Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission

Spring is a great time to go out at night and look for moths. Moths are a diverse group flying insects, they are an important part of the eco-system, and many are as beautiful as their relatives, the butterflies. Seldom seen since they fly mostly at night, you can ovserve moths at Friends' Moth Nights taking place in East Brunswick parks, and at other moth parties in the area. 

Saturday May 26, 2012 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM- Planisboro Preserve is hosting a MOTH BALL. The Preserve has a diversity of habitats that are perfect for moths.  Specialized lighting equipment will be used to attract them.  Click for more information

Saturday, June 2, 8:30PM -11:00PM - The Friends invite you to the first Moth Night of 2012.  Meet us at Dallenback Lake [map], behind the Youth Center.  We will use several methods to see what is flying; an extremely bright 175 watt Entomology Mercury Vapor Light, UV or black light and a sweet fermented mixture painted on tree trunks. 

We will walk around the in the woods, so please wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight.                       Please check the website for updates! If the weather forecast is not  favorable we will reschedule.

See photos from past Moth Nights on the Friends' Gallery page.

Photo: Todd J. Dreyer

Join us for a Green Option presentation on Tuesday May 15, 2012 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

East Brunswick Public Library  

Dr. Stephanie Murphy, Director, Rutgers Soil Testing Laboratory Rutgers University, will talk about the impotace of good soil for growing a successful garden.

Free and open to all.

On Thursday night, the Friendsof the East Brunswick Environmental Commission (www.friendsebec.com)welcomed Seabrooke Leckie to the East Brunswick Cultural Arts Center as part ofher east coast book tour. Seabrooke is the co-author of the amazing newPeterson Field Guide to the Moths of Eastern North America and this was heronly book tour stop in New Jersey. The Moth Field Guide has been long-awaitedand is certain to be a major force in generating a long-overdue interest inmoths. In the past century there have really only been four major field guidesto the moths of the eastern United States and the new Peterson Field Guide is avast improvement upon all of them. It belongs on the bookshelf of anyoneinterested in moths or nature. 

The evening began with an interesting presentation on moths by Seabrooke,followed by a book signing and then Seabrooke co-hosted a moth night event withthe Friends in the wildflower meadow behind the Cultural Arts Center. Therewere a variety of moth light setups to attract moths including Mercury Vaporand Ultraviolet blacklights. Despite the unseasonably cold temperatures, quitea few interesting moths flew into the light setups for everyone to see.Seabrooke identified each moth that was attracted to the lights and their wereample opportunities to photograph the moths as well. People came from near andfar for the event, including from Sussex and Bergen Counties. It was a specialnight and highly enjoyable.

Seabrooke is a co-sponsor of National Moth Week (www.nationalmothweek.org).National Moth Week was started by the Friends as an off-shoot of our highlysuccessful and award-winning local moth night events that we've been runningfor the past 6 years. National Moth Week now has more than 150 locations andevents in 31 states and six countries. The National Moth Week website is filledwith information about moth week events and moths. Consider participating inNational Moth Week this summer (July 23-29) and discover the incredible worldof moths. Also, join the Friends for our regular moth nights in our local parksduring the summer. Details and dates are on the Friends website at www.friendsebec.com.

Moths photo credit: Todd J. Dreyer

Moth Night with Seabrooke Leckie - co-author of the New Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America, tonight at 8pm, at the EB Cultural Arts Center.  This will be Seabrooke's only stop in NJ during her book tour.

click for more information 

A presentation will be followed by outdoor moth watching.  The weather looks good for mothing!

The field guide will be availble for purchase at a discounted price. Cash and checks only (make checks to: Friends EBEC).

“Catch the Geocache,” a Blue Ribbon Grant awarded to Science Supervisor Trudy At-kins, certainly enhanced this years Grade 6 trips to Fairview Lake YMCA camp. Geocaching is a family-friendly, outdoor activity that uses basic navigational skills to hunt and hopefully find a cached object. Using hand held Global Position-ing Systems (GPS), students worked in teams, utilizing problem solving skills to locate a hidden geocache.

Rutgers CooperativeExtension of Middlesex County

May 2012- Calendar of Events

Unless otherwise noted, thefollowing events take place at the

EARTH Center, in Davidson’s Mill Pond Park 42 Riva Ave. North Brunswick, NJ.

For more info on any programcontact 732-398-5262.

Get Your Garden StartedDay & Plant Sale   

This Sat., May5   10 - 4 PM CelebrateNational Herb Day

Consult with Master Gardeners, take home fact sheets.

Plants for sale include; heirloom tomatoes, perennials &annuals,

flowering vines, ornamental grasses;  culinary herbs& vegetables for your garden.

Don’t forget you plant wagon.  See you at the EARTH Center,in Davidson’s Mill Pond Park

42 Riva Ave. North Brunswick,NJ.

AttractingBird & Butterflies to Your Yard

Wed., May 9, 6:30 PM

Learn plants & features to make your yard a haven forwinged wildlife.

cost $20 register by May 7 at 732-398-5262

Master Gardeners Day atGiamarese Farm

Sat., May 12  10 am-2 pm  155Fresh Ponds Road, East Brunswick, New Jersey 08816

The Master Gardeners will answer questionsand provide fact sheets.

There will be lectures at 11am and Noon..

Yesterday’s Freecycle event was an incredible success! From the moment we opened at 8am until we closed at 3pm there was a constant stream of cars and people and stuff coming in and being exchanged and kept out of our landfill. Although we don’t have an estimate yet for yesterday, we are certain we exceeded the 29 tons we rescued from the landfill last year.

Many thanks are due to everyone that helped make this second Freecycling event such a success! Thanks to the Youth Council volunteers who helped throughout the day, Thanks to Friends’ members who came to help during the day. Special thanks to Raviv Mor (R.Mor enterprises)for keeping things organized during the event and picking up all that was leftover at the end of day, most of it to be recycled.

With the success once again ofthe event, we are planning on making this a regular program twice a year, once  in the spring and then again in the fall. Look forward to seeing everybodynext time. 

If you are not a Friends member – register and you will getnotification via email.

Here aresome of your comments:

“We enjoyedSunday’s event.  … it was a great day to be out doing something positivefor our environment.  Thank you for the event and all the volunteers.”

“I just wanted to "applaud" the Freecycle event.  It was my first Freecycle event ever and I didn'tknow what to expect.  I managed to gather lots together and made two tripsover to donate.  I was thrilled to see people walking away with stuff Ibrought.  What a great concept:  FREECYCLE. “

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If you have large items that can be recycled (appliances, yard equipment, cars, etc.) - contact R.MOR to arrange a pickup: 1-877-RUBISH2 or throught their website http://www.rmorjunk.com/contact.html.

By Todd J. Dreyer [Friends' member]

While out scouting for insects to photograph a few weeks ago, I had the luck to stumble across one of New Jerseys species of special concern, the Eastern Box Turtle.

Not giving it much thought I snapped a few pictures and went off to look for bugs. When double checking to make sure the ID was correct later that day I found this webpage from Conserve Wildlife NJ.

 http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/tag/eastern-box-turtle/

So next time you see one don't take it home, gather some data and submit a report. Helping a Box Turtle is helping your park system!

The Friends EBEC have new friends... they are the 'Junior Friends of the EBEC', they are young, energetic and want to become environmentally responsible residents of the Earth.

The group's first project  for Earth Day 2012 was to collect plastic bag for recycling, and sneakers to bedonated. They did this at Bowne- Munroe elementary school, with the support of at Mrs.Boley, the Principal.

The kids made posters with facts about plastic bags and the damage they impose on our wildlife andenvironment and put them all around the school.

Mrs. Boley read 'Theo and the Giant Plastic Bag' to the students. Everyone wore green in support of EarthDay on Friday and the children held a trashless lunch on Friday. They compared the amount of garbage bags from Thursday(4) to Fridays ,trashless lunch (1.5) and were shocked to see that with a smalleffort, what a huge difference they made!

They also collected sneakers. They got 4 boxes of sneakers to donate to Nike for their recycle program thatturns old sneakers into playground surfaces.

Thank you 'Junior Friends' – we arelooking forward to hearing about more exciting projects!

More about the new 'Junior FriendsEBEC' coming soon.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped at the Butterfly Park this morning.  Thanks toall of you, the park looks beautiful! There are still a few beds that need weeding and mulching, so expect anemail with a date and a time for another work day.   

Pictures from the work day on the Friends Gallery workday album.

Freecycling event next sunday. Bring stuff... find stuff... meet your friends.... enjoy morning snacks, drinks and hotdogs...

You can bring almost anything - clothes, shoes, kitchen items, tools, toys, furniture....  but please no televisions, computer monitors, paint or any hazardous materials.

Click here for a complete list of items you can bring or find.

Join us tomorrow, Saturday April 21, at Butterfly Park, for weeding and mulching. 8:20-11am.

Butterfly Park is celebrating its 10th year in 2012 and has been maintned beartiful by volounteers all those years.

East Brunswick is sponsoring a shred event at trhe Recycling Center Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Identification will be required.

Read more

I just stumbled on this post. I'm disappointed I wasnt able to post it here sooner, but better late than never. This group was amazing and really helped to make the park look great!

Butterfly Park Service - Dara Monasch

This summer, the Sisters of the Xi Xi Chapter were determined to make a difference in the local community of one of their members, andeventually decided on the hometown of Soror Dara Monasch. Along withseveral friends, the Sisters got together and contacted the localbutterfly park in East Brunswick, NJ, to ask if the park had anyimmediate needs. It was discovered that the entire butterfly park ismaintained solely by the goodwill of Dave Moskowitz and his wife, andthe dedication of any volunteers they can wrangle.

After discovering this, the Sisters and their friends were determined to help and on August 20th, they were able to make this desire into a reality. The Sisters met with Dave and his wife andspent two hours weeding, planting, and gardening to help beautify thepark. The group had a great time completing this project and looksforward to coming back in the future and helping the park again, andhas hopes to increase their level of volunteerism by donating a benchand decorations to the park in the Spring of 2012. Did you miss out on this exciting event? Don’t miss any more! Contact our Membership Officer at membership@thetanujersey.org to find out how you can take part.

Check out the link and photos too:  http://thetanujersey.org/blog/?p=65

So, what's flying now? On Sunday, a short walk along the trails yielded four species of butterflies: the ubiquitous cabbage whites that seemed to be everywhere in the woods and in the meadow, common and orange sulphurs in the meadow and our smallest butterfly, the Eastern-tailed blue in the short grasses along the main trail. The Eastern-tailed blue is only about the size of a dime and is very easy to miss at the Park even though it is very common. It typically flies slowly just above the grasses. Although it is small and unassuming, it is definitely worth looking for! It is a beautiful little butterfly that rings true the saying "good things come in small packages". The Park also had some interesting birds including: Eastern towhee and Carolina wren in the thickets along the woodland trail and a Field sparrow singing from a tree in the meadow.        

In early spring pick warm afternoons to look for butterflies. Scan the meadows and walk the woodland trails and let us know what you find. Looking for butterflies is a lot like a treasure hunt. You never know what you might find. Not every butterfly will be evident or just flying around in plain sight. Finding butterflies takes a little practice, but once you begin to know what to look for you will be amazed at what is at the Park.

Amazingly, the East Brunswick Butterfly Park turns 10 this year! Kudos to all the volunteers that have helped make this park so special. Despite its small size and location in a heavily developed area, the park provides lots of opportunities to find a wide variety of butterflies throughout the spring, summer and fall. It just takes a little looking.

Throughout the years, dozens of species of butterflies have been seen in the park. The Friends has developed an On-line Field Guide to them that has photographs, ecological notes and tips on how to tell butterflies apart that look similar. The Park also has a Facebook page so that everyone can share what they find at the park.

Each year we try to do something new with the Park. This year we hope to run some weekend Butterfly walks and with the help of the Patch, post what is being seen at the Park each week. We can't always get there ourselves to see what is flying, so please share your observations and photos.

So, what's flying now? A quick walk through the park on Saturday afternoon yielded four species: Mourning cloak, Comma, Cabbage white and Common sulphur. The Mourning cloak and Comma were along the woodland trail lazily gaining warmth in sunny spots and the Cabbage white and Common sulphur were flying in the meadow. If you walk the woodland trail and spook up a Mourning cloak or Comma, just stop and wait a few seconds, it may come right back to the same spot and land. They seem to have favorite sunny spots. These two butterflies overwinter (hibernate) as adults up underneath bark or in a tree hollow and come out on warm early spring days. At night and when it gets cold they simply find another protected spot and wait until it gets warm again. These behavioral and other physiological mechanisms have evolved to allow them to survive through the winter and the cold periods that often punctuate early spring. On the other hand, the Cabbage white (the most common butterfly in the park) and the Common sulphur overwinter as a chrysalis and the adults emerge when it is warm enough. Both of these species have been recorded in every single month in New Jersey, including during unusually warm periods in January or February! I can recall a very warm East Brunswick Winter Bird count when we found a Common sulphur flying around at the top of Edgeboro Landfill in January. If it gets cold after these species have emerged, they either find a protected spot in the grass, or wind up perishing. As Darwin put forth, evolution favors the "survival of the fittest" and those butterflies that emerge too early just might not be able to pass on their genes to the next generation. But, pushing the envelope of hardiness is what evolution is about and successful early mating may just breed stronger progeny.

In early spring pick warm afternoons to look for butterflies. Scan the meadows and walk the woodland trails and let us know what you find. Looking for butterflies is a lot like a treasure hunt. You never know what you might find. Not every butterfly will be evident or just flying around in plain sight. Finding butterflies takes a little practice, but once you begin to know what to look for you will be amazed at what is at the Park.

FREECYCLING

April 29, 8am-3pm

Crystal Springs Parking Lot

Bring your unwanted items to be reused by someone who needs them, instead of sending them to the landfill.

Get items you need.  FREE!

FREECYCLING is simply an opportunity to donate and recycle virtually anything by bringing it to the Crystal Springs parking lot. But that's only the half of it. The best part is that you can take away anything else you want that someone else left there. It's a big trading event and it's all FREE! It's a way for all of us to find something we need and keep as much stuff out of our landfill as possible in a fun way. We will have a vendor there who will take away anything that is remaining at the end of the day and will recycle it. A portion of the profits from his recycling effort will be donated to the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission.

Click here for information and a list of items

Many thanks to the volunteers that helped weed and mulch the beds at Butterfly Park on Saturday, March 31st. 

We continued the work we started last week... more beds are looking beautiful!

We got a lot done, but  Its a huge amount of work and there is still lots to do.     Join us next time!

On 20-21 April, 2012, we invite you to join Discover Life and help collect data on species and their interactions.

This spring survey is a stepping-stone towards building a permanent network of study sites to monitor target groups of organisms around the world.

We invite teachers, students and the general public to help scientists survey study sites around the world. Participants will use digital cameras and standard research protocols to collect high-quality data on ants, bees, moths, wildflowers and other groups. By also conducting a Fall Natural History Survey, our collective results will enable us to compare the diversity and seasonality of species across sites and better understand the impacts of climate, pollution, urbanization and invasive species on ecological communities.

This event is open to everyone. If you would liketo help organize study sites, refine research protocols, train participants, or collectdata at a site, please contact us. We will post details here as they become available.Organizers include Discover Life, Encyclopedia of Life, Nature Research Center and otherpartners.

For more information click here.

Note change of time for the workday due to the rain in the forecast for Saturday morning.

Join on  Saturday (3/31/12) at Butterfly Park to finish what we started...

mulching, weeding and general spring cleaning!

Butterfly Park work day 

Saturday, March 31,  2-4pm