Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ - Keeping Wildlife in our future and our children's futures

Welcome to Explorations Fall 2009

Conserve Wildlife Foundation forges Global Warming and Wildlife Initiative

by Margaret O'Gorman

In early October, Conserve Wildlife Foundation hosted a gathering of over 100 wildlife professionals to talk about the impacts of a changing climate on our wildlife and natural communities. This meeting, held at the EcoComplex in Burlington County was designed to highlight the fact that our rarest species are not immune to global warming and that there are things we can, and should, do to help.

Much has been written about how we will be impacted by a warmer world but little has been said about our wildlife and wild places. At the Global Warming Workshop, participants learned how rising sea levels would affect habitat; increasingly frequent storms impact breeding success and a migrating climate cause some species to disappear from our state entirely.

Continue reading here.

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A CWF Shorebird Steward's Season by Katharine Baldwin-Corriveau

As the shorebird steward for the Hereford Inlet area, I have had the wonderful opportunity to spend an entire season observing and learning from the various shorebird species that breed in, and migrate through the southern Jersey Shore. As a native of northern Canada's boreal forest ecosystem, shorebirds and beach-nesting birds were never a big part of my life. In fact, before moving to New Jersey in May of 2009, I had never before seen an American oystercatcher, piping plover, black skimmer, least tern, or red knot. Now, having worked with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) for a whole season, I can proudly say that I have become highly involved in the lives of all these species. Read the rest of the story here.

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Can you Help the Allegheny Woodrat? by Mick Valent

The Allegheny woodrat is a state endangered species. It was added to the endangered species list in 1991. There is one remaining population of these small mammals left in the state and they need our help this winter.

The Allegheny woodrat population has been in dramatic decline over the past 30 years, especially in the northern part of its range. This decline causes much concern about its future. Allegheny woodrats have been extirpated from Connecticut and New York as well as parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The reasons for the decline is not fully understood but is believed to be caused by a combination of factors. Read the rest of the story here.

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Diary of an Intern by Michelle Ryan

As my junior year at Rutgers was coming to a close I started to think about what I wanted to do once school was over. I had been talking with professors and searching the web for months looking for a summer internship to gain experience and knowledge of the real world, but had little luck finding anything that struck my interest.

Then one evening in my Environmental Policy class, our guest speaker, Todd Pover, from Conserve Wildlife Foundation gave a presentation on Endangered Beach Nesting Birds, he was very passionate and captivating, I was immediately drawn in! He showed the class slides of cute little birds frolicking on the beaches and explained that they were a federally protected species and one of New Jersey's most endangered species. This cute little bird is called the piping plover. After his presentation I wanted to do anything I could to help protect these beautiful little birds. Read the rest of the story here.

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CWF: Out and About with Ben Wurst

The annual Cranberry Festival in Chatsworth, NJ was held this past weekend. We offered information and merchandise to the public including bat houses and 'do-it-yourself" bat kits to build at home.

Every year during the festival, Marilyn Schmidt from the Chatsworth General Store, uses her property as a parking area for disabled and handicapped drivers. Volunteers collect donations for use of the parking area then donates the proceeds to a non-profit organization. This year she chose to support us.

Our relationship with Marilyn started a few years ago when Larissa Smith and I performed the Summer Bat Count there last summer; we counted 261 bats. After conducting the survey I talked with Marilyn and offered my assistance with her bat colony. Most bats, at the time, were residing in her attic. I offered to help construct and install large maternity bat houses on her store. To read a previous article about installing the bat houses on the Chatsworth General Store, click here. I also offered to assist with the exclusion of the bat from her attic, which we are going to work on this winter, until I only counted 169 bats in August. With white-nose syndrome possibly affecting the bats, we may postpone the exclusion. Instead, I may offer to "clean-up" after the bats every year. To follow the progress of this special project and others that we work on, visit our blog.

You too can get a bat house or "do-it-yourself" bat kit at the Chatsworth General Store (limited quantities are available). For more information, click here. To purchase a Bat House or kit, click here.

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NEW! Adopt a Species - the perfect gift for the wildlife lover in your life

We are thrilled to relaunch our beautiful new Adopt a Species Program. The program has been completely redesigned by artist and graphic designer Sarah Shuhart. Each animal is a beautiful work of art that anyone would be proud to own. Choose among 12 different animals from bald eagles to the white checkered butterfly. Adopt a Species is a wonderful way to show the wildlife lover in your life that you care. It's the gift that gives twice because your symbolic adoption supports rare wildlife conservation in New Jersey.

Attention Teachers -
Adopt a Species EDU - especially for you!

Completely redesigned for the 2009-2010 school year, Adopt A Species EDU package is a wonderful way to connect students to the natural world in their community and teach important concepts related to wildlife and habitats - food chains, predator-prey relationships, migration, biodiversity, endangered species, and MORE!

To learn more about both Adopt a Species Programs, click here.

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Struggling for Survival: Meeting the Challenge

Become a member and help us meet the challenge

IN NEW JERSEY, MORE THAN 70 SPECIES OF WILDLIFE

ARE STRUGGLING FOR SURVIVAL.

Your Membership Contribution helps us meet the challenge. Protecting wildlife and its habitat in this heavily populated and highly developed state is a very big challenge. We are proud to tell you that, thanks to concerned people like you and years of hard work, important species have made a comeback. Bald eagles have increased from one pair in 1973 to more than 80 nesting pairs today. And ospreys, they have shown a marked increase from a mere 60 pairs to over 470 pairs!

Conserve Wildlife Foundation is the ONLY organization dedicated to the protection of New Jersey's endangered and threatened wildlife. We do the "on-the-ground" work to protect these animals through research, wildlife management, habitat protection, and education and outreach.

BECOME A PART OF OUR TEAM

All it takes is a tax-deductible gift of $25 to become a new member and receive a free New Jersey Birds Pocket Naturalist Guide. When you join Conserve Wildlife Foundation, you become a part of the most effective team in New Jersey for wildlife conservation. You are taking a personal role in keeping endangered wildlife in our future and our children's future. For a limited time, new member can join for $25 and can be paid using the PayPal link below. Or, send your check to Conserve Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 400, Trenton, NJ 08625, and mention that you read about this membership promotion here, on Explorations.

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New! Dragonfly and Damselfly Guide

We are pleased to announce our new field guide: Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of New Jersey by Allen E. Barlow, David M. Golden, and Jim Bangma.

The guide, published by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife, was two long years in the making and contains:

~Detailed characteristics of 182 species

~334 beautiful full-color photographs

~When and where you can find each species

~How to recognize them by their behavior

~Which species are endangered, threatened, or historic

~Learn how to photograph these beautiful creatures

Take a peak inside here

The Guide will be available for purchase from our website mid-November for $31.95 plus 7% sales tax and $4.00 shipping. The pre-order sale price is no longer available as this is an in-stock item.

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Species on the Edge Winners Celebrate in Nature by Maria Grace

On two beautiful days this summer, winners of the Species on the Edge Art & Essay Contest were invited to explore Barnegat Bay. Contest winners, their friends and family visited the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center located on the bayside of Island Beach State Park near Seaside Heights as a way to honor these county winners. They spent the day learning about this unique ecosystem and the wildlife that call it home.

Read the rest of the article and view the beautiful artwork here.

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Get your 2010 Species on the Edge Calendar Here
We are pleased to bring you the colorful, beautiful, and informative 2010 Species on the Edge Calendar to celebrate New Jersey's rare wildlife and the winners of our Species on the Edge Art & Essay Contest.

Each month highlights one or more rare New Jersey

species. They are depicted using original art from 5th graders across our state and explained using quote from their award-winning essays.

If you would like to buy the 2010 Species on the Edge Calendar, please link to the Calendar Page on our website. Or Call us at (609) 984-6012 to order from Debbi.

Table of Contents

~ Explorations Home

~ Global Warming

~ A CWF Shorebird Steward's Season

~ Can you Help the Allegheny Woodrat

~ Diary of an Intern

~ CWF: Out and About

~ Adopt a Species

~ Struggling for Survival

~ NEW! Dragonfly and Damselfly Guide

~ Species on the Edge Winners Celebrate

Archive of past issues