Summer Morning Nature Walks on Franklin Trails

Join Franklin Trails naturalist/guides to explore our beautiful and diverse woodland trails

The Franklin Trails Advisory Committee invites you to join us for summer trails walks where we will be conducting eBird counts and iNaturalist observations on our Franklin trails.

Learn how to be a citizen scientist and help us monitor our plants and animals.

Photographers welcome!

June 29, 2019

8:30 AM Meet and short tutorial
Moderate / Slow walks will begin at 9:00 AM

Negri – Nepote Grasslands

Start from parking lot via Purple/Yellow to Brown and Red woods trails.

Return via pond/blind (2.0 miles).

Meet at main parking lot. 

Hiking poles and / or sticks would be useful.

Please park in the designated parking areas at each site. All children should be accompanied by an adult. Please dress appropriately for the weather and muddy and wooded conditions. Tick and insect repellent and long-sleeved shirts and pants are strongly encouraged! All visitors should bring water and be prepared to walk longer distances on natural surfaces.

More About Negri – Nepote Grasslands

These conserved areas provide a home for our native bird, insect, plant and animal species that are facing pressures due to loss of habitat. Among these are native grasses and flowering plants, rare birds such as the grasshopper sparrow, and valuable insects that pollinate our native plants.

This week local birders and those from Cape May to Secaucus and New York City have been flocking to Franklin Township and Negri-Nepote Grasslands to see this rarely - found Henslow’s Sparrow shown in the video. This is a bird whose native breeding range now spans only a small area in the Midwest. It has experienced dramatic population declines in the last 50 years due to habitat loss. It is rarely reported in New Jersey and avid birders and wildlife photographers are coming out to observe and record this little bird.