County, Rutgers team up for 'bio-blitz' at preserve

OLD BRIDGE - Scientists, students and other residents will join forces Sunday to find and identify as many plant and animal species as possible in the first bioinventory of the John A. Phillips Preserve, located off Route 18.

Participants will help identify birds, plants, fungi and other organisms to build a species list of the 1,700-acre, county-owned preserve.

The "bio-blitz," a cooperative effort of the Middlesex County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Rutgers University Chrysler Herbarium, is the first step in gathering plant and animal information throughout the preserve. All documented species will be assembled in lists that will be made available on the Internet and used for conservation of endangered species and scientific research. Additional inventories will be scheduled for the spring and summer of next year, according to a county-issued press release.

"The information will be essential in developing a management plan for future activities at the preserve," said Deputy Freeholder Director Stephen J. "Pete" Dalina. "We are very lucky to have such a unique environment here in the county. It offers our residents a beautiful area for passive recreation, as well as numerous educational opportunities."

The John A. Phillips Preserve falls within the Spotswood outlier of the New Jersey Pine Barrons. Although it is not within the boundaries of the New Jersey Pinelands, the preserve exhibits many of the characteristics of the Pine Barrens habitat found in Burlington, Ocean and Atlantic counties.

The habitat could be divided into two community types: A pine-dominated forest and an oak-dominated forest. The pine community includes pitch pine, blueberries, bracken fern with scattered oaks, sassafras and others. The oak area contains black and white oaks with scrub oaks, bayberry and greenbrier.