Thursday, December 1 – Sunday, December 4 Get a jump start on your holiday shopping, avoid the crowds, and support Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. All shoppers will receive a 10% discount on their purchases, and if you are a Friends member, take 20% off. Not a member? Not to worry. You may join on the spot and your 20% discount is effective immediately! We have lots of new merchandise and a nice selection of hand-crafted items including pottery, hand crocheted scarves, hand-knitted hats, bird carvings and holiday ornaments. Plus, a large selection of jigsaw puzzles for a great gift or to entertain your holiday guests.
An extra feature of this year’s double discount days – art!
We have a number of donated art pieces for sale including Audubon prints, framed Great Swamp watercolors and oils by local artists, NJ Duck Stamp prints, Knowles fine china plates, and Lenox porcelain bird figurines. This is a unique opportunity to find a special gift for someone – or a treat for yourself. Your purchases help fund projects at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge such as the White Oak Trail Improvement Project, Wilderness Area interpretive signs, turtle research and invasive species control. Thank you for your support. Visitor Center / Nature Shop hours are Thursday and Friday, 10am to 4pm; Saturday, 11am to 3pm and Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
On Saturday, October 1st, Friends of Great Swamp NWR hosted an awards presentation where the winners of the 2022 Refuge Photo Contest were announced. Thank you to the 48 photographers who submitted over 180 entries! The winners in each category are highlighted in the presentation below. To see all the entries visit the Friends YouTube site at https://youtu.be/QsTInL_DuvQ
On Saturday October 1st at 11am, Friends of Great Swamp NWR will host an awards presentation where the winners of the 2022 Refuge Photo Contest will be announced. This year we received 182 entries from 48 photographers with lots of really great photos!
Due to the inclement weather forecast, this event will be held via zoom. Registration is required.
Celebrating National Public Lands Day
After two years, the annual Fall Festival is back! It’s a day of family-friendly fun for all ages. Activities will include target archery and the hoverball shooting gallery, river seining in the Passaic, guided tree and nature walks, as well as crafts for kids.
Play our giant jenga game, earn your Junior Refuge Manager badge, and download our nature smartphone app, “Agents of Discovery”. Enjoy the exhibits and displays from our Great Swamp partners. The Friends will serve free hot dogs from the grill and there is plenty of parking.
Welcome the Fall season and help celebrate your public lands at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center, 32 Pleasant Plains Road, Harding Township, NJ. Exit 30A from Route 287 – follow posted detour.
Right now is the peak of the Ruby Throated hummingbird season, so it’s especially important to keep your feeders clean and filled with fresh nectar.
While you may not have seen many earlier in the season, due to nesting, they are plentiful now. Fledglings and adults alike are busy bulking up on insects and nectar for their long migration flight to Central America, going as far south as Panama. In the next few weeks, all will migrate, with males leaving first, followed by females and fledglings.
By the end of September, all will be gone, but it is very important to leave your feeders up for at least two weeks after you see the last one. This helps any stragglers or those migrating from north of here. It’s always sad when they leave, but they’ll be back again next April, with many returning to the same exact location.
-Article by Dave Katz
Phase II of the White Oak Trail renovation project, a distance of about 1,700 feet, is nearing completion. By the end of September this section of the trail will be reopened. Phase II entailed widening two bridges to seven feet, installing numerous drainage culverts, adding underlayment, and the spreading of 80 tons of stone dust on long stretches of trail. A new section of boardwalk and a deck overlooking a vernal pool will also be constructed. This work is being done by ten volunteers of the Friend’s Construction Crew, and is funded by Friends and U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Work on Phase III, the last 1,700 feet of the trail, will begin in Spring 2023.
