Think Summer! Nature Day Camp Registration is Underway



During a session of URWA's 2010 summer
day camp, Jake Ballard of Bernardsville,
Gretchen Almendinger of Hillsborough and
Ayaan Kahn of Bridgewater take a break from
their stream studies to smile for the camera.



URWA hosts a variety of summer day camp programs at our Fairview Farm headquarters on Larger Cross Road in Bedminster and at the privately owned Pleasant Valley Mills Farm in Mendham. Registration for the 2011 summer season is now underway!

Formerly the site of a dairy operation, Fairview Farm’s 170 acres of fields and forests have been managed as a wildlife preserve since the land was bequeathed to URWA in 1973 by the estate of Mrs. Roberta Zuhlke. Children ranging in age from 3 to 10 enjoy unique outdoor learning experiences there. With nature as their informal classroom, the youngsters spend many fun-filled hours investigating the terrestrial and aquatic habitats that make up the preserve. The day camp leaders who guide the programs and the high school students who assist them help each child develop a genuine appreciation for the out-of-doors and learn how to protect our natural environment.

Alison Gause of Chester gathers eggs
at Pleasant Valley Mills Farm.

Pleasant Valley Mills Farm lies along the banks of the North Branch of the Raritan River. It includes the site of an historic grist mill, meadows, wooded slopes and a barn along Roxiticus Road where families have stopped for years to enjoy the rare sight of a sow and her piglets. Each day begins and ends with farm chores for the children who participate in URWA’s camp there as they learn how to care for chickens, sheep, ponies and a friendly donkey. The day campers also swim in the North Branch, collect water samples as they investigate water quality in the river, plant an organic garden and enjoy visits from craftsmen such as a ferrier, bee keeper, sheep herder, fly fisherman, chicken expert and herbalist.

For information about the day camp sessions that will be offered this summer, please visit our web site at http://urwa.org/education/naturecamp.html. Alternatively, you may request that a nature day camp flier and registration form be mailed to you by calling us at (908) 234-1852, ext. 12.

Hoot!

Winter, especially this particularly snowy winter of 2011, tends to shut people indoors. We wait for the temperatures to rise, the snow to melt, and for the earth to come back to life with the greening of spring. However, winter is the best time of year to observe certain New Jersey wildlife, most notably owls!

Empty canopies, stark white backgrounds and nights glowing with the moon’s reflection off the snow are ideal for owl spotting. New Jersey plays host to eight species of owls, some of which are only found here in the winter. The most elusive of the group include the Snowy Owl (Nyctea scaniaca), Saw Whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus), Barn Owl (Tyto alba), Long- and Short-Eared Owls (Asio otus and Asio flammeus). These owls are less commonly found for multiple reasons, including their choice of habitats inconvenient to finicky humans, and their erratic travel schedules (some appear in New Jersey only every few years, when their prey populations up north become more scarce). More commonly found owls include the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) and Barred Owl (Strix varia), and the owl most common to New Jersey is the Eastern Screech Owl (Otus asio).

The Eastern Screech Owl is a year-round resident of New Jersey. It is relatively small, about 7 to 10 inches tall and with a wing span of 18 to 24 inches. This owl has two color phases or “morphs,” meaning it can be gray or red.

A screech owl’s call sound more like a whinnying horse than a screech, as its name implies. You can hear them from dusk to dawn in New Jersey’s woodlands, parks, suburban areas, in wetlands and near fields. They are opportunistic hunters, aiding in their ability to adapt to many habitats. They are able to grab large flying insects right out of the air, but seem to favor small rodents such as deer mice and moles. Other prey include small fish, snakes, frogs and spiders.

Screech owls breed from March through May, and have elaborate courting rituals, including unique calls, dancing, and even wink at each other! Once a partner is found, they will mate for life. Nesting is done in tree cavities, anywhere from 7 to 50 feet off the ground. They do not build a nest, but use natural sawdust at the bottom of the cavity for cushioning of their eggs, which are incubated almost exclusively by the female while the male hunts for food.

Next time you find yourself wishing for spring, try to remember the interesting winter life of New Jersey’s owls. Make some hot chocolate and go for a night hike along the stream in your backyard, or in your neighborhood park, especially in the first few hours of darkness. Open your ears and listen for the whinnying call of a Screech Owl - you may find the quietude of winter is actually full of life, once you take a closer look!

Resources:
http://www.njskylands.com/ecobirds_owls.htm
http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=asio
Owl Facts: Focusing on NJ’s Owls published by The Raptor Trust

Hooray for the New Fertilizer Bill

Our state has kicked off 2011 on a high note by passing the nation’s most far-ranging bill to regulate the content and use of lawn fertilizers. Fertilizers are packed full of nutrients, in particular phosphorus and nitrogen, which are a primary cause of pollution for our state’s rivers, lakes and bays.


Who doesn’t want a green lawn? We all do, but overuse and misuse of fertilizers cause way more harm than good, and this bill will go a long way towards improving water quality and restoring balance to our state’s delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Signed into law in the first week of this year, the bill bans phosphorus from lawn fertilizers while requiring that 20 percent of the nitrogen in them be slow release, so that more of the fertilizer stays on your lawn and out of local streams. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus, washed into streams through stormwater, produce algal blooms that reduce oxygen levels in water, threatening fish and other aquatic life. Throughout our nation, fertilizer runoff is causing dead zones - in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, Peugeot Sound, Great Lakes and in New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay, there are areas where oxygen starved waters are virtually void of fish and other aquatic wildlife.

Application of fertilizers is also limited and regulated in the new bill, with homeowners banned from applying fertilizer before March 1st or after November 15th or at any time the ground is frozen. Professional lawn-care companies must now be trained and certified by the State if they want to apply fertilizer. Fertilizer cannot be applied, except under certain circumstances within 25 feet of a water body and never before or during a heavy rainfall.

While state retailers can continue to sell the existing fertilizer for the next two years, homeowners can start protecting New Jersey’s ecosystem right now by self-regulating their fertilizer use: Do bother to read the labels, don’t over-use fertilizer, and don’t apply it on frozen ground or near waterways.

Right here in the Upper Raritan Watershed region, stormwater runoff is our greatest threat to water quality. When URWA’s Staff and Volunteer Monitors come across a degraded waterway, it is typically caused by animal wastes, a failed septic system or overuse of fertilizer. We, as citizens of the watershed can each make a difference. Keep livestock and manure compost out of the stream buffer, clean up after your pet, maintain your septic system and please don’t abuse the use of fertilizers in your own yard. New Jersey’s new fertilizer bill presents a wonderful opportunity to protect our state’s most precious resource - WATER.

Road Salt: Helpful and Harmful

Are you disturbed by the whitish-gray coating on shrubs along our roadsides each winter? Does it bother you to come across heaps of road salt hovering over a stream bank?  Snow is in the forecast for later this week, so now is a good time to give some thoughtful consideration to how we clear it from roadways and sidewalks in order to allow everyone to move about safely after a winter storm.

Road salt, which is composed primarily of sodium chloride, degrades vegetation, aquatic ecosystems and water quality. There is no single solution to reducing road salt contamination of local waterways and groundwater. It will require a combination of approaches including:

• more efficient application of road salts using computerized trucks, driver training, and accurate weather information to more accurately time road salt applications
• better storage practices utilizing sheltered storage facilities with stormwater treatment and control
• management practices to reduce losses during transfers
• management of equipment washwater to minimize releases
• locating “snow dumps” away from rivers and groundwater recharge areas, and collecting and treating snow dump runoff
• use of environmentally friendly road salt alternatives, such as calcium magnesium acetate, in sensitive areas
• education of homeowners and business owners about the environmental impacts of road salt
• policy changes such as moving away from bare pavement policies for secondary roads
• lower speed limits on roadways immediately following snow storms
• renewed emphasis on plowing

Some communities within our watershed have taken significant steps to reduce the amount of road salt they use to clear roads.  Chester Township stands out as one example:  the community's Department of Public Works uses a pre-wetted rock salt application process, using beet juice to keep the salt from blowing and bouncing off roadways after it has been applied.  The salt stays on the road longer and therefore allows the community to use less of it, saving money and reducing the negative environmental impact of traditional road salt application methods.  Other communities in New Jersey have begun exploring ways to lessen the amount of salt they apply to roads, and we encourage everyone to support these efforts.  Find out what products and methods your local government uses to keep the roads clear and let us know if we can help you as you ask them to consider approaches that will prove to be less damaging to our environment.

When it comes to clearing your own driveway and sidewalk, the old-fashioned shoveling method is the most benign way to move snow from your pathways.  If you feel you must use rock salt, please apply it sparingly -- a little bit goes a long way -- and be sure it does not run off into nearby wetlands or streams!

Holiday Fun That's For the Birds!

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter
to makea festive energy bar
for the birds in your backyard.

So... the children are home all week on their holiday break, the wind is whipping up all the snow that fell yesterday so it feels too cold to play outside for long and you want to do something with your family that makes the spirit of the season last through this entire week.  We've got just the activity for you! 

You can stay indoors where it is warm and whip up some treats to share with the birds that are searching out nutritious food now that the insects that remained in our region for the winter are in hiding and the berries left on trees and bushes are buried under drifting snow.  You'll have a great time making these treats, and it will be even more fun to watch the birds flock to them once you've put the treats outside in a spot you can view from your windows.  Over the last several days we've spotted cardinals, juncos, chickadees, blue jays, mourning doves, various finches and sparrows and even bluebirds at feeding stations we've set up around our house.

Use half a hollowed-out orange
to hold your energy bar mixture. 
It makes a very attractive bird feeder!

You don't have to go out and purchase lots of fancy ingredients for these treats.  Chances are good that you've got the necessary supplies right in your kitchen.  Energy bars are all the rage for humans these days, and it turns out that birds love them too.  To make a batch, combine 1 cup chunky peanut butter, 1 cup vegetable shortening, 2 ½ cups coarse yellow corn meal, seeds, raisins or other dried fruit, and roasted peanuts. Mix the peanut butter and shortening, then add cornmeal to thicken the mixture. Stir in seeds, raisins or roasted peanuts. Make energy bar "muffins" by placing your mixture in muffin tins. Sprinkle seeds on top. Place a pipe cleaner in each muffin to act as a hanger and place the tin in the freezer. Once hardened, hang the muffins or place in feeding stations. Hang the cakes from the tree with string, in a suet cage, or in mesh bags like those in which oranges and grapefruit are sold. You can use orange grapefruit or even coconut halves to create a feeder by stuffing your mixture into half of a hollowed-out rind. Poke three holes in the edge of the rind and run string through the holes. Sprinkle seeds on top. Place in the freezer to harden. Once hardened, knot the strings at the top and the bottom to secure and hang outside near a window. You can also gather cones from evergreen trees like pines and spruce, stuff shortening and peanut butter into the crevices, and then roll them in seeds.

For more recipes to make this week and throughout the winter, please visit URWA's Creature Feature web page at http://urwa.org/education/creatures.html.



Appointments to Council: Some Good, Some Not

The Highlands legislation was created to protect the water of the Highlands region. The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, made up of both elected officials and public members is the body responsible for implementing the protection.

The members are appointed by the governor, and in the past have all demonstrated, for the most part, an understanding of their role as protectors of our water supply. Governor Christie recently appointed seven new members to the Council to fill vacant seats. Two of these appointees Michael Sebetich, an aquatic biologist and Professor at William Paterson University, and Tim Dougherty, the Mayor of Morristown, have backgrounds advocating for the protection of Highlands resources.

We are concerned that the remaining appointees have in the past called for the repeal of the Highlands Act and/or the disbanding of the Council. These are not the characteristics that we want in Council members charged with protecting the water supply of 5.5 million New Jersey residents. The Governor makes it clear by these appointments that he does not appreciate the work of the Council, and wants to cripple its effectiveness.

Take a stand with URWA. The Senate Judiciary Committee must approve all of these nominations to the Council. We urge you to reach out to the Committee Chairperson Senator Nick Scutari at senscutari@njleg.org 908 587 0404 or the Vice Chair, Senator John Girgenti at sengirgenti@njleg.org 973 427 1229. Urge them to oppose the appointments of Highlands Act opponents Roxbury Mayor James Rilee, former West Milford Planning Board Chair Michael Tfank, Sussex County Freeholder-elect Richard Vohden, and White Township Committeeman. Tell them that you want people who will honor the intent of the Highlands Act and who will protect our water supply appointed to the Council.

Learn more about this issue and other Highlands news at http://www.njhighlandscoalition.org/

Food for Thought as We Approach the New Year

An interesting Op-Ed piece appeared in The Boston Globe a few days ago.  Written by John P. DeVillars, who served as the New England administrator of the EPA from 1993 to 2000, it reminds us that we’ve come a long way as a society in terms of environmental protection, that as a country full of people with many different viewpoints and opinions it is possible for us to work together to resolve problems and that it is everyone’s job to protect the natural environment.

We encourage you to follow this link to read Mr. DeVillars' comments.  He offers some valuable food for thought and hope for a brighter future!