Spotlights

Spend the morning with experienced birder Bob Leifeste and Rancocas naturalist Mary Belko looking for shorebirds staging along the beaches of Brigantine Island. Large flocks can be seen sometimes at this time of year. 

Queen Nur of New Jersey presents a collection of biographic vignettes highlighting outspoken African American women of the 19th Century, the period connecting the end of the American Revolution to the opening of the Wallace House as a museum 125 years ago. The Voices of Courage featured include Sojourner Truth, the activist embodying the Afro-Dutch heritage of old New Netherland in New York and New Jersey, alongside Harriet Tubman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Mary McCleod Bethune. This one-woman performance explores themes of courage and fortitude while revealing each heroine’s oratory style and the fashion of the period.

Take a moment to really look at one of your local streams. At first glance, it may look completely fine. But to the trained eye, it could be a very different situation. How can you tell? This FREE, one-morning/two-part training session will show you how to gain a better understanding of stream health!

Come stroll with local herbalist Reid Giacomarra as we look for native and non-native medicinal & edible plants of late summer! 

New Jersey is already experiencing severe flooding, especially in low-lying and vulnerable parts of the State. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and widespread, and development compounds the volume of stormwater runoff, causing strains and failures of water infrastructure, such as combined sewer overflows into city streets and homes. It is imperative that we take action to protect our infrastructure, environment and people. This webinar will help equip municipal employees and local leaders with the knowledge and resources to mitigate flooding by utilizing stormwater utilities and green infrastructure.

With support from the Climate Preparedness and Land Restoration Grant, Groundwork Elizabeth is collaborating with the City government and community groups to plant four microforests to address climate risks in formerly redlined neighborhoods and brownfield areas. 

The Belleville Public Library is so excited to welcome Lourdes Osorio for live presentation. A passionate gardener for close to 30 years, Lourdes enjoys gardening not only for beauty but to provide an eco-friendly sanctuary for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. 

Do you know about one of the oldest human-made structures in the Newark metropolitan area? Built by the Lenape people, the Passaic Fish Weir Complex was a series of at least sixteen low dams that once stretched over the lower twenty miles of the Passaic River to trap large quantities of shad fish. The weirs were in active use for millennia as well as through the early colonial time period. 

On July 26, 2022 the Associated Humane Societies welcomed four new animals, two tigers and two lions, to the Popcorn Park Animal Refuge, commemorating the 45th Anniversary of providing sanctuary for exotics, wildlife, and farm animals in need.

Join experts from the North American Butterfly Association as we walk the meadows of Bamboo Brook in search of late summer butterfly species!

Founded in 2014 by Jeff Quattrone, Library Seed Bank (LSB) changed the dynamics of free and open access to seeds by the public when he brought the concept of seed libraries to the southern New Jersey area. Seed libraries are collections of open-pollinated and heirloom seeds that are housed at public libraries, or any other public-facing entity. The seed packages are available for free to the public. 

Learn the basics of harvesting and germinating seeds! Jessica Miller, the founder of the Flagship Native Seed Library, will be sharing strategies for seed saving.

Join Darlene Nowak in checking out the many delightful flowers and ferns in the shady wooded wildflower garden!

Fascinated by fungi? Explore the local forest for gilled, pored, ridged, and toothed mushrooms with
naturalist David Alexander. We’ll learn their anatomy and create whimsical, yet realistic air-dry clay replicas of what we find. 

Join a unique after hours walk to observe a favorite glowing summer insect, fireflies in their natural habitat! Discover the unusual characteristics of fireflies such as bioluminescence and why dark skies are a natural resource for many nocturnal critters.

While Spotted Lanternflies are not harmful to humans, they can greatly impact crops, trees, and quality of life in areas they infest. Join us to learn more about the Spotted Lanternfly and its damaging effects on the local environment.

The EPA recently warned that toxic ‘forever chemicals' used to make Teflon and many other consumer products are as much as 17,500 times more toxic than previously known.

Jumpstart a foraging habit for your soups, stews, salads, pestos and fritters! Your program leader, Joanne White, will lead you on a hike to discuss and take photos of whatever is available in woods and meadow-like areas. 

Local Historian Linda Barth, a longtime canal expert, will share highlights and details about the Delaware and Raritan (D&R) Canal in this hybrid virtual and in-person event. 

The Tenafly Nature Preserve is under invasion and we need help from adults, teenagers, and families! A variety of non-native plants have been encroaching into our forest causing harm to native plants and reducing our biodiversity. These various plants referred to as invasive species can cause myriad damage if left unchecked, from toxifying soil to shading out native plants.  For the forest ecosystem to continue functioning these invaders must be removed. 

Learn how to enhance your property’s landscaping for wildlife by creating a wildflower meadow with this free hourlong webinar! Join us as we incorporate these basic components into our landscaping practices, resulting in a beautiful and healthy Jersey-friendly Yard.

Welcome to the Kate Gorrie Butterfly House Seasonal Opening! Come join Watershed Educators for the first Butterfly House Tour of the Season. Learn about the plants in the butterfly house and the lifecycle of butterflies. Play the Monarch Migration Game and try to catch butterflies around the retention pond with nets.

Our Land, Our Stories, a collaborative project with Rutgers University, Department of Landscape Architecture and the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, is a multimedia project for environmental justice advocacy and curriculum development for Native American history and contemporary Indigenous land relations.  

The NY/NJ Baykeeper is currently accepting donations of used, unwanted or broken hockey sticks to build habitat units for their new oyster gardening program! 

Come learn about horseshoe crabs and help us tag these fascinating living fossils!