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Author: RU Eco Preserve

HS Students study how fallen trees change EcoPreserve habitat

HS Students study how fallen trees change EcoPreserve habitat

July 10. As part of the 4H Summer Science Program, the EcoPreserve hosted nearly 20 high school students for a day of GIS mapping of fallen trees impacted by Superstorm Sandy. The objective was to teach the students how geographic information and global positioning system technology could be used in a hands-on ecological field study. Students recorded the type, size and geocoordinate location of the fallen trees to add to the database that Principles of Natural Resource Management students started…

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Trails Work Day April 26 1-5pm

Trails Work Day April 26 1-5pm

To Celebrate Earth Week a Trails Work Day was held on Friday April 26 1-5PM 15 Students from the Rutgers Naturalist and the Rutgers Outdoors Clubs participated. We spread wood chip mulch made from a number of the Hurricane Sandy downed trees that were cleared from the trails back in January. Turning lemons into lemonade.

Spring Wildflowers blooming

Spring Wildflowers blooming

Cutleaved Toothwort blooming in Kilmer Woods A number of spring wildflowers are starting to emerge from the leaf litter and bloom in the mid-Spring sun. The most common species in Kilmer Wood by far is the spring beauty, Claytonia virginica.   Another species that is blooming right now is the cutleaved toothwort, Dentaria laciniata (pictured above). An alternative name for this plant is the pepperroot as the roots are purported to have a peppery taste.  The speckled foliage of the trout lily,…

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Piecing together the history of Kilmer Woods

Piecing together the history of Kilmer Woods

As recounted in my December 2012 posting, Hurricane Sandy blew over a number of large trees in the Kilmer Woods section of the EcoPreserve. However, no ill wind goes unstudied. In order to clear the trails of downed trees, we had to chainsaw a number of large red, white and black oak trunks. We recently went back to cut “cookies” from a several of these downed boles or stumps to be able to age the trees and fill in some…

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