The forests and wetlands of New Jersey’s Great Swamp are bound to be hopping during this early-spring hike at the Great Swamp Watershed Association’s Conservation Management Area (CMA). After all, this is the time of year when spring peepers, wood frogs, chorus frogs, and other chatty amphibians make their way to woodland pools to mate and reproduce. As twilight explodes into song, learn how critically important these shallow puddles (known as vernal pools) and their adorable denizens are for the health of our water resources and the local environment. Families with children are encouraged. Recommended for ages seven and up. This is short out-and-back hike over boardwalks and level ground, and is suitable for almost all ages and ability levels. (Strollers are not recommended.)

Join GSWA at 7 p.m. for a special nighttime edition of our regular Breakfast Briefing Series. Our featured speaker will be Michael Horne, newly appointed project leader at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Background In the spring of 2014, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that Great Swamp NWR’s Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) would be reviewed and revised before the end of the year. Members of the public — including members of the GSWA community — were invited to comment on all proposed changes prior to the release of the finalized plan in November 2014. Since radification of the new CCP, Refuge staff have been busy finding ways to successfully implement all of the new land and water management strategies it recommends. Planned for this Briefing Mr. Horne’s visit will help us understand how implementation of the new CCP will proceed, what new strengths it will bring to the Refuge, and what, if any, challenges will need to be met in order to acheive success. Highlights will include a discussion of programs aimed at improving habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife, deer management, and enhancing opportunities for public use of Refuge lands.

arents can hang back and let the sprouts lead the way during this kid-centric day hike at the Great Swamp Watershed Association’s Conservation Management Area in Harding Township. As Earth Day 2015 approaches, GSWA’s own nature-nut Kelly Martin will break out the magnifying glasses, binoculars, nets, and other cool teaching tools to help aspiring explorers find and identify many types of springtime wildlife found here in the Great Swamp Watershed region. Recommended for kids 4 to 8 years old. Children must be accompanied by at least one responsible adult.

The forests and fields are bursting with color during the first few weeks of May. Woodland wildflowers such as wild ginger, May apple, and Virginia blue bells are making their first appearances. Migratory birds are returning and especially active as they search for mates and begin to build their nests. Flashes of yellow from warblers, red from tanagers, and blue from buntings will delight your senses during this colorful spring stroll.        

Calling all would-be explorers, adventurers, and buccaneers! The Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt is back for another year of outdoor fun! Think you know a thing or two about New Jersey’s Great Swamp? Then it’s time to test your powers of navigation and observation to find out. Begin the Scavenger Hunt just after 10 a.m. by checking in at GSWA’s Home Base under the pavilion at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge’s Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center. (The Visitor Center is located just inside the Lee’s Hill Road park entrance at 32 Pleasant Plains Road in Harding Township, NJ.) We will provide you with a route to travel, questions to answer, and a list of treasures to find throughout the 55-square-mile Great Swamp Watershed region. It’s your job to navigate to each treasure site, seek answers to the questions and riddles provided, and then return to Home Base with all your spoils. Remember to hurry back to 32 Pleasant Plains Road at 3 p.m. because your day of pilfering booty will earn you several chances to win some special prizes at our Scavenger’s Tricky Tray! A free cookout waits for all who participate, so don’t forget your barbecue enthusiasm. We love […]

Find inspiration for your spring planting and decorating while supporting Great Swamp Watershed Association on May 20, 2015, during during our 2nd Annual Home & Garden Tour Fundraiser. The tour will be a celebration of charming, historic homes; enchanting gardens; and elegant estates inhabiting the Great Swamp region. And, please help us build a great turnout by giving them to your friends and hanging them in your local coffee shop, grocery store, town hall, workplace, etc. Advance registration is very strongly recommended. To register online, please complete the form below. To register by phone, please call (973) 538-3500 x22. Please remember that advance registration closes at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19. After that, all new registrations will be taken at the door for $60/person. How to Prepare: A tour program and a map of the tour route will be supplied at check-in. All participants should be prepared to wear booties over their shoes or take their shoes off when entering a tour home. (Disposable booties will be available at each stop.) Conditions may be hot, cold, or wet, so please dress appropriately and bring along rain gear just in case of inclement weather. If you plan to have lunch […]

Laura Kelm, director of water quality programs at the Great Swamp Watershed Association, wraps up the Spring 2015 Breakfast Briefing Series by introducing the organization brand new watershed report card program. The new program is designed to provide members of the public with an annual update on the quality of water in the five major streams feeding the Great Swamp and the Passaic River. This is a special Saturday morning briefing beginning at 10 a.m. A continental breakfast will be served. Background In 2013, the Great Swamp Watershed Association published State of the Streams in the Great Swamp Watershed, a comprehensive report that assembled and analyzed chemical, visual, and biological water quality data collected over the course of a decade from the five main streams feeding the Great Swamp and the Passaic River. Requiring months of labor by GSWA staff and volunteers, the project continues to inform our understanding of the changes our watershed has experienced, and how the organization can continue building and reporting on its growing database of scientific observations. Based on the success of State of the Streams, GSWA has developed a new Water Quality Report Card program for the Great Swamp region. Issued annually, the report […]

David Kluesner, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 team leader for community affairs, returns to provide an update on plans for the remediation of hazardous pollution along the last eight miles of the Passaic River. A continental breakfast will be served beginning at 8 a.m. Background On April 11, 2014 — within 48 hours of David’s last appearance at a GSWA Breakfast Briefing — EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck held a press conference announcing the Agency’s draft plan for addressing contamination along the Lower Passaic. Stretching eight miles from Belleville to Newark Bay, this section of river forms part of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site centered around Newark’s Ironbound district. For more than 30 years in mid-20th century, Diamond Alkali and other chemical manufacturers used the Passaic River near Lister Avenue in Newark as a dumping ground for hazardous waste products such as PCBs, dioxins, pesticides, and mercury. Embedded in layers of river sediment, tides and currents quickly began spreading these dangerous substances up and down the Passaic from Dundee Dam in Garfield to the river mouth on Newark Bay. As local chemical manufacturers came and went, an environmental disaster brewed beneath Passaic waters and inside the Ironbound. […]