School's eco-awareness pays off again

by Michael Amsel, Toms River Bureau
Asbury Park Press

MANCHESTER -- Like most of her colleagues at Ridgeway Elementary School, Maxine Meehan always stresses ecology to her fifth-grade pupils, often incorporating local current events to get her point across.

The emphasis on ecology is paying big dividends.

Ariana Wilson and her long-tailed salamanger"For a second straight year, one of Meehan's pupils won a statewide contest for fifth-graders sponsored by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

Last year, 10-year-old Andrea Martinez won for her essay and picture on the indiana bat. This year, 12-year-old Ariana Wilson was victorious for her essay and picture on the long-tailed salamander.

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Endangered birds find safe haven at area beaches

by Todd B. Bates, Environmental Writer
the Asbury Park Press

Deploying PVC pipes, nylon twine and "are closed signs, workers and volunteers set up a "symbolic fence" this month around a beach area visited in the past by endangered beach-nesting birds.

Both piping plovers and least terns previously have made nests in the sand within a roughly 300-yard-wide beach area in Spring Lake and Sea Girt near Wreck Pond.

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