Conserve Wildlife Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Ocean County’

Photo from the Field

Friday, July 30th, 2010
Roads are barriers to wildlife

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

This year we started a new project to try and help reduce the amount of road kills of northern diamondback terrapins along Great Bay Blvd. in southern Ocean County. Great Bay Blvd. is a 5 mile long paved road that extends into the coastal saltmarsh. The road leads to the Rutgers Marine Field Station and the old Fish Factory on Seven Island. We were able to fence a small portion of the road, install three crossing signs along the road, and develop an educational brochure (that is available at marinas in the area).

Unfortunately, terrapins are still hit by motor vehicles along other portions of the road. This is inevitable. Fencing the whole road would almost be impossible and very time consuming to maintain. This fall and winter I am going to work with the town (Little Egg Harbor) and NJ Fish and Wildlife (who owns the land around the road) to come up with a plan to minimize road kills along the road. A viable option would be to install speed humps to reduce the speed of motorists along the road and for the town to post and enforce a reduced speed limit (25mph) along the road.

A northern diamondback terrapin pauses while crossing Great Bay Blvd. near Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. © Ben Wurst

We are committed to preserving this incredible species and would like to thank everyone who has helped fund this project.

Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Educating people about Barnegat Bay and its bird populations

By Skyler Streich, Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence

My name is Skyler Streich.  I am an avid birder with excellent identification skills of eastern bird species of the United States.  I have been birdwatching intensely for 5 years and since then have accumulated quite a knowledge and understanding of birds, their habitats and behavior.  My background is a BS in Geology with a concentration in Paleontology. I got into birds when I was studying abroad in Costa Rica and one day on my campus in San Jose I saw a hummingbird fly to a flower to drink the nectar.  Since then I became hooked and fascinated with birds. I have had positions with the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife as a Piping Plover Monitor, The Nature Conservancy as a Seasonal Field Biologist working with the endangered Black-capped Vireo, and a Natural Educator for both Island Beach State Park and Cattus Island Park, NJ. I have also conducted numerous bird surveys for The Audubon Society of Rhode Island, International Shorebird Surveys and CBC counts.   Nationally I have birded all through the eastern states as well as through southern Florida, Texas, southeast Arizona, western Washington, here and there throughout the interior states and Hawaii.  Internationally I have birded in Costa Rica, Panama, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Nova Scotia and PEI, British Columbia, England, France, Spain and Portugal and Tanzania.  For my position with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ as a Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence I will be conducting morning bird walks and kayak birding tours at Island Beach State Park, NJ.  I will also be a roving interpreter at IBSP and helping out with research with the marsh and beach-nesting birds in NJ.