Spring News!

As our 2007 season is about to get underway we look forward to a great season. Many of last year's groups are returning. In addition we have many new groups for what is shaping up to be our busiest year yet. Here are some of the things which have been, or are about to happen this Spring.

Hopefully some of you will be joining us for our "Open the House" on May 14 and 14 (see previous entry and contact Jim 609 658-7965) We are planning to get some work done cleaning the house and getting out equipment but we will have some fun too. Come on out to Sedge!

We have a whole crop of new interns. Sherry Martin, who volunteered at Sedge last fall, is graduating from MATES and will be starting as a freshman at Cornell after the summer. Two students will be coming to us from Richard Stockton College. Samantha Tennick is a sophomore marine bio. major and Ryan Ballou is getting his degree in Environmental Science. Erin Denniston is presently a Watershed Ambassador working at the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson. In addition, Alton Hallgreen who is graduating this May with a Bachelor of Biological Science from Rowan University, will be spending a majority of his time working with the aquaculture program both at Sedge and other sites around Barnegat Bay.

Several weeks ago Jim accompanied by Ryan and Alton paddled out to Sedge. The tide was low and the water was blown out of the bay. It was evident that shifting sand over the winter will make it even more difficult to get to the island by pontoon boat at low tide. Low water made it easier for us to see the winter accumulation of sand and decaying plant material on the predator screens covering the 600,000 baby (8-10 mm) clams we planted last fall. Cleaning the screens proved far more difficult than we imagined. It took almost five hours of hard, back breaking work lifting and clearing the six screens. We noted that the screens are providing habitat for shrimp, blue and green crabs, sea squirts, sea stars and millions of tiny blue mussels.

As we were eating lunch we checked out the Peregrine Falcons who seem to be adapting quite nicely to their new house on the hacking tower. We also noted that the osperey are back and at least one pair was setting up its nest in preparation for the breeding season. When we took a quick walk around the island we noted that a fox had dug in the Diamond Backed Terrapin nest plots on the west side of the house. Hopefully the fox didn't get all the eggs.