NJ Kayak

June 15- June 17, 2007

Bottom line—these people like to kayak! and kayak they did. Half the group paddled across the bay from the town of Barnegat while the others came form IBSP. As always this group was well feed—it took 45 minutes to load the sedge shuttle with all their food. The first evening the group paddled to the dike and saw that one of the few remaining geo-tubes had completed collapsed On the way back, some of the group clammed their way through the marsh. Near the falcon hacking tower they were treated to some aerial maneuvers when the two adult falcons attached a great blue heron.

Bright and early the next morning the group set out on a long paddle to Viking Village on Long Beach Island. The group of 19 sea kayaks worked their way across the channels, around heavy boat traffic, and against strong out going tides. In Viking Village the group paddled past many moored commercial scallop boats and met the fleet’s mechanic, who told the group the ins and outs of the scallop business. When they returned, five kayak instructors from NJ Kayak worked on rescue and paddle skills with the group.

Exhausted form the previous day’s paddle Sunday morning was spent working on kayak rolls, snorkeling, paddling around the calm waters near the Sedge house, and cleaning bags of oysters. After lunch this group had one more short paddle trip left in them—to the dock at IBSP.

Brett Chicotelli

Urban Trekkers

June 11- June 13

Traveling across the state form Camden for a second year in a row, this group was a blast. The Littoral Society of New Jersey organized and sponsored the Urban Trekkers for this year’s trip to Sedge. Staff from the Littoral Society complemented the sedge staff and provided the four high school students with ample resources for their individual presentations (presented the last day).

After claming in the Bahamas (with little luck), the group settled down to watch the sun set and ended up seeing an amazing rainbow grow over Island Beach State Park. This was followed by a great night of fishing. For many of the group these were the first fish they had ever caught.

On the following morning we paddled to the dike and rescued more horse crabs from the collapsing geo-tubes. After eating lunch on the rocks across from Old Barney, we paddled back through the Sea Dog Trail and Horse foot Slough to avoid some of the increasing strong northeastern winds. To many of the group’s dismay (and other’s delight) we needed to carry our boats through knee-deep detritus. Sadly two shoes were lost. Back at the house garden hose showers were followed by seining and snorkeling. Throughout the trip the students spent their free time researching for their reports. Topics included; terrapins, clams, marsh botany, and underwater life.

Early the third morning the biggest fish of the trip was caught—a 21-½ inch stripper. This earned its fisherperson a tee shirt from the Littoral Society. After presenting reports based on research and field experiences, the Urban Trekkers gave Sedge an Ink Berry Holly, a native shrub. They planted it on the east side of the boathouse. Foul weather chased this awesome group off Sedge before lunch. See you next year Trekkers!

Brett Chicotelli

Cranford High School Teachers

June 8- June 10

Katina, former Sedge staff member and environmental science teacher at Cranford High School, lead a small group of Cranford teachers and staff members to Sedge for a weekend in the marsh.

After sampling water quality off the dock, the islands population grew as a small wave of diamond back terrapins came ashore to nest. The group learned how dangerous boat props are to terrapins, one of the nesting females had a wide gash across her back.

After working on several terrapins the group headed to the dike. On the way there Sam, one of Sedge’s great new interns, spotted a red fox in the marsh. At the dike the group saw the damage that some of the year’s northeast storms had inflicted on the dike. Many of the large geotubes were flattened and now acted as nets that trapped horseshoe crabs as the tide receded. Working together the group freed the crabs and set them out in the surf. Later in the day John Wnek came to Sedge and transplanted terrapins eggs for his nesting study. The math teacher in the group was very excited when John started reading off egg measurements.

Before cleaning up the house and heading off island the group went for a hike and clean up around the perimeter trail. Aside from dunkin’ donuts coffee cups and plastic bags in the wrack line there was also ash and charcoal—signs of the recent pinelands forest fires.

Brett Chicotelli

St. Benedicts School

June 4-6,2007

In spite of the prediction of three days of bad weather, the 6th and 7th grade girls from Lincroft braved the elements and came to Sedge. While they were prepared for the worst possible conditions, they were pleasantly surprised when the only rain to fall was in a brief shower during their last night on the island.

Fishing turned out to be one of the most popular activities. Although the fish were not biting, they kept on trying. Patience paid off as the girl who caught the only fish was the one who spent the most time with her hook in the water.

Everyone enjoyed kayaking so much on the first day that they decided to go on an all day expedition. They paddled to the inlet with no trouble. They had lunch on the beach and took a quick wade in the ocean. Their paddle back to the house via the Horse Foot Slough was uneventful until just north of Pete McLain’s house. The increasingly strong wind (gusting to 25kts) pushed many of the kayaks away from the landing at Sedge that was then only 200 yards away. The girls and three teachers were struggling to make headway against the wind so Jim and Ryan went for the small power boat and towed in several boats. Although the girls were frightened, over half the group stated that kayaking was the best thing that they did.

MATES with Mr. Sprague

June 6-8,2007

Mr. Sprague’s groups did the same activities as Mr. Warner’s group the previous week. But, they were treated to the experience of observing two different scientists working on research projects. Mr. Wnek demonstrated how to tag Diamond Backed Terrapins by inserting a microchip into the body cavity of an old, three legged female, which had crawled into Tony’s shed the day before. As the students were helping record measurements, they were able to watch two biologists from the Division of Fish and Wildlife climb the Peregrine Falcon hacking tower to check on the three chicks in the nest. This was somewhat dangerous as the adult falcons made several passes at the biologists while they were working.

For Jim the highlight of the week came later when he was standing on the marsh with Mr. Sprague’s second group. The students were watching two falcons were sitting on the platform supporting the nest box. They flew off together and began to follow a barn swallow. For the next two minutes these falcons took turns diving at the bird. Finally as the swallow grew tired, one of the falcons went into a short stoop and knocked the swallow to the ground. A short time later both falcons returned to the nest. One carried the swallow and fed it to the chicks. While this sighting seemed some-what gruesome to some, all the students appreciated the fact survival for birds-of-prey means death for other animals.

MATES : 5-30-07 to 6-1-07

Future principal, Allison Carroll and teacher Dave Warner, brought a group of MATES students to Sedge. We were also lucky to have the Superintendent Bill Hooy and the Ocean County Vocational Schools’ business manager join us for part of the day on May 31st. We went kayaking through the salt marsh, looked at the different species of birds flying by, and discussed the history of the Sedge islands and the people who live in the three remaining “shacks” on the islands. We also stopped at the “Bahamas” and the students learned how to clam with their feet and they also identified some of the local fauna. Back at the house we had some lunch and then the students did bird identifications in their journals. The students also had the opportunity to go snorkeling in the water, outside the front of the house. In addition, fishing, claming, seining, and helping John Wnek with his turtle plots also took up part of the day. Next, we had dinner and then the students did the Balance of Nature, which they had their own unique way of solving.

The next morning we got up early, fished and took the six-person canoe out. The students also cleaned their rooms very thoroughly and left June 1st to finish the rest of the school day.

Sedge Intern,
Samantha Tennick