MT Middle School Wood Club Helps TNC

Students from Middle Township Middle School Wood Club showed conservation and construction can go hand in hand this year through a partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
On Nov. 23, the students accompanied their teacher, Dave Moyer on a visit to The Nature Conservancy’s Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve to wrap up a three month long community service project.

Mr. Moyer’s theme for this year’s Wood Club was to do something for other people and the importance of giving back to one’s community.
Moyer, who resides near the preserve, came to The Nature Conservancy with the idea of having his students design and install new trail directional signs and a more visible preserve entrance sign. The Nature Conservancy is in the process of creating a new trail system on the preserve funded through a grant received from the Federal Highway Administration and the NJDEP. The trail system allows visitors to view the rare Cape May lowland swamp community that the preserve protects while also avoiding sensitive ecological areas within the preserve.
The students worked two days a week after school both designing and creating directional trail signs and a large preserve entrance sign. Each of the 90 trail signs they created are customized and have the names of the students routered on the back. After so many hours of hard work, the students were ready to get out onto the preserve and put all their hard work into action.
The first order of the day was to install the new preserve entrance sign. The students grabbed post-hole diggers taller than most of them and quickly dug two giant holes for sign posts to support the homemade sign. Once the holes were dug the massive sign was put in place with help from the entire class. The newly designed entrance sign draws attention to the preserve and allows for more members of the community to enjoy the beautiful nature the preserve has to offer.
After refueling with a big lunch the students, armed with levels, tape measures, drills and screws, were led out into various spots along the preserve trail to install the directional trail signs. After a long day of digging, drilling, and hiking the students returned to the parking lot having completed a project that will not only benefit themselves but their entire community.
Because of their effort, the Nature Conservancy’s Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve is both more accessible as well as more visible to the public.
TNC would like to thank the following Middle Township Students for all of the hard work and time they donated: Herbie Marroquin, Andrea Armstrong, Quinn Overcash, Cesar San-tiago, Nathan Horvath, Colin Cattell, Gabby Guiliano, Kevin Plitnick, Jake Canter, Sean Cullen, Dylan Rhile, Justin Cline, Tyler Moyer, Morgan Teller, Jasmine Murphy, Briannah Whitlow, Chris Parke, Jimmy Bevill, Mike Cipollono, Tyler Hentges, Tyler Campoli, Kevin Riggins, James Hickman, James Loftus, Ben Conlin, Jacob Kershaw, Kayla Jett, Jared Tallant, Chris Karimalis, Dillon Statzell, Alex Casper, Giovana Bouden, Sam Conley, Joe Battaglia, Gabriel Osora.
The Nature Conservancy’s Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve encompasses over 400 acres in Cape May County. Included in this is a 337 acre parcel that was purchased from the Morey Organization and represents the New Jersey Chapter’s first joint purchase with the depart-ment of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife. The preserve is on the outer coastal plain of the Cape May Peninsula in the headwaters of Bidwell Creek and Goshen Road.
Come visit the new trail system at Lizard Tail Swamp to see all the hard work that has been done. The entrance is on CR 657/Dennisville Road, 3.3 miles past Gravel Hole Road in Dennisville.
The yellow trail is closed for hunting until Feb. 1 and is closed to hunting on Sundays. The blue trail is in the no hunting zone and is open year-round. The Nature Conservancy will be adding a new preserve kiosk with brochures explaining the ecology of the Lizard Tail Swamp preserve and the work TNC does in New Jersey.
For more information about The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, contact Community Outreach Assistant, Khara McKeen at 609-861-4134 or kmckeen@tnc.org. The Nature Conservancy regularly hosts both field trips and volunteer opportunities at each of its nature preserves.