Two nonprofit organizations focused on protecting areas in central New Jersey were formed fairly recently, the Sourland Planning Council, and Friends for the Marsh. WCAS has strong ties through our field trips and other activities to both areas, and interacts with both organizations, and I thought it might be worthwhile to alert our members to what these organizations are doing and provide links to more detailed information about them.

Sourland Mountains - WCAS has been involved in studying and enjoying the Sourland Mountains for many years, including our 1994-95 biological inventory of the Somerset County Sourland Mountain park, our current inventory of Alexauken Creek Wildlife Management Area, and our field trips to Pleasant Valley, Baldpate Mountain, and to WCAS board member Hannah Suthers' bird banding station. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) publishes a quarterly newsletter, Conserve Wildlife; the current issue (Winter 2003-2004) features an article by ENSP Chief Larry Niles about efforts to conserve the Sourland Mountains. About half of the article discusses Hannah's long-term bird-banding studies. If you don't receive the newsletter, you can check it out on the web at www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/cw11-03.pdf. The rest of the article describes the nonprofit Sourland Planning Council and its efforts to protect the Sourlands from sprawl. You can learn more about the group from their website, www.sourland.org.

Trenton Marsh (also known as Hamilton/Trenton/Bordentown Marsh) - WCAS field trip chair Lou Beck has been leading or co-leading trips to Roebling Park, the gateway to Trenton Marsh for many years. Lou, Pat Sziber, and Barbara Ross have also worked on the education committee for the marsh, and we (mainly through former board president Rick Dutko) were involved in efforts to reduce the toll the highway takes on turtles at Sturgeon Pond in the marsh.

Last year a group, Friends for the Marsh, was formed to protect and preserve the marsh and educate the public regarding the importance of wetlands in general and the Trenton Marsh in particular. For more information, go to www.marsh-friends.org. (For all of you shutterbugs out there, this spring they are running a photo contest for photos taken at the marsh.)