Jim and I walked the trail at Dry Run Creek last Friday. It was a gorgeous day. The forest floor was covered in lesser celandine, and we also saw spring beauties, violets, and bloodroot.

There were some nice large areas where cut-leaf toothwort was plentiful.

We heard the usual birds-- fish crows, red-bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, a possible pileated, and, happily, we saw a turkey. Jim was disappointed in how little native understory and shrub layer there was and how much autumn olive, garlic mustard and multiflora rose exists on the property.

As we were walking, we met a couple whose property backs onto the trail. They were very appreciative of the Greenway for preserving this land and thought that the work on the trail has been spectacular. Since they walk the property regularly (with their dog on a leash!), they said they’d be happy to report anything they see that they think we might be interested in. They told us they’d seen a fox on the property and that the Mercer County Wildlife Center released 3 baby screech owls on the property. They asked us to keep an eye out for them or their id tags, should that be all that remains of them.

Just as beautiful as any other place you could see, anywhere

I'm laughed at when I say: New Jersey is beautiful. Just as beautiful as any other place you could see. Since I am always looking for confirmation, especially after a trip to lovely South Carolina, I took three walks this weekend. Two of them took me through my preserve. I didn't have to look hard, but I did look closely.

Wood Anemone, a face we all can love. This ephemeral carpeted moist, rich soils. It shows a surprising amount of variety in its leaf size, but not its flowers. I noticed several dense clumps hugging exposed tree roots. The leaves were particularly large, but no flowers or buds.  Was it a good place to germinate?

Shelf fungi with one of our earliest spring flowers - those of the red maple. This one was nibbled by a squirrel, I believe. Elsewhere, the forest floor was covered with fresh buds of ash or sugar maple. 

A mossy log is a good place to visit.

Spicebush leaves are emerging. I'm particularly fond of spicebush - in June and July a walk through a spicebush thicket is healing and refreshing. The fragrant oils of the plant are released by the gentlest touch.

 

Spring ephemeral seeds are ant dispersed. Often tiny, shiny and black, these seeds come with a fatty, sticky treat for ants called an eliasome. The ants collect the seeds, eat the eliasome, and toss the seeds. Do ants like to toss their trash in containers like this beech root?

 
Ants do a better job hiding their junk than we do. This balloon was one of three I found on my preserve this weekend. I really dislike these things. 

Other pertinent details: the large deer exclosure is intact. The smaller ones around the pinxter azaleas are ok, too. The pinxter leaves are still deep maroon. I was surprised they hadn't dropped the leaves, but the little guys are about 1/2" tall.

I've been pulling every burning bush seedling I see, and occasionally barberry (much more common). 

About a month ago, Jim and Jared organized a great work day with the hunt club. Alot of bittersweet and burning bush bit the dust. Despite the soggy weather, we all had a good time. Great job! 

Omick Preserve

This post is from Toni, duly annointed steward.
Omick Preserve is a patch of woods on the north slope of the Sourland Ridge, east of Rte. 31, a little south of Ringoes. There is access from Rte. 31 via a 50' ROW just south of Ms. Omick's house. The southern edge is theoretically accessible from Rocktown Rd. via a trail easement, but there is no place to park. Basically it is undeveloped, but has a stream, a former farm pond turned into a bog, a logging road including a bridge over the stream, and a few deer stands.
I've been messing around in there for a bout a year now, mostly attacking multiflora and the red maples invading the bog. We are trying to restore the bog area, which has interesting vegetation. Jared and I plan to do a PSI this May.
Jared, I wanted to add photos, but don't see how. Maybe next week.

Handler / Maple Leaf Ridge

When I visited the Handler Preserve, it was a cold and wintry day - but I was still happy at having the chance to be out in the woods. As a student it can be hard to find a big enough stretch of time to get off campus and walk the preserve, but I finally got a chance this last Wednesday with the early semester lull.

Handler is a 12 acre plot in the Sourlands, on Ridge Road near Amwell. I built a trail there this summer while interning at the Greenway. This was my first return since school began. It was great to get out there again, remembering how much I enjoyed this sort of work. The trail needed work, too - many sticks had come down over the winter, which I cleared away, and two trees have fallen across the path, which I did not clear away but might be doable with a chainsaw. The patches of multi-flora rose we cut down earlier seem to have sprouted only a few new shoots before the winer. Where I could, I pulled out the roots and stumps - most of them seemed pretty loose with the wet ground, maybe also shriveled from the RoundUp.

There weren't many signs of human use at the site - I didn't see anyone walking around, but on the positive side there was no atv or bike damage, no trash on the trail or along the roadside. I did see signs of animal life, mostly scat from deer. The trail might need a little more work in straightening sections (especially the rocky, uneven end stretch) or adding more markers.

I will head back as spring unfolds to see what fills in the spots where oriental bittersweet and multi-flora rose have been removed. Hopefully I'll have the chance to see many of you at our next SS gathering!

Dry Run Creek Trail

Hi, Kathleen here. I volunteered to be a site steward for the Dry Run Creek Trail and today Jim and I walked the property together. My first time. It's a lovely trail. Alan Hershey and a crew of volunteers have been working on the trail and although it is not complete, what is complete is just terrific. Stone steps, wooden bridges, side-hilling in appropriate places. We entered the trail off Woodens Lane, very near the parking lot of the Howell Living Farm. The trail runs from there to Route 518, in Hunterdon County, near Mountain View Road. I live in Lambertville, so this is a convenient location for me, and it seemed like it was in another world it was so remote. We began our walk in a rather intimate setting of cedars, with lots of vines and undergrowth, and slowly worked our way very gradually up the ridge until we were looking down on Dry Run Creek. We were in a forest of deciduous trees, oaks, beech, some sycamores, with the forest floor covered in a carpet of leaves, no more vines, just open vistas, sky, silence. It was really a nice place to be. You could hear the creek. Because of the topography I suspect this may be a good place to bird and I can't wait to see what may be there this spring. Today, there wasn't much. I saw a female and male cardinal and we heard the screeching of a red tailed hawk. Also, there were some twits and twitters of chickadees, tit-mice, and I saw some flashes of the white tail feathers of juncos. It was a nice day for a walk and we did it in the afternoon. Jim thinks it might be about a mile from the trailhead to Rte 518. We had to go back the way we came. When we got into our car to leave, a bunch of turkeys crossed the road into the preserve.

Drake's Corner in February

February 20, 2009

My first visit to the site since the inaugural-walk-through with Jared on Jan 6^th 2009. Not much has changed – but I wanted to take a look around and get the feel of the space. It was an extremely cold and windy day – but good to be out there.

This is a 14 acre plot in a corner of Princeton that is otherwise becoming overgrown with large homes and it is almost an island within that. Like many islands (which it seems to be) it has a bit of everything - the good and the bad, and plainly the habitat has stood up to a lot.

There is a meadow, a stream, and a range of different woodland types all in this small area. Some of the land seems to have been just left untouched for many years, other parts have a number of invasive species roaring in and doing very well.

There are some lovely native trees and so for this visit I decided to focus on a few of the bark textures.

Here is a trunk of Persimmon (left) – a lovely native tree that seems to be doing well on this site, on the right

is hornbeam also called muscle-wood – and you can see why!

My favorite (below) is shag bark hickory.

There is a trail through the preserve that students at Stuart School have laid and that is both impressive and a most pleasant route through.

I’ll be back up there soon- it is a true oasis! Mary.

Salvage

Hi, Karen here!

I was inspired by the encouragement of Jared to blog anything, not just reports, and, by an experience that I had on Sunday morning at the SS gathering. I therefore present, in poetic form:

Salvage

Spring ephemeral
Entwined in wineberry root
Release, replant, rise

Plum Brook Preserve

Kathy Klink here, Plum Brook Preserve in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County---

Wow! i am very impressed by Rachel's blog and feel that mine will be a little bit weak in comparison - but here we go!

first things first, i often do not use capital letter while i type, email, blog informally.

i have been dealing with a lot of medical issues with my mom for the past 2 months. one day i really needed to clear my head, so i decided to go walk my site, the plum brook preserve. i did this walk about 2 weeks ago, to sort of assess what's been going on down there since D & R took it over. there was snow on the ground and the brook was actually covered with ice, but not solidly! i had sadie with me, for those of you who do not know her, she is my ADD dog - and that does not mean that she can add!

we walked along the creek and the first thing that i noticed was a tree with markings made by a pileated - that is definitely new, because that is a part of my regular walk, that i have been doing there for many years. we walked along the creek and looked for a spot to cross over. i used a long branch to test the water ahead of me, but there were still times that i fell through! fortunately, the water is really not too deep.

it is always the silence and the surroundings that get to me. it's like a huge weight just slowly starts to lift off me.

i have to say that for no other reason than providing as many people as possible that peace, D & R is doing a great job!

Hope to see you all at the gathering!

kathy

Hillman Preserve

I took my first walkabout as a D&R Site Steward on the Hillman Preserve today and just had to share the beauty of the property with the other Stewards. I just volunteered and I’m excited about the opportunity to care for this parcel along with my co-stewards Doug and Sue. Before getting into the preserve, I must admit that this if the very first blog I have ever written (yes, I am a blogging virgin) so bear with me.

For those of you not familiar with the Hillman Preserve, it lies just south of Hopewell Borough. The north side runs along Crusher Road high on Hopewell ridge. From there it drops in elevation quickly and thus has numerous rock outcroppings and vistas. The steep hillside is forested with tulip trees, oaks and several species of hickory. The forested area continues to the base of the hillside and along the lower level for a short distance. This was probably the woodlot for the family farm in the 1800’s. The preserve includes 2 large old farm fields and totals about 72 acres. There is a fairly good understory with spicebush and other natives. Unfortunately there are also numerous Japanese barberries, euonymus, honeysuckle and of course, multiflora rose

The Hillman Preserve was absolutely beautiful today with a layer of fresh snow covering the ground and all the branches of the trees and shrubs. From the higher elevations I could see the distant fields and former farm house through the leafless trees. The scene was almost monochromatic in the afternoon sun with the bright snow in stark contrast with the dark trunks and branches of the trees. However, as I picked my way down the steep hillside I discovered a dramatically different scene. In a sheltered cove, basking in full sunlight was a rock wall covered with brilliant green moss glistening with droplets of melted snow. I'm sure there are many more treasures waiting to be found.

It’s a great preserve and I’m looking forward to numerous walks there. As a stewardship project I may select one of the rock overlooks and clear out all the invasive species in the area. It will afford a beautiful vista in all seasons.

Walking on Cat Tail

Mouse tracks inside the deer exclosure

Whenever Jared and I come to a new place, we walk. We walk everywhere. It's free and it's freeing. When we moved back to New Jersey from Michigan (for three months we lived in a subdivision and our backyard was bordered by US Interstate 75 -- walking opportunities were slim and usually first required a 75 MPH drive in our Ford truck), we found a place in the Sourlands. Walking became a lot freer.

One woodland wander brought us to the property corner where we noticed four surveyors stakes and a sign that looked like this:

This sign was in the middle of the woods. Perplexed and excited, we made plans to visit this D&R Greenway place.

A few years later I know this part of the forest quite well. I've been lost a few times, ruined several shirts in multiflora rose thickets, made hundred of photographs, tripped over rocks, drank melting snow as it cascaded down a beech tree, watched a busy Baltimore oriole feed a boatload of chicks, learned how to use a dichotomous key, tracked a mink and whacked away at invasive vines and brambles.

Baltimore oriole nest in a tulip tree

Pileated woodpecker sign on a sassafras

Fox tracks in the snow