| Lenape Park Bio-Blitz: |
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Lenape Park is a 450-acre natural area in Union County, New Jersey. Bounded by US 22 to the north and Kenilworth Boulevard to the south, Lenape is part of a "green chain" of parks that encompasses the Rahway River as it traverses the County. Within the Park, Nomahegan and Black Brooks join the north branch of the River as it flows south through various municipalities, eventually emptying into the Arthur Kill, a tidal strait that separates New Jersey from Staten Island.
The land comprising Lenape Park was acquired by the Union County in the 1920's. It consists mostly of forested wetland but also includes various developed and managed features. The main entrance is a landscaped median (Nomahegan Boulevard) located at the Park's southeastern border. This entrance terminates at a small parking lot bounded by a managed bluebird habitat, a small field house (built 1927), and a shooting range to the west, north and east, respectively. A second entrance (pedestrian only) is located to the southwest and leads to artificial pond created in the 1940's. In the 1970's, the Army Corps of Engineers initiated a flood control project to alleviate periodic flooding of the towns along the River. Nomahegan Brook was re-routed, blacktopped berms were built to contain flood waters, and a large cement dam was constructed.
In the 80-odd years since its acquisition, Lenape Park has remained largely undeveloped. Olmsted Brothers, the famed landscape architectural firm responsible for Central Park in New York City, and its successor firm, Olmsted Associates, were consulted in the late 1920's and again in the early 1960's. On both occasions, a naturalistic approach was suggested that combined conservation of habitat with "rural pastimes." However, most of the Olmsted suggestions were never implemented, including an internal parkway, an observation tower, a boathouse and at least two arboreta.
We selected Lenape Park for this initial New Jersey Bio-Blitz for two primary reasons. First, the Park has long enjoyed the attention of a support organization, Friends of Lenape Park. Second, Lenape exemplifies the landscape fragmentation so widespread in New Jersey. Thus, we had a sound knowledge base on which to build in our efforts to better understand how biodiversity is maintained in urbanized environments.
You can learn more about the Park at the Friends of Lenape Park website.