Nature comes alive at Livingston preserve
By Christopher Echeverria/ Contributing Writer
Issue date: 10/9/07 Section: University
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One of the University's best-kept secrets opened its trails for eager nature enthusiasts Sunday, as the Friends of the Rutgers Ecological Preserve, the Edison Wetlands Association, and the Highland Park Environmental Commission hosted a tour of the Rutgers Ecological Preserve.
Students, parents, young children and older hikers made up the excited crowd of about fifty, as the tour showcased one of the state's largest ecological preserves.
The almost-hidden 370-acre preserve is located on Livingston campus, less than 500 yards from the bus stop on Road 3 by the Quads, and is one of the single largest undisturbed areas in Middlesex County.
The preserve is home to a vast array of indigenous creatures, including white tail deer, coyotes, gray foxes, wild turkeys, red tailed hawks, eastern box turtles, and even bald eagles, said Rich Stollery, a tour guide with FREP.
Johnson & Johnson Corporation donated the Ecological Preserve to the University mainly for educational purposes. Organizations such as FREP make sure the University holds up its end of the bargain.
"Originally, the Johnsons gave it to Rutgers to preserve it," Stollery said. "We're not asking for anything new. Fifty years from now, people can come here and walk through nature if we don't keep chipping away at it."
Concerns over the gradual diminution of the preserve are becoming common among local environmental groups. Every few years, the University talks about developing the area, said Michael Rosenberg, chairman of the Highland Park Environmental Commission. "Gradually more pieces get taken away. A few years ago, the extension of Route 18 took several acres of the preserve away. More recently, they took away a piece to build [Rutgers football head coach] Greg Schiano's house."
FREP is currently looking for ways to reverse recession while they can.
"What we're trying to get is permanent protection," said Moreen Ciaston, executive director of FREP. "When asking President McCormick if he's going to lease the development, sell any of the preserve, or if Rutgers was planning to build it themselves, he said that at that point, everything was on the table."
Students, parents, young children and older hikers made up the excited crowd of about fifty, as the tour showcased one of the state's largest ecological preserves.
The almost-hidden 370-acre preserve is located on Livingston campus, less than 500 yards from the bus stop on Road 3 by the Quads, and is one of the single largest undisturbed areas in Middlesex County.
The preserve is home to a vast array of indigenous creatures, including white tail deer, coyotes, gray foxes, wild turkeys, red tailed hawks, eastern box turtles, and even bald eagles, said Rich Stollery, a tour guide with FREP.
Johnson & Johnson Corporation donated the Ecological Preserve to the University mainly for educational purposes. Organizations such as FREP make sure the University holds up its end of the bargain.
"Originally, the Johnsons gave it to Rutgers to preserve it," Stollery said. "We're not asking for anything new. Fifty years from now, people can come here and walk through nature if we don't keep chipping away at it."
Concerns over the gradual diminution of the preserve are becoming common among local environmental groups. Every few years, the University talks about developing the area, said Michael Rosenberg, chairman of the Highland Park Environmental Commission. "Gradually more pieces get taken away. A few years ago, the extension of Route 18 took several acres of the preserve away. More recently, they took away a piece to build [Rutgers football head coach] Greg Schiano's house."
FREP is currently looking for ways to reverse recession while they can.
"What we're trying to get is permanent protection," said Moreen Ciaston, executive director of FREP. "When asking President McCormick if he's going to lease the development, sell any of the preserve, or if Rutgers was planning to build it themselves, he said that at that point, everything was on the table."