Nature trail a peaceful spot amid township’s development

Staff Writer

By Theresa A. Boschen

Nature trail a peaceful spot
amid township’s development


Sean MakofskySean Makofsky

MARLBORO — As the rural area around Vanderburg and Boundary roads experiences an increase in housing developments and industry, there is a little more of the outdoors reserved for leisure, rest and relaxation, thanks to the efforts of a group of local Boy Scouts.

The new Cretaceous Trail and Nature Preserve, located behind the Marlboro Manse development near soccer fields off the two roads, is a beautifully wooded natural environment featuring a 120-foot-long by 13-foot-wide pathway which winds alongside the Big Brook stream.

The stream is a popular spot for fossil hunters.

Completion of the new trail not only helped 15-year-old Monmouth County Vocational School student Sean Makofsky achieve Eagle Scout status, but it provided the opportunity for several local youngsters to save some open space in a way that will benefit the municipality in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Nearly one year ago, Makofsky, a member of Boy Scout Troop 180, Manalapan, contacted Marlboro Township Council President Dr. Paul Kovalski Jr. to ask for some ideas for an Eagle Scout project.

Kovalski, an archaeological and nature enthusiast, shared with Makofsky some suggestions, and Kovalski’s dream of improving this site through a little bit of hard labor ended up being "the most interesting" choice for Makofsky’s project, the teen-ager said.

"I thought it would be great," Makofsky said of the project idea. "I love the outdoors. It’s not your everyday Eagle Scout project; it’s something special."

The project assisted Makofsky in gaining the highest Boy Scout status, but, of equal importance, Ma-kofsky was among a group of about 25 adults and teen-agers who looked on recently when the trail and area were dedicated in a small ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony, which Kovalski attended, promoted to the public the official opening of the area and pathway, the existence of a newly erected sign and a brochure-filled box familiarizing visitors with the site, and the installation of two benches alongside the stream.

The project, completed with the help of seven other Boy Scouts and four adults, was finished after a total of 165 man hours, during which the group cleared away debris, removed stumps, contoured the trail, laid down weed cover and mulch, and built and set up two benches in the midst of natural surroundings.

Makofsky also designed a pamphlet describing the trail’s eight landmarks, including a non-native mazzard cherry tree, marl (the dark clay fertilizer for which Marlboro was named), the Big Brook tributary system and an eastern deciduous forest, a wooded area in which the Leni Lenape Indian tribe once hunted. The brochures, placed in a mailbox at the trail entrance, picture various fossils which have been discovered at the Big Brook site. Makofsky’s pamphlet asserts that Big Brook is one of the state’s largest dinosaur and fossil sites, with remains from the Cretaceous period of 25,000 B.C.

Makofsky, of Colts Brook Road, said the efforts in completing the project represented a contrast to the ongoing residential development in the township.

"More and more forests are being cut down, and more and more houses are going up," he pointed out.

Open space in Marlboro is "disappearing rapidly," said Kovalski, who helped in supervising the project. "We need to preserve these areas and take them out of building territory."

The council president said the hiking trail created by Makofsky is accessible to people of all ages.

"You don’t have to be a 16-year-old football player to hike it," he said.

Kovalski congratulated Makofsky on his completion of the project, saying, "I think Sean worked very hard. I’m very proud of him."

The council president also noted the interpretive and educational project benefits in addition to its enhancement through promotion of leisure and recreational activity.

"Open space doesn’t just mean baseball fields and soccer fields," said Kovalski, a lifelong Marlboro resident who, as a young child, enjoyed trekking through nature sites.