Tag: New Jersey Conservation Foundation
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Why do evergreens stay green all winter?
by Tom Gilbert, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation ‘Tis the season to deck the halls with boughs of holly, decorate evergreen trees with twinkling lights, make wreaths from sprigs of greenery, and hang mistletoe from the ceiling. These pops of green have a magical way of making a home feel cozy and festive during…
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Enjoy winter’s seals – from a distance!
by Alison Mitchell, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation New Jersey’s cutest seasonal visitors are back – seals from New England and Canada who swim south each winter to follow their food sources. With their big eyes, long whiskers and almost comical resting poses, seals resemble well-fed puppies. In fact, they’re sometimes called “sea dogs.”…
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A message of hope for Earth’s future
by Jay Watson, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation It’s easy to feel discouraged as we face the enormity of climate change and the mounting extinctions of plant and animal species. We may wonder: What can one person possibly do to help avert this unfolding catastrophe? Douglas Tallamy has a powerful message: Don’t give up,…
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Don’t cut funds for saving open space and farmland!
by Tom Gilbert, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation Four years ago, residents of rural Warren County were shocked when a Pennsylvania developer announced plans to build 2.8 million square feet of warehouses on 600 acres of prime farmland in White Township. From the local viewpoint, nothing about the Jaindl Land Co. plan made sense.…
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Protecting the wetlands that help protect New Jersey
by Alison Mitchell, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation For the past 20 years, a New Jersey organization not widely known among the general public has been making a big environmental impact through dozens of projects aimed at restoring and enhancing the state’s wetlands – ecosystems that are critical allies in the global fight against…
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Rematriations’ return Native Americans to their land
by Jay Watson, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation It goes almost without saying – but I’ll say it anyway – that all the land in New Jersey once belonged to the Indigenous people who lived here for millennia before European colonization. After 400 years of wars, treaties, forced removals and migrations, and unfair government policies, little land…
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New Jersey hits milestone: 250,000 acres of farmland preserved
by Tom Gilbert, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation For a small state, New Jersey is a big producer of fruits and vegetables. We earn our “Garden State” nickname by ranking in the top 10 nationally for many crops, including eggplant, tomatoes, cranberries, spinach, bell peppers, asparagus, squash, peaches, cucumbers, blueberries, and sweet corn. Perhaps…
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High time to make buildings safe for migratory birds!
by Jay Watson, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation From hummingbirds to hawks, and warblers to woodpeckers, New Jersey is home to hundreds of migratory and resident bird species. Our state’s location along the Atlantic Flyway means huge increases in bird traffic during the spring and fall migration seasons. Migrations are inherently risky, as birds…
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Don’t treat soils on preserved farms like dirt!
by Jay Watson, Co-Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation Think of a farm, and you may picture rolling fields with rows of vegetables, orchards of fruit and nut trees, and bucolic pastures with cows and sheep. But farms in the Garden State often include a whole lot more: roadside stands, greenhouses, corn mazes, hay wagon…
