Tag: volunteer

Volunteers Wanted for CAMP project

By: Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Manager with Conserve Wildlife Foundation

It’s the heart of the winter season and cold outside, so the furthest thing from your mind is hearing the calls of New Jersey’s frogs and toads. But now is the time when we start getting ready for the Calling Amphibian Project (CAMP) and thinking ahead to the spring of 2015.

The object of CAMP is to assess the distribution, abundance, and health of New Jersey’s amphibians. This is part of a larger initiative called the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) and the data collected in New Jersey will be submitted into the National database. Volunteers participating in this project will be asked to conduct roadside surveys (after dusk) for calling amphibians along designated routes throughout the state. Each 15-mile route with ten stops will be surveyed three times during the Spring and a structured protocol will be followed to determine which nights to survey, how long to survey, which species are calling, and how to estimate the total number of individuals calling at each site.

In 2014, 24 volunteers participated in CAMP and surveyed a total of 23 routes out of 63. We have many dedicated long-term CAMP volunteers. Unfortunately due to different circumstances some can no longer participate so we currently have 37 routes available for the 2015 survey season. If you are interested in learning more about this project, contact Larissa Smith.

This year we will be holding a meeting for CAMP  volunteers in January. The meeting will be a good opportunity to meet other volunteers and the biologists who work on the this project and other amphibian projects. Biologists from CWF, the state ENSP and DLUR will be there to discuss  the two “new” NJ frog species and how CAMP data is being used by the state.

•  Test your NJ frog and toad call knowledge! Take the public frog and toad calling quiz on the NAAMP site.

Conserve Wildlife Foundation along with Atlantic City Electric, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and a number of dedicated volunteers planted 150 plugs and 60 quart containers of Baptisia, a native perennial plant last week in Cape May County. Baptisia is the host plant of the state threatened butterfly the Frosted Elfin.

The perennial was planted in upland areas surrounding vernal pools, which had been previously constructed as Tiger Salamander habitat. In the spring, native shrubs had also been planted around the three vernal pools.

Want more updates on our work? Like Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

by Stephanie Feigin, CWF Program Coordinator

This marks the third story in Shorebird Week! Our first blog post, on Tuesday, introduced the film “A Race Against Time” and directed you to a free viewing of the film on our website. Our second blog post, highlighted an incredible news story about a resighting of the iconic Red knot B95 on the Delaware Bay! And today’s blog post, will highlight volunteers incredible effort to save stranded horseshoe crabs!

This story illustrates the incredible efforts of volunteers for Conserve Wildlife Foundation and other conservation groups to save the stranded horseshoe crabs on Delaware Bay beaches. Horseshoe crabs can easily be flipped onto their backs by incoming tides, and they are not able to right themselves on their own. They also get trapped easily by tides and man-made obstacles, such as debris, which leaves them unable to return to the water leaving them to eventually die.

Return the Favor, a multi-group effort, has committed to rescuing as many horseshoe crabs as possible from South Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches by regularly combing designated stretches of beach and helping to flip the crabs back on their bellies and redirect them back to the water. If possible these volunteers go out daily and rescue all of the flipped or impinged crabs. These efforts have been very successful so far, and they hope to continue these efforts and engage more about who want to volunteer.

• To read this full news article click here
• More information on how you can become a volunteer can be found on their website at www.ReturnTheFavorNJ.org.

And make sure to check out the film “A Race Against Time” which highlights CWF’s efforts to restore the Delaware Bay Shore beaches as well!

Get college credit and help protect terrapins!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Since 2010, Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) has been engaged in the conservation of northern diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) in the Little Egg Harbor area. This year, CWF seeks to continue to protect terrapins through additional conservation and education initiatives that include the installation and maintenance of barrier fencing, road patrols on Great Bay Blvd., and the continuation of this student internship. This year we are attempting to replicate a study conducted in 2004 on the same road, and results will help us to better determine how effective our conservation measures have been.

Interns will conduct field work in the lower Barnegat Bay watershed including hourly road patrols on Great Bay Blvd., volunteer steward scheduling and management, educational related activities, and the best part – save hundreds of female terrapins from becoming road kill!

Currently this is a volunteer student internship, but there is an opportunity for this to be a paid internship through the Barnegat Bay Student Grant Program. Willing students must develop a scientific research project to qualify for the grant. The deadline to apply is April 4th.

• Learn more and apply
• Make a donation to support our “Be Terrapin Aware” campaign!

by: Larissa Smith; Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Manager

Eight pairs of NJ eagles are currently incubating (sitting on eggs). The earliest pair to start incubating was confirmed on January 12th, so the birds been keeping the eggs warm throughout the snow and cold weather. Eagle Project volunteers report that pairs all over the state are busy working on their nests in preparation for egg laying.

Want to see eagles and other raptors and learn all about them? The Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival is February 8th, 2014.

The following photos were taken by Eagle Project Volunteer Tom McKelvey.

by Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Manager

Eagle Project Volunteer Tom McKelvey captured this photo of one of the juveniles that fledged from the Shark River eagle nest in mid-June.  So far this nesting season 157 young eagles have fledged from NJ nests. The juveniles will remain in the nest area for the next few months while they develop their flight and hunting skills.

together on the Delaware Bay

by Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Coordinator

Once again migratory shorebirds, including the NJ endangered red knot, have returned to the Delaware Bay to feed on horseshoe crab eggs.  This annual phenomenon brings people from around the world to the Delaware Bay beaches.

Beaches are closed during the migration from May 7th through June 7th to protect the shorebirds from disturbance when feeding.  Just as the birds return each year so do volunteer Shorebird Stewards who educate the public about the beach closures , shorebirds and horseshoe crabs on nine beaches in Cape May and Cumberland County.  Now is a great to come out to the beaches to view shorebirds and crabs and say “hi” to the stewards.

This year the hot spots for shorebirds  in Cape May County  are Reed’s , Cook’s  and Kimble’s Beaches and  Fortescue in Cumberland County.

POST #4 ON THE 2013 AMPHIBIAN MIGRATION

by MacKenzie Hall, Amphibian Crossing Project Coordinator

Easter Sunday is a celebration of rebirth, resurrection, springtime, life.  And this Easter Sunday – right on cue – a warm day turned into a mild night, the mild night met with rain, and together they gave rise to lots and lots of life.   The amphibian migration was underway…in a big way!

Our teams were ready.  Despite heavy bellies and a long day with family, at least 50 trained volunteers came out to “guard” the animals at road-crossing hot spots.  From nightfall to around 11:00 pm we escorted, ferried, and tallied more than 3,000 salamanders and frogs across! (Numbers are still coming in from other teams.)

It was a heart-pounding pace, often with multiple animals entering the roadway at once.  They didn’t seem to understand the danger, but we humans were darting in and out, racing against car tires and grabbing up slippery critters as fast as slippery critters can be grabbed…while still being safe, orderly, and polite to passing motorists.  A lot of drivers stopped to see what all the speed-walking was about.  One woman said “God bless!” when I showed her a fat female spotted salamander and told her about the migration.  Another guy must have been a local because he just asked “how many tonight?”

Everyone had an exhilarating night – the kind of migration night we plan for but don’t often get.  It was a lot of fun and we saved a lot of lives.  From the vehicle count, most of those little animals wouldn’t have stood a chance.  A few still didn’t.

Before heading home from the site where I was working, I took a midnight stroll down to the vernal pool.  It’s so neat to watch salamanders swimming around.  Especially the big spotted salamanders.  They spend almost their entire year underground in the woods, yet they are graceful and natural in the water.  They even look excited to be there, swirling around each other in contest and attraction.  I felt lucky to know about this wonderful thing.  It felt great to have made some of it possible.  Look at those gorgeous animals!  And their impossibly bright yellow spots!  They are colors lost in the night, but not by our watchful lights.

POST #3 ON THE 2013 AMPHIBIAN MIGRATION

by MacKenzie Hall, Amphibian Crossing Project Coordinator

Following Monday’s all-night amphibian foray – and the prolonged terror/adrenaline rush of playing real-life Frogger – I drove home through a rainy sunrise on Tuesday.  According to a weather app on my phone, the rain would keep falling all day and end (wouldn’t you know) right around sunset.  “You gotta be kidding me,” I think is what I slurred.

Warm nighttime rain is the simple cue for mass movement, like what we had before dawn that day.  But nature is seldom that simple, so the task of monitoring an amphibian migration can get hairy.  The warm, soaking daytime rain would get the attention of those slumbering frogs and salamanders. Even if it stopped before dark, the wet ground and road would entice some of them to move.  Maybe a lot of them?  And right at the time when nighttime traffic would be heaviest on the roads.

So we sided with caution and rallied the teams to hit the streets at dusk.  I went back to Byram to lead a group of volunteers there while others covered different hot-spots. 

The rain did end early – earlier than expected even – and by nightfall our team was spreading out over a damp road.  It was a relief to see that a migration was happening anyway, albeit at a slower pace.  And the cars were filing through our setup (cones and signs, buffered by police) in threes and fours…99 vehicles in the first hour!  Basically, there was a car for every salamander that dared to cross the white line.

We did our best to stay ahead of the traffic.  By 11:00 pm the temperature was dropping, the road was drying, traffic was slowing, and so were the amphibians.  We paced the road below a starry sky with Orion front and center.  We had tallied another 175 spotted salamanders, 41 Jefferson’s salamanders, and 52 spring peepers.  Despite the heavy car flow early on, more than 85% of those animals made it to the safe side of the road – and eventually to their breeding pool below – with a little help from some friends.

The ingress migration to the pools is probably close to half-over across much of NJ, so we’ll be out few more times yet! 

THANKS to all the dedicated people who have helped so far.  It’s a diverse group of heroes, from long-time amphibian crossers like George Cevera and Carl Bernzweig, to new volunteers like Karen Ruzycki.  We have help from local partners like Margaret McGarrity of Byram Township, and engineering students from NJIT who want to help design solutions to the roadkill problem.  A couple reporters came out this week to cover the story and ended up shuttling amphibians, too.  We thank the Sussex County Division of Engineering for issuing us the permit to assemble on their road.  Thanks also to the Byram Police Department for their willingness to provide traffic control and their respect for our project, which I’m sure seems a little unusual.   And that’s just at one location.  Great job, everyone!