Tag: New Jersey Conservation Foundation
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Pine Barrens ‘mudders’ focus of new documentary
By Michele S. Byers It was a warm, rainy May night in 2016 and filmmaker Jared Flesher was searching for threatened and rare Pine Barrens tree frogs. With help from a guide, he found himself next to a pond deep in the wilderness of Wharton State Forest. “We could hear whippoorwills singing, then we heard…
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New Jersey moves to block seismic blasting
By Michele S. Byers Imagine someone blasting an air horn next to your ear. Now imagine that sound thousands of times louder. That’s how experts describe the sound of seismic testing to whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish and other marine life. Seismic testing, or blasting compressed air through water using airguns, is done to find…
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Mary Oliver, nature poet
By Michele S. Byers The late Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet who passed away earlier this year at the age of 83, was an artist who used her words to paint pictures of the natural world. Her verses express deep reverence for nature as sources of beauty, solace and wisdom. “I could not…
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As weather warms, watch for invasive spotted lanternflies
By Michele S. Byers Spring is here and this state we’re in is greening up. Flowers are popping, bees are in action and buds are swelling. But in the midst of this long awaited renewal, party crashers are lurking. One uninvited guest is the spotted lanternfly, an invasive bug that feeds on a wide range…
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Meet the mountains of the Pine Barrens
By Michele S. Byers For folks living in most of New Jersey, the idea of mountains in the low-lying Pine Barrens might seem farfetched. Many have never heard of the Forked River Mountains of Ocean County, located due west of Barnegat Bay and the Garden State Parkway. Although they are called mountains, the Forked River…
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Putting down new roots to help rivers
By Michele S. Byers Here’s a not-too-fun fact: 85 percent of New Jersey’s rivers are considered impaired, in large part because their banks are denuded of vegetation. Without trees, river banks erode, sediments and contaminants are washed into rivers, and waters become too warm for trout and other aquatic wildlife. Bare riverbanks and floodplains cannot…
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Get outside for a tech treasure hunt!
By Michele S. Byers Technology has taken over our lives. It has turned many of us into couch potatoes. But technology can also entice us off the couch and into the great outdoors. One great example is geocaching, which pairs hiking and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to create a modern day treasure hunt. All…
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‘Early bird’ bald eagles already nesting
By Michele S. Byers Bald eagles are New Jersey’s early birds. In the chill of winter, they are the first to build nests and lay eggs. Even in the short days of December, these early birds are busy gathering sticks, grass and other materials to build or repair their nests. Only two weeks into the…
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Eat better, avoid cancer, reduce climate change impacts
By Michele S. Byers What does organic farming have to do with climate change, cancer, nutrition and food security? Plenty, according to Stephanie Harris, president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey, or NOFA-NJ for short. The connect is “regenerative agriculture,” an organic growing method that pulls carbon from the atmosphere and stores…
