Ecological Preserve – Page 18 – Rutgers University Ecological Preserve Located on Livingston Campus

New gateway kiosk dedicated

November 10, 2014 RU Eco Preserve

Kiosk designer, Brian Curry, inspecting the completed Kontos kiosk To foster greater connections between the EcoPreserve and adjacent Livingston Campus, a new set of trails and gateway kiosk linking to the Rockafeller Road-Avenue E Roundabout were developed in 2013-2014. The newly completed gateway kiosk is dedicated to the memory of Charlie Kontos, Jr. At the time of his death in 2010, Charlie was in the process of completing the doctoral program at Rutgers in the Department of Ecology, Evolution…

American eels in Buell Brook

October 9, 2014 RU Eco Preserve

Students in the Principles of Natural Resource Management class were doing stream surveys on October 7, 2014 and found this foot long American eel (Anguilla rostrata) (dead) in a pool along Buell Brook. Eels have a fascinating life history that connect the EcoPreserve to the distant waters of the Sargasso Sea. Adult eels leave the US coast to swim out to the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda to spawn. The young hatch and move north with the help of the prevailing…

Trail crew hard at work over summer

August 26, 2014 RU Eco Preserve

The 2014 summer trail/land stewards crew has been hard at work maintaining and upgrading the trails in the EcoPreserve this summer. Highlights include improvement of the boardwalk on the Green Trail, trail bed filling/chipping, and the construction of a new bridge on the Blue Trail. The crew has also assisted in the construction of the new trailhead kiosk off of the Livingston Campus Avenue E/Rockafeller Road roundabout.

Tree Swallows are nesting

May 28, 2014 RU Eco Preserve

In the fall of 2013, Principles of Natural Resource Management students Sara Morris-Marano, Danielle Podmayersky, Brittney Chrans and Noha Haggag built and installed 6 tree swallow boxes around the newly constructed stormwater detention basin/wetlands adjacent to Avenue E on Livingston Campus. Four of the 6 boxes are now occupied with the swallows swooping back and forth across the wetlands snatching up insects to feed their young. Tree swallows have a violet-green back, white underside with a slightly forked tail.