Week 1: Restoration Work Begins on South Branch Preserve Restoration Project

The Land Conservancy of New Jersey is pleased to announce that we have begun working to restore the former Rezamir Estates property in Mt. Olive, now known as the South Branch Preserve Restoration Site. The Land Conservancy is leading a team of contractors and expert consultants to implement the Restoration Plan of this critically important land. The property was partially developed for 16 residential lots. We are excited to have begun this land stewardship, or land management, project to restore the natural assets of the property. The work during this past week focused on the preliminary steps to ensure the property is prepared before remedial actions, such as removing the detention basins and roads, are completed.

On June 14th contractors put up fabric fences to prevent soil erosion and drained most of the water from the two detention basins. The Plant Stewardship Index (PSI) was begun as well. This is a tool used for ecological assessment, which means observing and classifying a property’s plants and habitats. By observing the types of plants that exist, the PSI helps determine the “naturalness” of a site and how land management practices (or their absence) affected that naturalness over time. According to Bowman Hill Wildflower Preserve, the botanical organization who conducted our PSI, over 2,000 plants in New Jersey and the Piedmont region of Pennsylvania have been catalogued and assigned a number from zero to ten by local experts and botanists. Zero represents the most generalist species, tolerant of disturbance and includes invasive or introduced non-native species (such as multiflora rose). Ten represents the most conservative species and includes many rare and endangered state-listed native plants that require special habitats and do not regrow after disturbance. The PSI will help us properly manage the land and habitats within the preserve. For more information on PSI visit Bowman Hill Preserve's website.

On June 17th, Conservancy staff members and several of our volunteers, with guidance from a biologist and herpetologist, scoured two existing drained detention basins for turtles, frogs, and tadpoles so that we could relocate them before filling the basins. It was a muddy process, but we were able to capture and release 30 frogs from one pond, and thousands of frogs, toads, and tadpoles of assorted types from the other. With permission from our new neighbor, we released them into two nearby ponds. There were no turtles found in the basins, however we spotted one box turtle on a nearby road.

There’s a long way to go in the restoration process but we all look forward to the end result when we can call it by its new name, South Branch Preserve, where people will be able to enjoy the natural landscape of the site. Continue to check back for updates each week on Rezamir’s progress.

A box turtle found nearby.

Staff members of TLC-NJ and biologist, Rick Radis, observing a catch.

A frog hidden in mud inside a net.

President of TLC-NJ, David Epstein, emptying his muddy waders.