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Archive for the 'franklin parker small grants program' 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: ridge and valley conservancy, wma 1
Posted in franklin parker small grants program, land preservation project, recreation & aethestics
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $4000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The Lightning Bug Hollow property consists of obtaining a conservation easement on two adjoining properties totaling approximately 202 acres in Hardwick Township. The properties consist of steep-to-rolling topography that culminates in a flat, developable plateau. An abandoned but not vacated township road - Butler Road – runs through both properties, giving access for development. The properties are completely forested, contain a small lake and numerous vernal pools that serve as critical wildlife habitat, adjoin Princeton Blairstown Center, and are in close proximity to Ridge and Valley Conservancy’s 360-acre Limestone Forest Preserve and the Bennett Farm, recently preserved by Warren County, creating a significant greenway.
The properties will remain in private ownership after the easement is placed on them. RVC and Hardwick will hold the easement, with the State holding a secondary right to enforce the easement. The easement will require public access via the Ridge and Valley Trial. Butler Road provides the missing link of the Ridge and Valley Trail, which will connect the Paulinskill Valley Trail and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails, creating a greenway
Total Project Cost: $850,000, including $31,500 for soft costs associated with obtaining the easement
Status: RVC has been in discussion with the Liberty-to-Water Gap Trail proponents, who would be able to use the Ridge and Valley Trail to finalize the connection to the Water Gap should the easement be obtained.
For more information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: d&r greenway land trust, wma 10
Posted in biological diversity, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $3325 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The goal of this project is to promote native pollinators by the enhancement of nectaring and nesting habitat on a 7-acre portion of a 22-acre farm. The conservation value of the project is to reduce surrounding produce farmers’ reliance on European honeybees and to create early successional habitat to benefit species that rely upon this habitat type. After planting, interpretive signage along a trail through the created meadow will explain the importance of our native pollinators and providing habitat for them.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Biological Diversity: Habitat for native pollinators through the creation of a pollinator meadow
Outreach, Education, and Aesthetics: Environmental education- interpretive signage; Public access- hiking trail
Agricultural Production: Crop pollination
Total Project Cost: $7500
Status: Herbicide has been applied to an existing stand of overgrown shrub willows on the property, and dead stand has been cut down.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: north jersey resource conservation & development council
Posted in 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.
The River-Friendly Farm Certification Program publicly recognizes and rewards farmers who do an excellent job of managing their farms in an economically and environmentally sound way that protects and improves soil and water resources for future generations. The program provides the farmers free consultation to help identify resources concerns and choose best management practices. The program then helps the farmer find any available cost-share to help offset any financial burden in the installation of the conservation practices. Upon meeting all of the necessary criteria, a farm is certified as “River Friendly” and receives public recognition.
The criteria for the certification include soil loss management, nutrient management, pest management, riparian buffers, and irrigation water management. This recognition program is an incentive-based method for increasing adoption of conservation practices in the target watersheds. An additional benefit is that the program, through the signage and media coverage, informs the general public about sound contributions farmers make to protect and improve our soil, water and related natural resources.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality
Total Project Cost: $749,036
Status: The River-Friendly Farm Certification Program (RFF) is currently supported in the Raritan Basin until 2014. North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development (NJRC&D) serves six counties: Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren. NJRC&D would like to expand RFF to fully serve all six counties. This project is requesting the funding for initial launch into new watersheds. After the funding for the initial launch is exhausted then NJRC&D will seek additional funds for continued support in the new expanded area. At some point the RFF program will reach a threshold requiring a business plan to maintain funding and acquire the necessary staffing and resource for a large service area. At that time NJRC&D will seek funding to help develop the business plan.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: harding land trust
Posted in franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3,000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The Harding Land Trust (HLT) plans to publish a Landowner Stewardship Guide as part of a new initiative to educate landowners about the conservation of natural habitats in the Great Swamp Watershed.
The Guide will provide landowners with simple recommendations to improve habitat quality and ecological values on private lands. Distribution will be targeted to owners of conservation properties and lands adjacent to preserved properties to reduce violations and promote consistent stewardship of resources.
The guide will be made available to other land trusts and conservation organizations who want to customize the information to their organizations’ needs. 
This project will enable the Harding Land Trust to:
- Promote stewardship ethics and best management practices
- Draw on the experience and knowledge of conservation partners within the watershed
- Identify and address local stewardship needs in partnership with others
- Resolve issues through compromise and respect
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Outreach, Recreation and Aesthetics: Environmental Education- outreach materials to educate landowners about conserving natural habitats
Total Project Cost: $8,240
Status: A draft of the guide is under development.
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: stony brook millstone watershed association, wma 10 (millstone)
Posted in biological diversity, completed projects, franklin parker small grants program, land preservation project, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The 68.84 acre Thompson property is of critical importance to the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed and its surrounding region. It was purchased in July 2011 by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association (SBMWA) through the state Green Acres program, in partnership with Mercer County and Hopewell Township, with support from CRI. The tract now connects the Association’s formerly separate units into 930 contiguous acres. In addition to important habitat and resource protection, securing this land is also critical for completing an uninterrupted hiking trail between Hopewell Borough and Kunkel Park in Pennington.
Honey Brook, a tributary to the Category One waters of the Stony Brook, bisects the property. Approximately one third of the tract includes associated wetlands and habitat. Honey Brook is also the feeder stream to a 4.5 acre pond, so the protection of this area is crucial from a habitat management standpoint.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection of wetland habitat, groundwater recharge areas
Biological Diversity: Habitat- management of wetlands habitat
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails
Total Project Cost: About $1.5 million
Status: Purchase was completed July 2011.
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: conserve wildlife foundation
Posted in biological diversity, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3500 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
New Jersey bats face many threats, including disturbance to summer and winter colonies, loss of forest habitat, forestry practices that remove dead and dying trees from remaining forests, wind energy development, and, most recently, White-nose Syndrome. This project builds on the Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s current bat education and summer roost monitoring work by addressing needs for 1) increased roosting opportunities for forest bats, 2) landowner incentives for forest stewardship and preservation, 3) citizen participation in wildlife management and research, and 4) standardized monitoring of bat abundance and distribution throughout the state.
The keystone species for this work is the Indiana bat, which has been listed as endangered both on the federal level and in New Jersey since the earliest years of Endangered Species legislation (1967 and 1973, respectively). Preferred Indiana bat summer roosts include dead trees of many varieties (elms, oaks, maples, sycamores, hickories, etc.) and living trees with exfoliating bark (like shagbark hickory). Indiana bats do not typically use attics or other man-made structures. In NJ, Indiana bats are known only in the northern half of the state.
With Indiana bats and other cave-hibernating species becoming rare due to White-nose Syndrome, it is even more important to provide ample suitable forest habitat for the bats that are not affected by the Syndrome – including forest species like the silver-haired bat and hoary bat. Boosting the success of these species will help to fill the ecological void left by those that have declined.
This project will help provide for the needs of forest bats and will educate a broad audience about the animals’ benefits and challenges. Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) will work closely with 15 landowners to develop roost habitat – this work has already begun – but they hope to reach many, many more landowners through their online resources, guidance video, and step-by-step instructional handouts (once developed). CWF would like to create these resources as soon as possible, while public interest is high.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Biological Diversity: Habitat- protecting habitat for threatened/endangered species
Outreach, Recreation & Aesthetics: Environmental education- outreach to landowners to educate about bats and need for habitat
Total Project Cost: $54,000
Status: In 2011, CWF designed mobile acoustic bat survey transects covering more than 600 rural road miles across 18 New Jersey counties, and trained 53 volunteers to assist with the surveys statewide. Together, they completed 45 surveys and collected over 2,250 bat call recordings which will reveal bat abundance and species information across the landscape. CWF also continued working with a dozen private landowners on bat roost enhancements, including selective tree girdling, trunk wraps, and the installation of 30 rocket boxes to provide summer homes for mother bats and their young.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
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