Ridge and Valley Charter School

April 2, 2007

Seven parents and trustees accompanied nine students to Sedge Island for the weekend. Although these are by far the youngest students who come to Sedge (they range in age from four to fourteen) they are some of the most conservation minded. They are comfortable in the outdoors no matter what the weather because many of their school classes are taught outside. They have studied the water cycle and food webs. They all recycle and compost at school and at home.

As a result of the conservation knowledge base, activities at Sedge focus on the specifics of the salt marsh environment. As we kayaked through the mosquito ditches between the osprey nests and the peregrine falcon hacking tower, we discussed the negative impact caused by spraying DDT on the marsh and the success of the efforts by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife to bring back these threatened and endangered species. One of the parents is the manager of the community based gardening program at Genesis Farm. He especially enjoyed making comparisons between his land farming in Warren County and our aquaculture program at Sedge.

Rutgers University Human Ecology Class

April 19- 21, 2007

Dr. Bonnie McKay brought students from her Human Ecology Class in April to become the first group to be in residence in 2007. Many of the students are majoring in environmental policy. As a result we had some interesting discussions as to how both government and non-government organizations could be involved in issues regarding wildlife and other conservation issues. Dr. Roger Locandro, former Dean of Students at Cook College, got things started as he led a discussion on Friday night.

The next morning we boarded the kayaks and paddled through the marshes that had been completely submerged during the big northeaster that hit the state several days earlier. We noted that the pair of peregrine falcons appear to be guarding eggs in their new “igloo” house and osprey are setting up their nests on almost all of the platforms. We stopped for lunch at one of the last remaining “shacks” on the islands in the Marine Conservation Zone. As we ate we watched several types of migratory warblers resting in the trees around the house. In the afternoon we returned to the house and got involved in a variety of the usual activities including clamming, and fishing. On his first cast one of the students caught the first fish of the season, a twenty-four inch striped bass.

On Saturday we celebrated Earth Day. We took a hike along the ocean beach to Barnegat Inlet. On this, the warmest day of the year, we enjoyed our walk along the jetty to the Army Corps of Engineers Dike. We found that this last northeaster has eroded the dike even more to a point where much of the sand has blown back into the inlet and the geo-tube is broken in several places. These observations led to more discussions of environmental policy.

One member of the class had been a professional photographer. Using his digital camera he took many pictures. If he sends a disc of his pictures as promised we will post them on this site.

Sedge "Open House"

I write this sitting in my “office” (desk in the corner of my bedroom) looking out over the Bay in South Seaside Park. This is the height of the April 2007 northeaster. The wind is “blowing like stink” (about 30 kts with gusts to 40) Most of the rain passed us to the north so our streets are only moderately flooded. It snowed some a little while ago but has now changed over to rain. Our beach was getting eroded last night at high when the wind was strong NE but now it has switched to NW so the ocean is calm while the waves are so high in the bay the wild wind blown white water it looks like the ocean did yesterday.

Ten members of Friends of Sedge, including three new interns, worked all day Saturday to get everything ready for our first group (Students from Rutgers will be arriving Thursday night.) Before leaving the dock at Island Beach, we did some work in the parking lot to replace some of the fill eroded away by the winter storms. (There is more work to be done here as much of the sand has moved into the boat slip making it difficult if not impossible to get the pontoon boat in at low tide.)

Once we got to the island we quickly set about working on many projects. We turned on the hot water and the stove. We washed all the dishes and replaced them in clean closets. We took all the kayaks out of the boat house and swept the floor. We launched the jon boat, put on the outboard and the interns had their first lesson in small boat handling.

After lunch we went to work on the shellfish. We checked the six predator screens covering the 600,000 10mm clams on the shellfish lease to the west of the house. They are still in place but are beginning to get fouled even though we cleaned them three weeks ago. Then we turned our attention to the shellfish at the dock. We scrubbed 8 bags of oysters removing thousands of 1 MM blue mussels growing on the outside and blocking water flow. We separated some of the oysters into additional bags to avoid over crowding. We cleaned the Taylor Float. We were disappointed to find that about 40% of one bag of 20mm clams has died- perhaps as a result of the poor circulation of water due to fouling by mussels, algae, and other organisms. But when you consider mortality in the wild is more like 95% we are not doing too badly.

Although we had intended to spend the night, the threat of the pending storm made leaving seem like a good idea. Even though the tide was blown out and we had to walk to pull the pontoon boat over the sand bar, this was a wise choice. We are now in the middle of a major storm and, had we waited, we would have been forced to stay on the island until it blew itself out. As it was we came back to my house and made clam chowder. GREAT IDEA!

Thank you so much to all the members of FOS , both new and experienced. We would not be able to run our programs if it were not for your help. Jim

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.

McLAIN HOUSE SPRING CLEANING

Join us on April 14 and 15
Paddle out or be picked up on the pontoon boat at 9AM, 1PM or 5PM

RSVP: Jim 609 658-7965 for details and to coordinate food

Other news,

Several weeks ago I drove through IBSP to the Sedge dock. It was sunny and warm in the car but the cold wind out of the northwest made it uncomfortable standing on the shore. The ice, which has been on the bay for the past month was breaking up, but the wind was pushing it into the shore. Still, the ice was not packing together too much so it looks like the dock will not get damaged as it did in past years. From a distance of 1.2 miles the house looks fine.

The ice is now gone and I plan to paddle out to Sedge in the near future. I hope to be joined by some members of the Jersey Shore Sea Kayak Association. If we can get out we will work on our osprey nest rehabilitation project. We will be re-numbering the nests, putting up perch poles and shoring up any platforms that are leaning or in need of repairs. We must do this fairly soon as the males will be returning by the middle of March and we don’t want to disturb the nest preparation.

We already have many bookings for the 2007 season. June, July and August are almost completely full. Weekends in April, May, September and October are pretty busy too. Although Katina will not be back as a regular staff member, she has promised to be at Sedge as much as possible given her schedule of teaching and traveling. Brett Ciccotelli, last year’s intern from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, will be assuming the responsibilities of Assistant Program Manager. Our four new interns will be joining us at Sedge on the weekend of April 14 and 15 for our house cleaning. They are a great group with plenty of enthusiasm and a variety of experience.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Jim

Mid-Winter News

Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center is in a state of semi-hibernation. Late fall Tony and Jackie Raniero loaded up their car and drove to their six-month home in Florida. Several weeks later after we said good-bye to the last group at Sedge, employees from Fish and Wildlife came to the island to shut things down. They winterized the buildings by draining pipes, turning off the gas, and removing the solar inverter to put into storage. Kayaks and small boats were stored in the boathouse. I took the pontoon boat over to the marina where it was hauled out, cleaned up, and covered.

The official Sedge visitor season was over but we continue to have things to do. The warm temperatures in the late fall and early winter made it comfortable to paddle out to the island. On two occasions some members of the Jersey Shore Sea Kayak Association and I spent the better part of two days checking all thirty osprey platforms. We made careful notes and developed a plan to strengthen some of the poles that support the higher nests. On my last paddle out to check the house in early January, I was pleased to discover that buildings were ok and so were the shellfish that are in bags hanging from the dock. I was also please to find some beautiful green parsley growing n Jackie’s garden (great salad that night!)

One of my biggest disappointments of the year came when Katina told me that she would not be working at Sedge in 2007. Those of you who have spent time with her during the past two summers know that she is a woman who is always looking for new challenges. Her plans include a major trip around the world followed by law school. But Katina is not abandoning us completely. Before she leaves on her trip, she will bring a group of teachers from Cranford High School to Sedge for a long weekend. And, if she has time she will volunteer with several groups in the spring. All of us who have had the good fortune to spend time with Katina will miss her greatly. We wish her well wherever she is. GOOD LUCK, KATINA!!

The good news is that Brett Ciccotelli will be taking Katina’s place. Many of you will remember Brett as one of four interns who volunteered last summer during the months of June and July. Brett grew up near Camden, NJ and is presently majoring in environmental education at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. When he is not studying, Brett leads hikes and canoe expeditions with professors and classmates. Brett’s friendly outgoing personality coupled with his knowledge and experience in natural areas will make him an outstanding assistant program director at the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center in the summer of 2007.

We are well into plans for the coming season. Many groups have booked dates and our calendar for June, July and August is almost full. We plan to have four interns working at Sedge again this summer. It is likely that two will be recent graduates from the MATES program, both of whom volunteered last summer. We will continue to work with various researchers on projects which will include: diamond backed terrapin nesting patterns, the effect of human interference on American oyster catchers, mercury content in bluefish, and water quality monitoring. With 600,000 baby clams and 100,000 oysters holding over from last year and the prospect of doubling that number in 2007, we will again be a major player in the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Project. But, and perhaps most important- We will have a second Clivus Multrum composting toilet.