The Sustainable Forestry Initiative recently set a world record by organizing one of the largest tree-planting events ever. On May 20, 2015, volunteers planted more than 200,000 trees at 28 sites, spanning from New York City to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. More than 1000 volunteers worked in groups of 25-100 to accomplish this daunting feat.
Read more about the event and about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative here.
“The Anthropocene Era refers to the period of time humans have had a measurable global impact on Earth’s ecosystems. Though it’s clear we’re currently living in it, scientists have long debated when exactly this epoch of human dominance over the planet first began.
Did it start with the advent of agriculture around 10,000 years ago? With the Industrial Revolution? With the first explosions of nuclear weapons in the 1940s? As it turns out, new data suggests it may have actually started in the year 1610.” Read more by Bryan Nelson on Mother Nature Network here.
Or try this 2013 article from Smithsonian here.
Tomorrow is World Environment Day. Let’s take this opportunity to celebrate our national parks. The National Parks Conservation Association is encouraging people to make our national parks a national priority. Join them by sending a social media post today: http://thndr.it/1PEF5tm
Cedar waxwing photographed by Alice Leurck.
This week Don Torino writes about the joys of Shadblow Serviceberry – the graceful native tree whose delicious blueberry-like fruits are eagerly anticipated by birds this time of year. The fruits are sometimes called Juneberries and if you want to get a taste, you’d better keep your eyes open because the cedar waxwings are likely to beat you to it.
See Don’s column for Wild New Jersey here.
The fruit is ripe when it’s dark purple – but the birds don’t usually wait that long.
Right now, the Lance-leafed Coreopsis is grabbing the attention in this meadow on Kingsland Overlook. But that will change as the season progresses. This is one of several mini-meadows restored throughout DeKorte Park over the last few years. Watch them change throughout the seasons.
Concept Plan for Experimental Park on a Landfill, later renamed Kingsland Overlook.
Did you know that Kingsland Overlook was one of the first public parks to be built on a landfill anywhere? I recently came across an article on Inhabitat titled Eight Great Parks Created from Landfills. It shows how far we’ve come. And it got me wondering how much today’s DeKorte Park visitors really know about its history.
It’s hard to imagine, 26 years after ground was broken, that this lush landscape – rich with native vegetation, scores of birds, and other wildlife – was a giant pile of garbage. But that’s what it was when the agency then called the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission decided to establish its headquarters here, ending the spread of the landfill and creating DeKorte Park. The photo below shows how the site looked in 1977. The HMDC began construction of its headquarters in 1983. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the DeKorte story, coming soon.
Red-tailed Hawk defends its perch above the president’s office. Photo: Doug Mills / NYTimes.
“A red-tailed hawk is prowling the lush White House lawn and perching just above the second-story window of President Obama’s East Wing residence, lured by a booming population of gray squirrels and undeterred by the harassment of smaller birds that have tried in vain to displace it.”
This from Local birders and White House visitors thrill to the sight of the hawk soaring above, then swooping down on prey on the famous lawn. The resident squirrels are surely less enthusiastic.
The White House has been a great bird-watching spot for decades. The article continues:
“In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt, an avid birder, drew up a list of the 93 bird species he had spotted around Washington while he was president, marking with asterisks those he had seen on the White House grounds. He inventoried dozens of types of sparrows, swallows and warblers he had seen around the presidential compound, as well as more exotic residents, including a pair of sparrow hawks that spent two consecutive winters there and a pair of saw-whet owls that made their home in the South Portico for several weeks in 1905.”
Read more about the White House Red-tail here.
Snapping turtle laying her eggs in the new surface of fine gravel at Mill Creek Marsh. the new trail
Katy Weidel, the Landscape Architect overseeing the Mill Creek Marsh Trail renovation, reports that the work is ahead of schedule and that the trail MAY open earlier than estimated. No promises but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. The contractor has taken care not to disturb any woody vegetation: not a single tree or shrub has been removed. Katy also believes there has been minimal impact to wildlife due to small crew size (only 3 workers) and small work area (only about 50’ section is disturbed at one time – this out of almost 8,000 total feet of trail). Katy says, “I walk the site each day and haven’t seen any reduction of wildlife usage from years past. The tree swallows are going wild – the carp are jumping out of the water and there are clutches of goslings swimming around. As you can see from the pics – taken June 1st – the snapping turtles love the new trail screenings to lay their eggs.”
FREE. Sunday, June 7, 10 am – noon
DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst
Join botanist Edith Wallace and Don Torino of the Bergen County Audubon Society as they look for plants that attract birds and butterflies and what works best in your garden. The walk is run by the NJSEA and the Bergen County Audubon Society.For more information contact Don Torino or call 201-230-4983. Register here.
Friday, June 5, 10 am – noon
DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst
Walk the trails of DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst with the designers who built them. Landscape architects Katy Weidel, Joanne DiLorenzo and Lisa Cameron will escort groups through the one-square-mile park while discussing its history and the hurdles they overcame to build it. Learn what’s beneath the surface, as well as what plants and animals are found there now. Register here.