The Burnt Mills Floodplain Preserve: Visit it This Spring!

The Burnt Mills Floodplain Preserve was established on December 21, 1989 when Ken & Yvonne Schley and Anne & Floyd Stradling deeded three parcels of land totaling 11.32 acres to URWA. The parcels had been in the Schley family and were bequeathed to Ken and Anne in 1944 upon the death of their father, Kenneth B. Schley. A grist mill was built on the floodplain shortly after the Civil War, and was taken down by Mr. Schley after he purchased the property in 1928. Its ruins still sit on the site today, adding historical interest to the preserve.

The site, on the Lamington River near the confluence of the North Branch, supports diverse wildlife including great blue heron, long-tailed salamanders, red shouldered hawks, barred owls, and freshwater mussels, including the threatened triangle floater (Alasmidonta undulate — learn more about this mussel in the “Creature Feature” on URWA’s web site at www.urwa.org). Each spring, under a canopy of sycamore, black cherry and ash, Virginia bluebells carpet the forest floor – it is a sight not to be missed!

Unfortunately, another plant also awaits springtime visitors – the Lesser celandine, a small yellow buttercup-like flower, is an invasive plant that is spreading across the site. Lesser celandine spends much of the year underground as thickened, fingerlike tubers or underground stems. During the winter, leaves begin to emerge and photosynthesize in preparation for flowering. Flowering occurs from late winter through mid-spring, and afterwards, the above-ground portions die back. The plant spreads primarily through abundant tubers and bulblets, each of which is ready to become a new plant once separated from the parent plant. The tubers of Lesser celandine are prolific and may be unearthed and scattered by the digging activities of some animals, including well-meaning weed pullers, and transported during flood events. It is difficult, but not impossible, to control invasive plants like Lesser celandine, and URWA is committed to stopping its spread (see our web site about efforts to stop the spread of invasive plants at http://www.cjisst.org/).

The preserve has been part of New Jersey’s Green Acres tax exemption program since 1990, and as is the case with all of URWA’s preserves, the Burnt Mills Floodplain is open to our members and the public for passive recreational purposes.  The preserve is used by fishermen, photographers, walkers, kayakers and people who simply enjoy observing the natural world.  We invite all of URWA’s members and friends to explore the site.  For directions, please visit URWA's web site at http://urwa.org/land/bedminster.html.

What is Happening to Our Bats? Find Out at URWA's Wake Up Call Breakfast Program on May 5th

Despite their spooky reputations, bats are tremendously helpful to people. All nine species of bats found in New Jersey are insectivores. They feed at night on flying insects, including mosquitoes. A single little brown bat can eat 3,000 mosquito-sized insects a night, and a colony of 150 big brown bats can eat enough cucumber beetles to save farmers almost a billion dollars annually in crop damages and pesticide costs!

Bats are fascinating creatures that are just beginning to be appreciated by the general population in our country. They are the only true flying mammals, and they use echolocation to locate and catch their prey. Bats are particularly vulnerable to pollution and pesticides, so their presence or absence can tell us a lot about the overall health of the local environment. Unfortunately, bat populations are declining at an alarming rate. As is the case with many species of wildlife, bats have been on the losing end of many real estate deals as native habitats have been transformed into homes, shopping centers, office parks and roadways for humans. In recent years, a new threat to bats has emerged.
In 2006, hibernating bats in a cave west of Albany, New York were found coated with a chalky fungus that caused them to interrupt their hibernation and burn up their fat reserves. Since then, the condition has killed more than 1 million bats in the Northeast. The U.S. Geological Survey has called the bat die-off "the most precipitous decline of North American wildlife caused by infectious disease in recorded history." The affliction has been named "white nose syndrome" due to the white fungus observed around the nose of some of the affected bats. Infected bats often emerge too soon from hibernation and are often seen flying around in midwinter. These bats usually freeze or starve to death.

MacKenzie Hall, a Biologist with the Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, will speak with interested community members about New Jersey's bat populations at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Upper Raritan Watershed Association on Wednesday, May 5th. She will also explain how residents can become "citizen scientists" by participating in summertime research to gather information about roosting areas. Information collected will help biologists document roosting locations and help to create a range map for some species of New Jersey bats.

URWA's  Wake Up Call Breakfast: What is Happening to New Jersey's Bats?  will take place on Wednesday, May 5th from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Jam Café, which is located at89 Main Street in Peapack.  The cost to attend is $15 per person, and includes breakfast.  Please contact Kate Deans at 908-234-1852 ext. 16 or kate@urwa.org to register.