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Nice photo. The cranberry bogs in the background caught my eye as well.

My season has actually just wound down. I've spent a few late winter weekends catching small native brookies from a few semi-secret brooks I'm familiar with and some holdovers from the bigger streams. Once the crowds of April hit the streams I lay off for a month or so. Opening day used to be a...

Many of our rarest species require disturbed areas. Most of us are more familiar with those found in wetlands, but the principle applies to some upland species as well. Pickering's morning glory is a good example of an endangered species that finds ideal habitat in old sandpits or other...

Most features of loblolly resemble those of pitch pine more than they do white, including the needle count. Unless it's a large specimen that catches my eye, I imagine I normally walk right by many of them, dismissing them as a pitch pines. The needles are are much longer on the loblolly...

Looks like a great trip. By coincidence, I had some time to kill yesterday morning in Manahawkin and wound up in some of those same woods. I didn't find anything as exciting as that millstone but did find two pretty old looking cellar holes with remnants of their sandstone foundations. Scattered...

I liked the photo of the men cooking muskrats in that link. Anyone else's stomach grumbling? :)

It doesn't look like a typical railroad spike to me, but it could still be RR-related, perhaps a fastener used on telegraph or telephone poles that ran along the line. How long is it? A spike would be about six inches or so and square in cross section. If it's round in cross section, the bolts...

I haven't picked up an issue in years. The problem seemed to be that they accepted articles and letters from anyone, with zero checking for truth or accuracy. What little value I did find in the magazine was the occasional exposure to a site new to me, even if the associated information was...

I had a chance to dig out the map I referenced today. While I had Ridley Field mentioned in my notes on the site, I was mistaken in that it was not labeled as such on the map. Unfortunately I was not so diligent in noting sources in my own notes back then as I am now, so while I got the...

Very neat. Some of them have the feel of old hand-colored linen postcards

I have a USGS topo map at work with handwritten notes on it based on information gathered from Elizabeth Morgan and Cliff Frazee years ago. There is a place called Ridley Field noted on the map in this vicinity which, according to Cliff, was a black hamlet. Unfortunately, I've never been able to...

Go ahead and use the name if you like it Al. Bob is absolutely correct. Unless you misidentify the species, the only name without leeway is the scientific one. I always call spotted wintergreen striped wintergreen, even though most references use the former name. But the leaves are almost always...

While I still have no desire to maintain a personal page I have recently been struck by the impact these sites can have. The owner of PineyPower.com recently publicized several hikes and trips offered by the Ocean County Parks Department on her Facebook page, since social networking sites are...

I had hoped to attend myself, but as usual on weekends, I was working, leading a hike in the Ramapo Mountains. But then again, that was fun too :).

I really love the way the green of the sphagnum moss pops out at you in the fourth pic. That one's worthy of being printed as a poster. And what's with all the labs on this site? Is owning one a requirement? If so, I'm covered, having a black and a yellow. I'd love to round out the group with a...

Ditto. As someone born and raised in Paterson, Whitesbog is one of the last places where I would be concerned for my safety.

I ran a tree service for a few years and the part of it I miss the least is cutting down beautiful trees for poor reasons. I did take satisfaction in occasionally convincing a customer that their problem might be better addressed by another measure, such as pruning, even if I made less money on...

Few management strategies are ever frozen in place. They all evolve. When prescribed burning was first implemented the planning and approval process Vollie described did not exist, and there is nothing carved in stone saying that the present procedures cannot be modified or improved. Moves...

Bob, without addressing the planning or whatever natural or cultural resources may or may not be affected by the burning at this particular site I can speak for the methods, since we do burns at our park and others using county staff. The lines need to be re-plowed before each and every burn...

Looks like a moth cocoon. Maybe a Cecropia Moth?