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Important Bird and Birding Areas
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Upper Freehold Grasslands
Monmouth CountyCoordinates: N 40.12897
W 74.54105
Piedmont Plains: New England / Mid-Atlantic CoastArea: 20,551 Acres Habitat: Grassland, deciduous woods, shrub-scrub, riparian habitatSite Description: Upper Freehold Grasslands is a matrix of municipally and privately-owned grassland, agricultural land, deciduous forest, scrub-shrub and riparian habitat. It includes portions of the 1231 acre Crosswicks Creek Greenway and the surrounding farmland of Upper Freehold Township.
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| Eastern Towhee | Jim Gilbert |
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Birds: This site provides exceptional scrub-shrub habitat for the Northern Bobwhite, Field Sparrow, Eastern Wood-Pewee and American Kestrel. Breeding grassland birds include t state-threatened Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Grasshopper Sparrows, and Savannah Sparrows.Conservation: Rapidly expanding residential development, succession of fields to forest and non-compatible agriculture practices threaten the habitats of the Upper Freehold Grasslands. Changing agricultural practices such as intensive row cropping provide little to no benefit to wildlife. Outreach to adjacent farmers and landowners should promote the various state and federal incentive programs that compensate landowners for grassland restoration or management of hay fields for increased productivity of grassland birds. Grassland restoration can also reduce the impacts of agricultural runoff into Crosswicks Creek. Existing scrub-shrub and grassland habitat should be managed to prevent forest encroachment. More than 1900 acres of farmland in the Crosswicks Creek Greenway stream have been permanently preserved through State and Monmouth County Farmland Preservation Programs. Many of these parcels are currently managed for grassland birds and small mammals. Overabundant deer populations on county-owned parcels are controlled through Monmouth County’s Deer Management Program.Additional Information: Site Report
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| Scrub-shrub habitat | John Parke |
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