Ecological Preserve

Was perusing the most recent download of trail usage numbers for the EcoPreserve Green Trail entrance on Avenue E across from the Livingston Quads. The usage numbers track the Rutgers University campus calendar quite closely: upwards of 300 people weekly during the fall, brief dip during Thanksgiving break, then a longer dip during winter break and then back up again in spring before a prolonged dip during the summer months. The peak usage was 384 people during the week of…

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X-country skiing in the EcoPreserve this past weekend, I came across scores of holes dug by gray squirrels down through the snow-cover to the leaf litter to recover acorns and nuts buried this past autumn. I  also came across this little evidence of squirrelly frustration. Seems that a gray squirrel had buried a hickory nut in anticipation of digging it up for a mid-winter snack. Unfortunately, the nut froze solid into the ground and the squirrel tried in vain to…

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A crew of students heading back to the trailhead after an afternoon of trailwork helping to construct a new trail to open up the western portion of the EcoPreserve to walking, biking, snowshoeing and x-country skiing.

Student volunteers came out to help spruce up the Livingston Campus trailhead kiosk area. New gravel was spread and woodchips raked to make a path down to the Ave E Roundabout.