Since 2021, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) has been partnering with New Jersey Audubon (NJA), New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and New Jersey Fish and Wildlife (NJFW) on bog turtle conservation in Salem County. Though densities in the southern part of the state are understood to be lower than in north Jersey, conserving this metapopulation is a priority as bog turtle numbers continue to decline despite long-term state (endangered since 1974) and federal (threatened since 1997) protections. A primary driver of this decline is habitat loss- but not necessarily in the way you might expect. The shift in plant communities- from grasslands to forests- occurs naturally over time. We call this process “succession”, and it can be both a gift and a curse.
Under normal circumstances, Mother Nature sometimes throws a wrench in the plans of mid- and late-successional species (like oaks and maples, respectively), in the form of disturbances. Beaver activity may cause flooding that inhibits tree growth. Natural fires in healthy forests can thin trees enabling the understory to receive enough sunlight to persist. These burn slower and cooler than wildfires. Some trees, like the longleaf pine in the southern US, even require fire in order to rejuvenate. In some cases, large mammals may eat or break saplings before they have a chance to establish. This apparent “destruction” is actually a good thing- disturbances like these are why we have meadows and prairies. A mosaic of habitat types that run the spectrum of open wetlands to old-growth forest, is key to a high diversity of wildlife.
The remote coastal salt marshes of the Delaware Bayshore harbor a unique and seldom observed ecosystem, boasting a rich natural history and diverse wildlife. To help prevent the loss of these valuable habitats and their inhabitants, CWF is participating in a partner-driven, multi-year project led by Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to enhance habitat quality and restore natural hydrology to salt marshes in Delaware and New Jersey. CWF is actively involved in the second season of biological monitoring at select Bayshore salt marshes targeted for restoration efforts designed to revegetate mudflats existing on old salt hay farms (read more about salt hay farming impacts here). At this stage of the project, our role is to gather important pre-restoration data to evaluate the anticipated impact and effectiveness of restoration techniques.
A view from one of our survey points at Dix Wildlife Management Area. Photo courtesy of Emmy Casper, CWF Wildlife Biologist.
Winter maintenance of the Barnegat Light habitat restoration site is a key element in the project’s success to benefit New Jersey’s piping plovers and other beach-nesting birds. The original project – clearing about 40 acres of dense beach vegetation and dunes to create an early-successional habitat favored by plovers and adding “ponds” to create foraging opportunities – was completed over two winters in 2019 and 2020. Each winter since, we have returned to the site for a short period, typically a week or so, to thin vegetation and reestablish foraging habitat along the pond edges in advance of nesting birds returning for the season.
This year was no exception, I was on-site in late January and early February to guide a bulldozer operator to prepare the site for plovers. Although the maintenance work we do each year is similar, the details and nuances of it vary quite a bit. Last winter, for example, one of the foraging ponds was completely sanded over from fall and early winter storms, so we spent most of the time re-digging that. This year, the ponds were in much better shape, so we had more time to focus on clearing out thick vegetation that had crept back into the site to improve the nesting substrate.
Restoring floodplains and protecting urban communities may not sound like a typical workday for the biologists of Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (CWFNJ). However, multiple staff and board members of CWFNJ were present at the annual Blue Acres Floodplain Restoration Fall Planting and Clean-up Day on October 27th, clearing weeds, trash and planting new trees and shrubs at the Tremley Point restoration site in Linden. Blue Acres, a program created by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, helps residents in low-lying areas that are subject to repeated flooding by buying out their properties and aiding in homeowner relocation. The acquired properties eventually become buffer zones, such as floodplains, that protect surrounding communities from the impact of storms and rising sea levels by acting as natural floodwater storage. The land purchased through the Blue Acres program may also be restored into functional wetlands, habitat for wildlife and open green space for the community to enjoy. Blue Acres not only provides disaster relief for residents whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by flooding and surges caused by large storms, but also contributes to the NJ Climate Change Resilience Strategy by proactively creating wetlands and floodplains to lessen the severity of future flood events.
From left: Christine Healy (CWF Wildlife Biologist), Leah Wells (CWF Assistant Wildlife Biologist), Liz Silvernail (CWF Executive Director), Sherry Tirgrath (CWF Wildlife Biologist), Nancy Sadlon (Phillips 66 Public Affairs Manager), and Marty McHugh (CWF Trustee) at the Blue Acres restoration event.
Each year since 2017, CWF has been teaming up with partners from the USFWS New Jersey Field Office to survey the JB McGuire Airfield for grassland birds during the breeding season. Part of a long-term monitoring project, the airfield has been undergoing habitat restoration to maintain native warm season grassland habitat. The habitat restoration efforts are nearly 70% complete with roughly 700 acres seeded since 2017 and another 100 acres to be completed the following year.
Six of the ground-nesting bird species documented at the airfield are State-listed as either endangered, threatened, or of special concern. The eastern meadowlark (Sternella magna), a member of the blackbird family, is a State Species of Concern. It prefers a minimum of ten to twenty acres of unfragmented dense grasses of medium height for nesting. The State-threatened grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) favors patches over 100 acres containing short- to medium-height bunch grasses interspersed with patches of bare ground, a shallow litter layer and scattered forbs. The savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), also State-threatened, requires a mix of short and tall grasses, a thick litter layer, dense ground vegetation, and scattered forbs. Another member of the blackbird family is the State-threatened bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). Bobolinks prefer to place their nests in areas of greatest vegetative height and density and could potentially nest in patches as small as five to ten acres. The State-threatened horned lark (Erimophila alpestrias) nests in areas of barren ground with short and sparse cover and are quick to abandon sites as vegetation grows thicker.
Grasshopper sparrow nest located at McGuire Airfield, May 2023. The well-camouflaged nest was discovered after the adult bird flushed from the grass. The eggs were as tiny as a thumbnail.
