 Nearly a dozen volunteers braved chilly temps and misty skies on Saturday, April 12 to lend a hand with a planting event at the living shoreline project on Shark River Island in Neptune, NJ. The work will help reduce erosion and protect a vital marsh.
The American Littoral Society is coordinated the volunteer event as part of a resiliency project funded by Neptune City and the Seaview Condo Association of Shark River. The overall project combines natural solutions - such as the living shoreline - with hard barriers, like concrete mattresses. "This area has suffered heavy erosion that not only impacts the condo owners but also the ecological community," said Capt. Al Modjeski, Habitat Restoration Program Director for the Littoral Society, who was on hand April 12 to help plant dozens of saltmarsh cordgrass plugs.
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 While Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22, the American Littoral Society will mark the occasion with a week of events that promise a range of opportunities for individuals to get involved and make a positive difference for the planet and the coast.
Our Earth Day festivities will include sprucing up our Slade Dale living shoreline project, a nature walk for kids ages 5-12, and a "Birds, Blooms, and Biodiversity" walk on Sandy Hook. More events may be added, so keep an eye on our website calendar. Earth Day Explorers Activities will kick off on Earth Day itself with an Earth Day Explorers walk on Sandy Hook. This fun and interactive nature walk will take children ages 5-12 on an exploration of the wonders of spring that can be found on Sandy Hook! Together, we’ll search for budding plants, returning birds, and buzzing insects   From the classroom to the field, students from New Jersey's Cumberland Regional High School (CRHS) didn't just learn about the vital role of habitat in a changing world – they became active agents of conservation and restoration. Their inspiring environmental stewardship journey was recently highlighted at the 2025 National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) conference in Philadelphia, PA.
The collaborative project, "Helping Pollinators Help Us: Creating Habitat for Climate Change Resilience," was a joint effort between Michelle Rebilas, Director of Education at the American Littoral Society, and Nicole Smith, the dedicated Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources teacher at CRHS. This initiative was made possible through the NOAA Planet Stewards funding opportunity, which empowers educators to lead hands-on, action-based projects that address environmental challenges within their communities and natural resources. The American Littoral Society has partnered with Cumberland Regional High School in Bridgeton, NJ for many years to implement various “green infrastructure” projects on the school campus. The NOAA Planet Stewards funding made it possible to build upon this partnership and embark on the 2-year effort to engage students in an environmental stewardship project that would increase pollinator habitat at their school and in the community.  While the old saying is that all streams run to the sea, what isn't mentioned is what they pick up and carry to that destination, which can include trash, fertilizers, and all sorts of pollution that can harm both the streams and the sea - as well as everything living in them.
In a previous post, we explored the Littoral Society's work with Loper Run, a Cumberland County, NJ stream where student science and long-term monitoring revealed a concerning decline in water quality. As part of the same larger project, funded by the William Penn Foundation, the American Littoral Society has been diligently collecting data from several other freshwater streams within the Cohansey and Maurice River Watersheds. These waterways, like Loper Run, ultimately feed into the vital Delaware Bay, reinforcing the understanding that the health of our bay is intrinsically linked to the well-being of these smaller tributaries. In this post, we'll take a closer look at another of these fascinating sites: Barrett's Run.  Get ready to take your fish tagging to the next level!
The American Littoral Society's Fish Tagging Program is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Fish-Trak, a free and innovative fish tagging and tracking app. This collaboration will revolutionize how our members record and track their tagged fish, bringing cutting-edge technology to our decades of conservation expertise. "The Littoral Society has long been a leader in marine conservation, with nearly 1 million fish tagged through its program since 1965," said Emily McGuckin, Fish Tagging Program Director. "This partnership marks a significant leap forward in combining decades of conservation expertise with cutting-edge technology."  February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on the contributions and experiences of Black Americans throughout history.
This year, we had the privilege of speaking with historian James E. Johnson, author of "Black Biographies of the Lower Delaware Valley: Antebellum to the Great Migration," to delve into his research and the rich history of Black communities in South Jersey. In addition to the book, published in October 2024, Johnson is the author of numerous historical articles that have appeared in several NJ historical society magazines, as well as The New York Times, South Jersey Times, and American Baptist Quarterly. He also contributed to The Rutgers University Press books "The Governors of New Jersey, Biographical Essays" and "Black New Jersey: 1664 to the present day". From Activism to Academia Johnson's journey is as compelling as the stories he tells. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Johnson moved to Clayton, NJ (just south of Glassboro) in his late teens. While there he came to appreciate the "laid-back lifestyle" of many residents.  Winter's beauty often comes with a hidden environmental cost. As snow melts, the salt used on roads, parking lots, and sidewalks washes directly into our local streams, sometimes briefly raising their salt content to levels as high as the ocean.
This surge of salinity can have significant consequences for aquatic life and the health of our waterways, while also having an adverse impact on roads and bridges. However, it can be hard to correlate the affects of excess road salt use, which is why it is crucial to collect data on the amount salt in freshwater streams during the colder season. That information can help in development of effective solutions. According to Dr. John Jackson of the Stroud Water Research Center, the amount of salt in our local waterways has dramatically increased over the past few decades, thanks in large part to the growing use of road salt during winter. In addition to environmental issues, road salt also accelerates the breakdown of concrete on roads and bridges.  Students from CRHS getting instructions for collecting benthic macroinvertebrates From 2018 to 2023, the American Littoral Society embarked on a vital project, collecting data from five freshwater streams in Cumberland County, NJ.
Funded by the William Penn Foundation and in partnership with local non-profits, this initiative aimed to establish a baseline for stream health and track changes over time. These streams, all tributaries of the Cohansey and Maurice Rivers, ultimately flow into the Delaware Bay, highlighting the crucial connection between healthy streams and a healthy bay. One of these sites, Loper Run, located adjacent to Cumberland Regional High School (CRHS), became a focal point for student involvement and a compelling case study in environmental change. In 2018, with the help of CRHS students, the Littoral Society installed a rain garden along Loper Run. This wasn't just any rain garden, it was strategically placed to intercept a clear line of erosion from the school parking lot, preventing sediment runoff from polluting the stream.  Mantoloking, NJ following Superstorm Sandy in 2012. (Photo by Greg Thompson - US Fish & Wildlife Service) In recent years, coastal storms have had a heavy impact on the North Atlantic coast of the United States.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was tasked in 2013 - just after Superstorm Sandy, which caused $37 billion in damage to New Jersey alone - with investigating measures to manage future flood risk “in ways that support the long-term resilience and sustainability of the coastal ecosystem and surrounding communities, and reduce the economic costs and risks associated with flood and storm events.” Initial work led to recommendations for massive storm surge barriers along the New Jersey Atlantic shoreline. However, the USACE recently released a New Jersey Back Bays (NJBB) Feasibility Study that provides a different roadmap for protecting lives, property, and ecosystems across this vulnerable region. Here’s what everyone should know about the plan:  Winter is upon us and with it comes the opportunity to see and learn about wildlife that visits this area during the colder season. Join the American Littoral Society for two exciting options to get you acquainted with pinnipeds and migratory birds: Seal and Bird Ecology Cruises aboard the Seastreak ferries, and Seal and Winter Waterfowl Walks on Sandy Hook itself!
Volunteers trained by the Littoral Society will help guide participants on the Seastreak cruises, which begin on Saturday, January 4 and conclude on Sunday, March 30. The cruises venture into the NY/NJ Bight to find seals, a wide variety of winter birds, and even an occasional whale. Tickets are available through the Seastreak website. If you would prefer to stay on land, we have four seal and winter waterfowl walks scheduled in January, with the initial excursion on Saturday, January 11 at 11 a.m. The walks are timed to coincide with when seal are most likely to be hauled out around Sandy Hook. Find registration pages for this and other dates through our Upcoming Events calendar. |
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