Post by Marc LeVine on Nov 8, 2006 18:07:01 GMT -5
Project under way to encourage more wildlife at area park
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
Tiny creatures, lush foliage and colorful wildflowers will find a welcome mat set out for them at Lake Topanemus Park, Pond Road, Freehold Township, this spring.
The Lake Topanemus Park Commission recently received a Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).
The grant, written and prepared by Freehold Township School District teacher Pat Eisemann and Joe Ferdinando, a member of the Lake Topanemus Park Commission, will encourage native plant use to create habitats for local species.
Eisemann, who has been with the commission for four years, serves the commission as education liaison.
The section of the 90-acre park addressed by the grant is about 2.8 acres and runs alongside a path that leads into the park from Robertsville Road.
According to Eisemann, the grant is for an approximately 20-foot wide section of the woods along the path. This area is in the process of being cleared by Freehold Township and Freehold Borough public works employees of brambles, vines and overgrowth, and will soon be home to pockets of wildflowers, grasses and beech trees this spring.
Eisemann teaches math and science to children in the academic enrichment program in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the Barkalow and Eisenhower middle schools in Freehold Township.
She has written four WHIP grants and the township has been awarded all four; two for township schools, one for the Oakley Farmstead Museum and one for the 80-acre Parenteau farm on Elton-Adelphia Road on which she grew up.
So when Eisemann approached Ferdinando in 2005 with the idea of applying for a WHIP grant for Lake Topanemus Park, park commission members did not take long to decide to allow Eisemann to do what she has done so well in the past - secure funds for a community project.
The project is a joint effort by Freehold Township and Freehold Borough (the park is in Freehold Township and Lake Topanemus is owned by Freehold Borough). The work being planned will further beautify the park for the enjoyment of people who come to walk, run, bike, fish or just relax and enjoy themselves, according to Eisemann. In addition, she said the project will create a new wildlife habitat for the enjoyment and survival of the many animals that are feeling the impact of ongoing local development.
According to Eisemann, the grant must be useful to wildlife either in the form of food, shelter or camouflage.
Students in Eisemann's classes as well as young people from various local organizations and agencies such as the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts and the 4-H Club, will be joining the effort by helping to plant a variety of native plants in the spring. Involvement from Freehold High School students is also expected, according to Eisemann.
The teacher said this cooperative project will benefit many people and animals and will make a big impact on the watershed knowledge and experience of the community at large.
"We hope to balance the huge amount of building with the knowledge and the desire to make less of an impact on the (Lake Topanemus) watershed," Eisemann explained. "Creating a wildlife habitat will help dispel the notion that wildlife live somewhere beyond our towns and cities. Wildlife can be as small as the smallest microscopic organism. Wildlife includes birds, mammals, fish, insects, spiders, reptiles and amphibians."
Eisemann said her students are learning math and science by working hands-on at this project, the same way she herself learned math and science growing up on her family farm.
The process to receive a grant involves filling out an application and then hosting a visit from representatives of the NRCS, who walk the site with one of their biology experts. During the walk the professionals take notes, ask questions and may make suggestions. After the walk is completed the proposals from applicants are ranked and the top ones are funded.
Ferdinando, who has lived across from Lake Topanemus Park since 1990, agrees with Eisemann's vision for the park.
"Through this active project everyone in the community can get involved," he said. "The idea is to increase environmental awareness and bring members of the community together to educate them through active learning."
Completion of the project is scheduled for spring 2007. Ferdinando encouraged area residents to visit the park and enjoy the nature all around them.
Eisemann said, "I can't take away the houses, the asphalt and the shopping centers, but I can try to make pockets of places for wildlife and passive recreation and leave something behind. [We can] make the most of the areas that are not developed to offset the issues developing from building, such as flooding and preventing non-point pollution."
Roger Kane, of Freehold Borough, is the chairman of the Lake Topanemus Park Commission. He said he is looking forward to the completion of the project.
"We are very much in favor of anything that will create wildlife in our park," Kane said.
He said the park already has a large bird population, some permanent and some migratory. Animals such as red fox and deer have also made the park their home. Kane said he believes this latest project will enhance the wildlife environment.
He said the commission has other projects in the works, including seminars at which people will be able to learn more about the plant and animal life in the park. The seminars should start in the spring.
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
Tiny creatures, lush foliage and colorful wildflowers will find a welcome mat set out for them at Lake Topanemus Park, Pond Road, Freehold Township, this spring.
The Lake Topanemus Park Commission recently received a Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).
The grant, written and prepared by Freehold Township School District teacher Pat Eisemann and Joe Ferdinando, a member of the Lake Topanemus Park Commission, will encourage native plant use to create habitats for local species.
Eisemann, who has been with the commission for four years, serves the commission as education liaison.
The section of the 90-acre park addressed by the grant is about 2.8 acres and runs alongside a path that leads into the park from Robertsville Road.
According to Eisemann, the grant is for an approximately 20-foot wide section of the woods along the path. This area is in the process of being cleared by Freehold Township and Freehold Borough public works employees of brambles, vines and overgrowth, and will soon be home to pockets of wildflowers, grasses and beech trees this spring.
Eisemann teaches math and science to children in the academic enrichment program in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the Barkalow and Eisenhower middle schools in Freehold Township.
She has written four WHIP grants and the township has been awarded all four; two for township schools, one for the Oakley Farmstead Museum and one for the 80-acre Parenteau farm on Elton-Adelphia Road on which she grew up.
So when Eisemann approached Ferdinando in 2005 with the idea of applying for a WHIP grant for Lake Topanemus Park, park commission members did not take long to decide to allow Eisemann to do what she has done so well in the past - secure funds for a community project.
The project is a joint effort by Freehold Township and Freehold Borough (the park is in Freehold Township and Lake Topanemus is owned by Freehold Borough). The work being planned will further beautify the park for the enjoyment of people who come to walk, run, bike, fish or just relax and enjoy themselves, according to Eisemann. In addition, she said the project will create a new wildlife habitat for the enjoyment and survival of the many animals that are feeling the impact of ongoing local development.
According to Eisemann, the grant must be useful to wildlife either in the form of food, shelter or camouflage.
Students in Eisemann's classes as well as young people from various local organizations and agencies such as the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts and the 4-H Club, will be joining the effort by helping to plant a variety of native plants in the spring. Involvement from Freehold High School students is also expected, according to Eisemann.
The teacher said this cooperative project will benefit many people and animals and will make a big impact on the watershed knowledge and experience of the community at large.
"We hope to balance the huge amount of building with the knowledge and the desire to make less of an impact on the (Lake Topanemus) watershed," Eisemann explained. "Creating a wildlife habitat will help dispel the notion that wildlife live somewhere beyond our towns and cities. Wildlife can be as small as the smallest microscopic organism. Wildlife includes birds, mammals, fish, insects, spiders, reptiles and amphibians."
Eisemann said her students are learning math and science by working hands-on at this project, the same way she herself learned math and science growing up on her family farm.
The process to receive a grant involves filling out an application and then hosting a visit from representatives of the NRCS, who walk the site with one of their biology experts. During the walk the professionals take notes, ask questions and may make suggestions. After the walk is completed the proposals from applicants are ranked and the top ones are funded.
Ferdinando, who has lived across from Lake Topanemus Park since 1990, agrees with Eisemann's vision for the park.
"Through this active project everyone in the community can get involved," he said. "The idea is to increase environmental awareness and bring members of the community together to educate them through active learning."
Completion of the project is scheduled for spring 2007. Ferdinando encouraged area residents to visit the park and enjoy the nature all around them.
Eisemann said, "I can't take away the houses, the asphalt and the shopping centers, but I can try to make pockets of places for wildlife and passive recreation and leave something behind. [We can] make the most of the areas that are not developed to offset the issues developing from building, such as flooding and preventing non-point pollution."
Roger Kane, of Freehold Borough, is the chairman of the Lake Topanemus Park Commission. He said he is looking forward to the completion of the project.
"We are very much in favor of anything that will create wildlife in our park," Kane said.
He said the park already has a large bird population, some permanent and some migratory. Animals such as red fox and deer have also made the park their home. Kane said he believes this latest project will enhance the wildlife environment.
He said the commission has other projects in the works, including seminars at which people will be able to learn more about the plant and animal life in the park. The seminars should start in the spring.