Borough again scores big with NJ Green Acres grant money.

BY DEBORAH WALSH
Staff Writer
SUBURBAN TRENDS

February 24, 2008

With the assistance of the Morris Land Conservancy, the borough has again come up big with the state Department of Environmental Protec tion’s Green Acres program.  The borough apparently will be OK’d for a $300,000 planning incentive grant.

            Although planning incentive grants are not site specific, at the Feb. 21 borough council meeting, Councilman Robert Collins, who chairs the council’s open space committee, said the borough’s open space advisory committee would re-evaluate vacant parcels in the borough and make a recommendation to the borough council.  Collins indicated that the Weber Tract, long a subject of preservation’s efforts, could potentially be a priority.

            This past summer, the filing of an application to secure a $1.5 million Morris County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund grant for the Weber tract acquisition touched off a bit of a controversy with some council members feeling the application was premature.

            Some council members said the borough did not know whether the Weber tract owners were interested in selling their property for preservation purposes and whether enough county and state funding could be obtained and combined with borough open space money to realistically make the purchase.  They also noted the tract is located in the Highlands Preservation area where building is prohibited.  Evidently, the county agreed and rejected the application this past fall.

            Councilman Collins said there is nothing to preclude the borough from applying for a Morris County Open Space grant again, which could be used in conjunction with the Green Acres grant and a public funding drive spear-headed by Open Space Advisory Board member Carol Vreeland, which has accumulated about $5,000.

            Bob Canace of the Morris Land Conservancy said the receipt of the Green Acres $300,000 planning incentive grant could bolster the borough’s chances of securing a Morris County Trust Fund grant next time around.  Canace said the borough and conservancy was able to demonstrate to Green Acres the need for additional funding for open space projects.

            Proponents of preserving the Weber tract, which include the Pequannock River Coalition, have noted the tract hosts vernal ponds, steep slopes, wetlands and abuts the county’s Silas Condict Park and is adjacent to the Pequannock River.

            The coalition has indicated the preservation is critical to maintaining the integrity of the Pequannock River.

            In 2005, the borough was awarded a $575,000 Green Acres Planning Incentive Grant.

            The money was used in conjunction with Morris Land Conservancy, Morris Park Commission and Green Acre funds to buy 1,200 acres owned by Smoke Rise developer Dennis Lam.

            The property, which will be preserved was adjacent to and quadrupled the size of Silas Condict Park and stretches along the borough’s municipal complex property on Kinnelon Road.

Debbie Walsh’s e-mail address is walshde@northjersey.com

©2008 North Jersey Media Group Inc

Chaperones help love-hungry frogs.

Saturday, March 22, 2008
Last Updated Saturday March 22, 2008, EDT 8:24 AM

BY JIM WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER

Nine hearty souls in foul-weather gear and reflective vests comb a desolate stretch of road in the middle of the night, searching for love-starved frogs and salamanders.

They're trying to protect the little creatures from being crushed by cars during their annual breeding migration.

Each March from Bergen County to Cape May, amphibians hop and crawl on rainy nights from their forested homes to vernal pools to spawn. As suburbia carves up woodlands, more and more critters get separated from their breeding grounds — and end up as roadkill.

"If you have a piece of upland habitat that's had a road go through it, things are getting whacked," says Brian Zarate, an assistant zoologist with New Jersey's Endangered and Non-game Species Program. "On the right night, when you have just the right environmental cues, the roads are literally covered with these critters."

Mike Anderson of New Jersey Audubon happened upon the phenomenon decades ago when he was driving his future wife home from a date.

"We saw all this stuff crossing the road — and a lot of carnage," he says. "But by the next morning raccoons and opossums had picked the road clean. You never would have known 1,000 amphibians had been smashed on that road."

Vernal pools – also known as ephemeral wetlands or woodland pools – are created when melting snow and March rains fill depressions in the ground. They typically exist for a few months each year before drying up. As a result, they can't support fish, a major amphibian predator. That lure of safety attracts endangered species such as the blue-spotted salamander as well as wood frogs and common spotted salamanders. In fact, vernal pools are the only place these species breed.

Mortality rates at road crossings in New Jersey are as high as 75 percent. The state and New Jersey Audubon started the Amphibian Crossing Survey Project six years ago to study the migrations and reduce the carnage. A growing number of volunteers statewide have joined the project and serve as crossing guards. They grab their flashlights on dark, rainy nights and try to slow traffic and keep a tally of all salamanders and frogs they see, dead or alive.

Roadkill tallies from earlier years from the aptly named Shades of Death Road in Warren County led to three nights of road closings this year. A road in East Brunswick has been closed at night for up to a week for several years to protect the crawlers and hoppers.

In Europe underpasses and raised roadways have been built to provide safe passage, but that isn't likely in New Jersey.

"These are both long-term management strategies we hope to incorporate some day, but they both cost money," says Kris Schantz, a senior zoologist with the state's endangered species program. "Given the state of New Jersey's budget and the federal budget, now is not really the time to approach this possibility."

For her, the reason to protect amphibians is simple.

"These little critters go unnoticed by so many, yet they play such an important role in our natural world," says Schantz. "Since they absorb chemicals and elements through their skin and spend part of their life in an aquatic stage and the other in a terrestrial stage, they give us a heads up on potential problems with the health of the natural world surrounding them."

Although an infection called chytrid fungus is killing frogs worldwide, it has not yet been detected in New Jersey or neighboring states. The bigger and immediate threats to amphibians are habitat loss and pollution — and cars.

Fortunately, some vernal pools do not require the amphibians to play a lethal game of Frogger.

At the Tenafly Nature Center, the temporary pools are right next to habitat. The variety of species found there is impressive: spotted salamanders, wood frogs, green frogs, bullfrogs, pickerel frogs, northern spring peepers, northern gray tree frogs, American toads and three kinds of turtles.

"Vernal pools are an important ecological habitat," says the center's executive director, Jennifer Kleinbaum. "A single vernal pool may be used for mating, egg laying and as a nursery for their young."

But outside protected areas, the road to love is dangerous for web-footed wonders.

On Wednesday night, a group led by Mike Krug of New Jersey Audubon's Weis Ecology Center patrolled a secondary road for an hour in Ringwood and counted a spring peeper and two yellow salamanders – all had been crushed by cars.

Krug asked that the name of the road not be disclosed because he doesn't want to attract onlookers who could be injured. He also wanted to avoid alerting collectors to a prime place to pick up a salamander or frog.

That same night, crossing guards on a road along the Lincoln Park-Towaco border counted an American toad and two endangered blue spotted salamanders — only one of which survived.

State zoologists hope a Bergen County group will begin a similar amphibian-crossing effort next year. Potential locales include inside Palisades Interstate Park in Tenafly and Alpine and secondary roads at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains in Mahwah and Oakland.

Alas, choosing which night will bring a big migration is largely guesswork. Sometimes volunteers spend hours aiming their flashlights along an empty stretch of road.

"We know the basic conditions under which these amphibians breed and migrate but there's a certain level of capriciousness about whether they go on a certain night," says Cliff Bernzweig, a violinist and amphibian devotee, says. "Studying places gives us a better understanding of exactly when and why they move."

Frogs and salamanders are the canaries in the coal mine for New Jersey's aquatic ecosystems, he says. "If something is wrong with the water," he says, "it's going to turn up in the amphibians, because their whole life cycle depends on good clean water."

Page 1 2 >>

Nine hearty souls in foul-weather gear and reflective vests comb a desolate stretch of road in the middle of the night, searching for love-starved frogs and salamanders. 

They're trying to protect the little creatures from being crushed by cars during their annual breeding migration.

Each March from Bergen County to Cape May, amphibians hop and crawl on rainy nights from their forested homes to vernal pools to spawn. As suburbia carves up woodlands, more and more critters get separated from their breeding grounds — and end up as roadkill.

"If you have a piece of upland habitat that's had a road go through it, things are getting whacked," says Brian Zarate, an assistant zoologist with New Jersey's Endangered and Non-game Species Program. "On the right night, when you have just the right environmental cues, the roads are literally covered with these critters."

Mike Anderson of New Jersey Audubon happened upon the phenomenon decades ago when he was driving his future wife home from a date.

"We saw all this stuff crossing the road — and a lot of carnage," he says. "But by the next morning raccoons and opossums had picked the road clean. You never would have known 1,000 amphibians had been smashed on that road."

Vernal pools – also known as ephemeral wetlands or woodland pools – are created when melting snow and March rains fill depressions in the ground. They typically exist for a few months each year before drying up. As a result, they can't support fish, a major amphibian predator. That lure of safety attracts endangered species such as the blue-spotted salamander as well as wood frogs and common spotted salamanders. In fact, vernal pools are the only place these species breed.

Mortality rates at road crossings in New Jersey are as high as 75 percent. The state and New Jersey Audubon started the Amphibian Crossing Survey Project six years ago to study the migrations and reduce the carnage. A growing number of volunteers statewide have joined the project and serve as crossing guards. They grab their flashlights on dark, rainy nights and try to slow traffic and keep a tally of all salamanders and frogs they see, dead or alive.

Roadkill tallies from earlier years from the aptly named Shades of Death Road in Warren County led to three nights of road closings this year. A road in East Brunswick has been closed at night for up to a week for several years to protect the crawlers and hoppers.

In Europe underpasses and raised roadways have been built to provide safe passage, but that isn't likely in New Jersey.

"These are both long-term management strategies we hope to incorporate some day, but they both cost money," says Kris Schantz, a senior zoologist with the state's endangered species program. "Given the state of New Jersey's budget and the federal budget, now is not really the time to approach this possibility."

For her, the reason to protect amphibians is simple.

"These little critters go unnoticed by so many, yet they play such an important role in our natural world," says Schantz. "Since they absorb chemicals and elements through their skin and spend part of their life in an aquatic stage and the other in a terrestrial stage, they give us a heads up on potential problems with the health of the natural world surrounding them."

Although an infection called chytrid fungus is killing frogs worldwide, it has not yet been detected in New Jersey or neighboring states. The bigger and immediate threats to amphibians are habitat loss and pollution — and cars.

Fortunately, some vernal pools do not require the amphibians to play a lethal game of Frogger.

At the Tenafly Nature Center, the temporary pools are right next to habitat. The variety of species found there is impressive: spotted salamanders, wood frogs, green frogs, bullfrogs, pickerel frogs, northern spring peepers, northern gray tree frogs, American toads and three kinds of turtles.

"Vernal pools are an important ecological habitat," says the center's executive director, Jennifer Kleinbaum. "A single vernal pool may be used for mating, egg laying and as a nursery for their young."

But outside protected areas, the road to love is dangerous for web-footed wonders.

On Wednesday night, a group led by Mike Krug of New Jersey Audubon's Weis Ecology Center patrolled a secondary road for an hour in Ringwood and counted a spring peeper and two yellow salamanders – all had been crushed by cars.

Krug asked that the name of the road not be disclosed because he doesn't want to attract onlookers who could be injured. He also wanted to avoid alerting collectors to a prime place to pick up a salamander or frog.

That same night, crossing guards on a road along the Lincoln Park-Towaco border counted an American toad and two endangered blue spotted salamanders — only one of which survived.

State zoologists hope a Bergen County group will begin a similar amphibian-crossing effort next year. Potential locales include inside Palisades Interstate Park in Tenafly and Alpine and secondary roads at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains in Mahwah and Oakland.

Alas, choosing which night will bring a big migration is largely guesswork. Sometimes volunteers spend hours aiming their flashlights along an empty stretch of road.

"We know the basic conditions under which these amphibians breed and migrate but there's a certain level of capriciousness about whether they go on a certain night," says Cliff Bernzweig, a violinist and amphibian devotee, says. "Studying places gives us a better understanding of exactly when and why they move."

Frogs and salamanders are the canaries in the coal mine for New Jersey's aquatic ecosystems, he says. "If something is wrong with the water," he says, "it's going to turn up in the amphibians, because their whole life cycle depends on good clean water."

©2008 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Saturday, March 22, 2008
Last Updated Monday March 24, 2008, EDT 10:33 AM

North Jersey amphibians that breed only in vernal pools include:

The blue-spotted salamander, considered "critically imperiled in New Jersey," is a member of a group of amphibians called mole salamanders, which spend most of the year underground. "Blue spots" are stocky salamanders that are from 4 to 5 1/2 inches long. They are dark blue with light blue flecks, resembling old-time enameled pots and pans.

The wood frog, common throughout the state, is 1 1/2 inches to 3 1/4 inches long. It can range in color from dark brown to pink and has a dark patch behind each eye that makes it appear to be wearing a mask. It is typically found in moist wooded areas. Its voice sounds a bit like a mallard's quack, but with little oomph.

Source: NJDEP Endangered and Non-game Species Program.

To sign up for next year's amphibian crossing surveys, e-mail the Endangered and Non-game Species Program at amphib.ENSP@yahoo.com. You will be contacted in early 2009.

North Jersey amphibians that breed only in vernal pools include:

A blue-spotted salamander.

The blue-spotted salamander, considered "critically imperiled in New Jersey," is a member of a group of amphibians called mole salamanders, which spend most of the year underground. "Blue spots" are stocky salamanders that are from 4 to 5 1/2 inches long. They are dark blue with light blue flecks, resembling old-time enameled pots and pans.

The wood frog, common throughout the state, is 1 1/2 inches to 3 1/4 inches long. It can range in color from dark brown to pink and has a dark patch behind each eye that makes it appear to be wearing a mask. It is typically found in moist wooded areas. Its voice sounds a bit like a mallard's quack, but with little oomph.

Source: NJDEP Endangered and Non-game Species Program.

To sign up for next year's amphibian crossing surveys, e-mail the Endangered and Non-game Species Program at amphib.ENSP@yahoo.com. You will be contacted in early 2009.

©2008 North Jersey Media Group Inc

Kinnelon Residents Campaign for Forest

BY KRISTEN ALLOWAY

STAR-LEDGER STAFF

April 29, 2008

A group of Kinnelon residents is asking the borough to make another pitch to Morris County this summer to help preserve a 170-acre forest.

The Citizen’s Committee to Save the Weber Tract has asked the borough to reapply for money from a county preservation fund to help buy the property and keep it open.

Environmentalists and residents worked for several years to preserve the steep, wooded land that contains a trout-producing stream.

The county turned down a similar application from Kinnelon last year, when the borough requested $1.7 million to help purchase the land, which is valued at $4 million, according to Morris County tax records.

“It’s a pristine forest… (with) vernal pools, wetlands,” said Kinnelon resident Carol Vreeland, who lives near the property and is a member of the 15-member citizen’s committee.  “It’s beautiful and it’s irreplaceable.  Once it’s developed, it’s gone forever.”

The council was split last year over whether to apply for the county money, said Councilman Dan Colucci, who voted to preserve the land.  Mayor Glenn Sisco last year broke the tie in favor of the preservationists.

Some council members wanted the property, which is off

Some also believed the 2004 Highlands Act made any thought of building on the land a moot point.  The landmark preservation law severely limits development in a 1,250-square-mile Highlands expanse that stretches across Bergen, Morris, Sussex, Warren, Somerset and Hunterdon counties.

Councilman Stephen Cobell said the borough should wait to see if the value of the land drops because it is not buildable.

“The price is more than likely going to decrease,” Cobell said.  “Why would we look to do something right now?  I’m not against preserving it.  I would like to do it as favorably for the taxpayers as possible.”

A developer several years ago had proposed building more than 100 units of age restricted housing on the hilly, wooded property, which is owned by Villas at Maple Lake LLC, according to Morris County tax records.

Some preservationists and environmentalists worry that because there is no plan yet for how to implement the Highlands law, the land could eventually be developed.  Preserving it also could open it up for passive recreation, such as hiking and bird watching.

“Everybody thought with the passage of the Highlands Act this would be safe.  That’s not the case,” said Ross Kushner, executive director of the Pequannock River Coalition.  “There was a push to develop it for high-density housing in the past.  None of these things are dead.”

Kristen Alloway may be reached at (973)-539-7910 or kalloway@Starledger.com

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Morning Ledger Company