May, 2005

Birding and Wildlife Trails Readies First Guides
By Lillian Armstrong, Director of Birding and Wildlife Trails

The Delaware Bayshore Birding and Wildlife Trails guide is coming to life, and I feel kind of like the President of the United States.  (Ok, maybe not the current President, but “a” President anyway.)  Why?  Because I’ve gotten this far only by surrounding myself with people who have the specific expertise necessary for the success of this project.  Said another way, they are way smarter than I am.  And since the Trails project is definitely by people and for people, I’d like to tell you about some of the members of our team.

We needed a way to collect all the information on contacts and wildlife-viewing sites in an organized manner.  We needed to be able to find information quickly.  We needed to collect information in such a way that it would be easy to cross-reference when we created our web site through which to view information.  What we really needed was a fairly sophisticated database.  And we found Jeannine Parvin, thankfully just finishing some database work for the NJAS Research Department.  

Jeannine has been a godsend.  She patiently asked us question after question about what kind of information we were gathering and how we wanted to use it, both in the near term and the long term.  She even tried to explain to us how a database is built and how it works!  For all the times we wanted to shout, “OK, too much information!  Just make it work!” Jeannine would patiently explain that we had to understand a little bit about it in order to make the most of it.  Of course, she was right, and we now have wonderfully functional databases with which to collect information.

We needed a website.  Then we decided we wanted to be able to download forms from our website.  Eventually we just had to show videos on our website.  And then we had to rearrange the whole thing to make it expandable as we added new Trails projects, such as the New Jersey Meadowlands Birding, Wildlife and Fishing Trails guide, which also is currently underway.    Jim O’Malley of Arrowleaf, Inc. came to our rescue, with ideas not only about our current site, but also our ultimate Birding and Wildlife Trails website, which we hope will be a searchable, interactive site that takes the Trails project to another level beyond what we can offer in the physical guide.  Between Jim, and our wonderful friends Mike Lyncheski and Bob Riviera at the Harrier Group, we’re confident all our web site needs will be met with flying colors (and we don’t mean a bunch of colors flying around your computer screen and taking up memory...).

Of course, our products have to be great looking.  They have to be so appealing that everyone will want them.  They have to be easy to use, but also chock full of information.  And they have to be done on a very tight budget so we can print as many as possible, and still have them be free to the public.  We needed a great designer to be our partner in this venture, and we found one in Art270 out of Jenkintown, PA.  In business for some twenty years, the group won us over with their experience, grasp of the project and genuine love of the outdoors.  Their designs to date have been right on target, and we’re confident we’ll have an attractive product for a broad audience. 

And our partners at the New Jersey Department of Transportation never disappoint.  Thanks to the efforts of the mapping team in the Division of Information Technology, we are going to have smart, functional maps both in the guide and on the website.  It’s really all about the maps, you know. 

That’s just a few of the many folks who are playing a role in this project.  The core team of me, our phenomenal Project Associate Gina Ewald, Dale Rosselet, Eric Stiles, and Laurie Pettigrew from the New Jersey Department of Environment Protection have a lot of resources from which to draw. 

Back at Trails Central, our hide-out at the Center for Research and Education, we’re collecting the information from the numerous site assessments being performed by naturalists in the local community (another group of experts without whom this project would not be possible).  Soon, we’ll make our recommendations about the actual driving routes and we’ll share the proposed maps at public meetings in Cape May, Cumberland and Salem.  We’re gathering the material that will populate the guide with great information.  And we’ve just begun the site nomination process for the Meadowlands Trail project. 

By the time this article goes to print, the very first Birding and Wildlife Trails guide in New Jersey will be at the printer.  (*gulp*) At least it had better be.  Happy Trails to you!

NJ Audubon Leads Dialogue on Wind Power
By Ted Korth and Kathleen Bird

New Jersey Audubon Society is taking a leadership role in the planning and public-policy debate about how to incorporate wind power into New Jersey’s goal to provide more of its energy from renewable sources.

New Jersey Audubon is interested in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, which dirty the air we breathe and the water we drink; contribute to unhealthy levels of mercury in fish; and add to global warming.

While the society per se has taken no position to support wind power, it is interested in exploring its potential to produce energy without causing impacts to birds, bats or other wildlife and the environment.

To that end, NJ Audubon is serving on a Governor’s blue-ribbon task force on offshore wind.  Director of Policy Ted Korth serves on Acting Governor Richard J. Codey’s panel exploring issues related to offshore wind. 

And NJ Audubon assembled some of the best and the brightest in the field for a daylong intensive exchange of ideas and information at a May 4 workshop, “Wind Energy & Wildlife … The Good, the Bad … the Possible.”

The workshop, which featured Jette Kjaer, an engineer in charge of the a large offshore wind project in Denmark, and Franz Bairlein, a research scientist in Germany, brought together about 75 state and federal regulators, academicians and industry representatives.  Among the speakers was Princeton University’s Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, a worldwide leader on global warming, who presented a frightening prediction for the future.

The landmark event was co-sponsored by Princeton University and its Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program, and New Jersey PIRG (Public Interest Research Group).  Generous funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation helped make this event possible.

Critical Wildlife Habitat Protection Hits a Milestone
By Ted Korth

Early this spring, and years in the making – with real work involved, by the way – a well researched, well drafted and mission precise critical habitat rule proposal moved from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to the (acting) Governor's desk.  Briefly, this proposal attempts to stem the ongoing loss of habitats critical to many threatened or endangered wildlife species, stop more wildlife from becoming rare, and engage the public and private sectors in planning for habitat protection.

By applying contemporary technology and information from the biological sciences to a conservation program tailored to the ecological and social landscape of New Jersey, this rule is very likely (we suggest "is," hands down), the best vehicle available to promote New Jersey's expressed policy to manage all forms of wildlife to ensure their continued participation in the ecosystem and accord special protection for those most imperiled. The DEP rule learned from some of the concerns arising from the federal habitat rules, and moved the protective planning process from across the board application wielded through department discretion to localized need tempered by other land use policies.  The New Jersey rule would allow us to maintain our wildlife and accommodate continued human pressures.      

But, unlike potable water or clean air, health issues, not protecting wildlife won’t directly impact our health.  Protecting habitat results in air and water protection, but that relationship is not a necessary one.  The economics of wildlife are similar.  Though non-hunted wildlife does have an economic value in New Jersey, directly (wildlife watching) and indirectly (a quality of life amenity), economies alone may not substantiate a protective regulatory scheme.  In the end, a decision to avoid species extirpation, to ensure the continued participation of wildlife in the ecosystem, is a moral one.  It must be done. 

As of this writing, the acting Governor is deciding if protecting habitat critical to the survival of wildlife in our state should be done.  And so it is time to jettison unneeded baggage – the science supporting the need and informing the solution, the planning to promote the policy, the technology to implement the solution, and, possibly moral compass to do what should be done – and apply politics to the process. 

NJ Audubon’s members and our coalition partners have always excelled at convincing politicians to make moral decisions for future generations.  From the Pinelands Preservation Act to the Million Acres of Open Space to the recent Highlands legislation, our members and the public have succeeded in working with visionary political leaders to make sure the right decision is made.  The challenge is again before us and I am confident that our members will again rise to the occasion!

Atlantic City Airport – Grassland Manna from Heaven
By Troy Ettel

In addition to ongoing research on grassland birds at A/C Airport, NJAS has now greatly expanded its stewardship role there.  The airport is of great conservation interest.  It was recently accepted as one of the first designated Important Bird Areas in New Jersey because of its large concentration of grassland birds.  In fact it harbors one of the last remaining Upland Sandpiper (a critically endangered species in New Jersey) populations in the state.  It also contains the large known global concentration of a state threatened butterfly, the Frosted Elfin. 

NJAS will now serve as project coordinator over the airport construction mitigation responsible for developing the grassland restoration and maintenance plan at the facility.  NJAS will design the grassland restoration targeted to create and enhance habitat for the Upland Sandpiper (state endangered bird) and Frosted Elfin (state threatened butterfly), both found on the airport.

Pinelands Forest Advisory Committee Sets Bold Vision for Stewardship
By Troy Ettel

After working on the development of forest management recommendations for the New Jersey Pinelands for nearly two years, the Pinelands Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) submitted a final proposal to the Pinelands Commission.  Formation of the reconstituted FAC was prompted by a white paper issued by NJAS and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance in 2003 expressing concern for some forest management actions taking place in the Pinelands.  NJAS was appointed to the FAC and participated in the process from the outset.  We are optimistic that the new recommendations will result in improved stewardship and forest management for Pinelands forests that will enhance habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the pine snake and Red-headed Woodpecker.

Forest Health Inititative
By Troy Ettel

Following extensive media coverage of NJAS white paper on Forest Health, NJAS was invited along with New Jersey Conservation Foundation and The Nature Conservancy to present at the April meeting of the NJ Fish and Game Council.  This lead to subsequent meetings with NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife staff to discuss the problems in New Jersey forests being caused by overabundant white-tailed deer and invasive, exotic plants.  NJAS will be working with the Division and other partners to develop pilot projects that seek to address forest health issues in specific regions in NJ.