Stewardship Programs

Stewardship and Passive Recreation on New Jersey Audubon Society Sanctuaries NJAS maintains stewardship of 34 wildlife sanctuaries.  Following its own advice, NJAS is attempting to actively increase management and habitat restoration on our properties.  All NJAS sanctuaries preserve important habitat for a variety of wildlife species including a number of threatened, endangered and special concern plants and animals.  While some of NJAS sanctuaries remain closed because of the existence of sensitive habitats, most are accessible and offer visitors unique wildlife viewing opportunities.  Currently NJAS offers 49 miles of trails split amongst 10 NJAS sanctuaries and we are developing a passive recreation plan, including a network of trails for other NJAS sanctuaries.  NJAS’s objective is to eventually have trail maps, species lists and a unique features list for 21 of our accessible sanctuaries.  As trail maps are formalized, they will be made available on the NJAS website.  Until then, please feel free to call 908-766-5787 extension 21 with any questions and available trail maps.

Franklin Township Restoration and Passive Recreation Plan

Franklin Township is a remarkable region of New Jersey, with picturesque vistas and a charming farming culture.  Franklin’s remarkable open spaces and the long history of agricultural land use have served to preserve one of the most significant landscapes for farmland wildlife in the State. In 2003, Franklin Township and the New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) entered into a unique partnership to develop both habitat and passive recreation plans for for two of largest open space tracts owned by the township, the Negri-Nepote Native Grasslands Preserve, part of the Middlebush Greenway, and the Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve, part of the Ten Mile Run Greenway.  More recently NJAS began working on a third tract, the Bunker Hill Natural Area, part of the Ten Mile Run Greenway.  NJAS has worked with Franklin Township and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to restore habitat by removing habitat barriers, planting native grasses and wildflowers, and constructing a 2.5 acre wetland. As part of the passive recreation plan, NJAS developed interpretive signs for select locations that provide a brief background of the surrounding area.  NJAS has mapped 11.92 miles of trails that meander through grassland, successional and mature forest habitat and along stream corridors.  In addition, through the hard work of Franklin Township Boy Scouts, NJAS has helped develop, organize and coordinate Eagle Scout projects ranging from trail construction and marking to the building of kiosks and a Barn Swallow structure.  

For more information about this project as well as trail maps and checklists of the Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve, Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve and the Bunker Hill Natural Area, click here.

Atlantic City Airport

From 2004 through early 2006, NJAS initially served as advisor, then as project coordinator over a 290-acre grassland restoration project at Atlantic City Airport.  Over the past two winters, the Grassland Conservation and Management Area at the Atlantic City Airport has undergone shrub removal and native grass restoration across about 200 acres of the 300 acres site.  This restoration is designed to enhance habitat for breeding grassland birds.  However, an equally important restoration will commence at the airport this fall.  This restoration will create habitat for the frosted elfin butterfly (Callophrys irus).

The frosted elfin is a NJ state threatened butterfly species.  It is found in small populations from the eastern seaboard to the Mississippi River.  However, New Jersey is globally important for this species because our state holds one of the largest single populations.  That population is at the Atlantic City Airport.  According to the NJ State Frosted Elfin Management Plan, some entomologists consider this the best site worldwide for frosted elfin butterflies.

Wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) is the host plant of frosted elfin.  As such, its presence is critical to the survival of the species.  Adults lay eggs on wild indigo and the hatched caterpillars feed on the plant until metamorphosis.  To help create more breeding habitat for these butterflies, approximately 11,000 indigo individuals will be planted at the Atlantic City Airport over the next year.  The wild indigo will be interspersed with important nectar plants like lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium vacillans) and staggerbush (Lyonia mariana).  The NJAS Conservation and Stewardship Program looks forward to following the progress of this restoration and reporting on how the frost elfin populations respond to this increase in host plants.

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