat on site is fragmented with little understory vegetation. Forests provide critical habitat for migratory birds for use as stopover habitat and for nesting. Restoration of these forests will also increase the minimum patch size requirements to provide suitable habitat for several species of endangered and threatened birds, including the red-shouldered hawk, Cooper’s hawk, and barred owl. Endangered amphibian species, like the eastern tiger salamander and southern gray treefrog, that utilize ponds with adjacent forests will also benefit from this project.
CWF has used NJDFW’s Habitat Restoration Plan to help guide efforts at Ponderlodge to enhance the site to benefit wildlife, especially migratory birds. While the focus has primarily been on the restoration of wildlife habitat, CWF also realizes that their reforestation efforts are capturing carbon from the atmosphere. They will calculate the amount of carbon that is being captured from their reforestation efforts at Ponderlodge.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- reforestation
Biological Diversity: Habitat- protection of habitat for endangered/threatened species
Recreation and Aesthetics: Environmental education- Backyard habitat demonstration site
Total Project Cost: $30,000
Status: Since acquisition, CWF has worked with NJDFW to restore and reforest approximately 5 acres and enhance 12 acres of native warm season grasses. They have funding to create a “Backyard Habitat Demonstration Site” which will help educate local residents on the importance of using native species that provide habitat for migratory birds by providing food and cover. Funding will be needed in winter of 2011 to help purchase materials for the intended restoration activities on site.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: carbon, hunterdon land trust, wma 08 (north and south branch raritan)
Posted in ecological restoration project, projects funded by conservation resources, water protection, filtration, & control, wetlands mitigation project
In 2010, this project received a $2,500 grant from CRI, Elizabethtown Gas, and PSEG through CRI’s Carbon Sequestration and Restoration Grant Program.
The Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance (HLTA) would like to restore the wetlands in the Quakertown Preserve, Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. They plan to re-vegetate a floodplain and riparian area adjacent to a first-order tributary of the Capoolong Creek (a.k.a. Cakepoulin Creek), a designated C-1 stream. HLTA is undertaking the removal of an earthen berm to restore the impoundment to wetland, recreate accessible floodplain to the stream, and enhance nutrient removal capacity of the floodplain wetlands. HLTA will remove invasives in the surrounding floodplain and riparian area and replant with natives, and supplement the wetland re-planting with a broader array of native species.
The single most important action to restoring the wetland and reconnecting the floodplain to the stream is the removal of the earthen berm that occupies the stream corridor and recreating wetland habitat in the existing pond. This area would be unevenly graded in hummock-like micro-topography and planted with a wide array of native plants specialized to this habitat. The area of the existing pond and earthen berm encompasses approximately a ¼ acre or 10% of the project site.
The second major component of the project is to modify the floodplain wetland occupied by, and adjacent to, the berm to improve connectivity with the stream. This area encompasses over 0.10 acre or 4% of the project site.
Finally, the project includes removing non-native invasive plants and replanting with regionally native species throughout the floodplain wetland and riparian area of the project area. The riparian area targeted for management is approximately 2.15 acres or the remaining 85% of the project site.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality/quantity- protection of groundwater recharge areas; Flood control- restoration of wetlands and riparian lands
Total Project Cost: $83,000
Status: The Natural Resources Conservation Service will reimburse expenses up to $5,860 for clearing of vegetation, excavation of the existing pond berm, and subsequent wetland enhancement, macrotopography restoration and herbaceous plugs for one acre of the site. The NJ Wetlands Mitigation Council will provide $74,125.85 for professional services associated with this work, including engineering, surveying, excavation, regrading and clearing and required state permits.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: d&r greenway land trust
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, ecological restoration project, projects funded by conservation resources
CRI awarded this project $7,500 through its 2010 RPWHP Grant Program. This grant will cover 50% of the costs of the afforestation of two one-acre gaps in the Sourlands Mountains at the D&R Greenway’s Cat Tail and Sourlands Ecosystem Preserves.
D&R Greenway Land Trust is working to reforest two one-acre gaps: the Cat Tail Brook Gap, and the Sourlands Ecosystem Preserve Gap.
The Cat Tail Brook Gap is the only significant forest opening on the 117-acre Cat Tail Preserve. A remnant of a larger agricultural field now forested, this gap was kept open by hunters and planted with apple trees as a deer feedlot. It is now almost entirely vegetated with Multiflora rose and Autumn olive.
The Cat Tail Preserve is in the heart of RPWHP Forest Focal Area #4. Over 1,000 acres of this forest are contiguous, and without paved roads. The forest around this one-acre gap is of very high quality, with plants like Showy orchids, Dwarf ginseng, Indian cucumber root, Silvery glade fern, and a very diverse canopy. A PSI botanical susrvey of the adjacent forest yielded a notably high Native Mean C of 5.72 and a PSI score of 46.82.
The Sourlands Ecosystem Preserve contains more than 700 acres of core Sourlands forest, stretching between Forest Focal Areas #3 and 4. There is a one-acre gap that was historically largely vegetated with Ailanthus. Stewardship work over the last three years has resulted in the removal of the Ailanthus canopy, and of the Multiflora rose shrub layer.
D&R Greenway would like to continue the removal of invasive plants in these two 1-acre gaps, and plant canopy trees and native shrubs. The plantings would be protected by 2-ft. diameter, 4-ft. high metal mesh hoops. This should result in a fully native canopy within ten years.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- reforestation
Biological Diversity: Ecosystem restoration- invasive plant removal, establishment of contiguous forest habitat
Total Project Cost: $12,200
Status: Clearing of invasive plants will take place between April and September 2010, with planting and protection from deer taking place in September, October, and November of 2010.
Tags: ridge and valley conservancy, wma 01 (upper delaware)
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, ecological restoration project, land preservation project, NRD settlement candidate project, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2009, this project received a $7500 grant from CRI and Elizabethtown Gas through CRI’s Carbon Sequestration and Restoration Grant Program.
The Dark Moon Preserve consists of mixed limestone forest atop dolomite outcrops, agricultural fields, and a riparian corridor. The geology of the site is unusual. Dolomite deposits on the southern part of the preserve stand out in marked relief at elevations higher than the Martinsburg Shale to the west. These give way again to dolomite at the north edge of the preserve where dolomite outcrops and large sinkholes are found.
The forest is a dense mixed deciduous forest with moderate understory. A spring emerges at the eastern edge of the forest, which is part of the headwaters of Trout Brook which flows through the site. The brook flows through the fields with little forested buffer. The site contains the remnants of the Dark Moon archaeological site, a Woodland Period Minisink village. The site has been extensively excavated and documented. Only the mounded remains of the excavation can be found on site.
The site is managed by the Ridge and Valley Conservancy (RVC) as a nature preserve with passive recreation, including hiking, photography, nature study and horse riding. The intact forest will remain in its present condition. The agricultural fields will be converted from the current crop cover to native warm season grasses to promote beneficial insects, ground-water recharge, riparian protection, ground-nesting birds, and raptors.
The Dark Moon Preserve is a demonstration carbon sequestration research site. With funding from Conservation Resources, the Ridge and Valley Conservancy is working with Rutgers University, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, to measure carbon levels in the soil before and after warm-season grasslands are established on the site’s agricultural fields. The baseline readings were completed in the summer of 2010, with follow-up measurements scheduled for 2015.
To date, RVC has planted 28 acres of native grasses, and plans on an additional 6 acres in the Spring of 2011, and has recently removed 7 acres of invasive Autumn Olive.
A trailhead has been constructed that accommodates horse trailers. A horse trail system has been created. A local Eagle Scout erected kiosks that provide information on the preserve, including the archaeological site it contains, a trail map, and information on the benefits of warm season grasses.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection of groundwater recharge areas
Biological Diversity: Habitat- federal threatened species habitat protection
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- grassland restoration
Recreation & Aesthetics: Environmental education- trailhead kiosk with map and information about native grasses
Status: The property is managed by Ridge and Valley Conservancy (RVC). Green Township has an interest in stewardship of the site, as they were a participant in the acquisition. RVC has enlisted the assistance of a local land steward who mows trails through the site. The site is under a Green Acres conservation easement. Ridge and Valley Conservancy seeks funds for ongoing stewardship.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
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