Meet Julie Blum Julie Blum joined us as a Research Scientist in early August. Prior to joining, she worked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, coordinating the development of a statewide strategy for increasing carbon storage and sequestration potential in the state's natural and working lands. She also contributed to the...

A Summer of Growthby Brooke Knapick, Director of Educational Program Development This summer, Luing Family Internship Program Environmental Education Interns spent 12 weeks leading public education programs and interacting with visitors of all ages, while braving the mud, bugs, salt water, and sun to create the best visitor experience possible....

Coastal Conservation Research Programby Dr. Lisa Ferguson, Director of Research & Conservation We filled all 10 weeks of the Coastal Conservation Research Program Internship this summer to the brim with wetlands, birds, terrapins, and horseshoe crabs! Six CCRP interns joined our staff to monitor the summer’s happenings, learn more about the...

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director Work on beneficial use projects to restore and enhance marshes is continuing in the Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab. Gull Island and Sturgeon Island both were the subject of beneficial use placement projects in the fall of 2020. Both islands were very low lying and at risk of drowning and are important...

by Annie Ulichney, Institute Member Stone Harbor becomes a special home, whether you vacation here for a week, a month, or a lifetime. The anticipation of returning builds as you pull off the Parkway and turn onto Stone Harbor Boulevard. You can’t help but roll the windows down to inhale the salty air of “beach smell” and exhale a sigh of relief...

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director Once again, I marvel at the inescapable feeling that time has a way of accelerating when it comes to summer at the shore. This year, like so many others, summer seems to have come and gone far too quickly. Time and the rate of change are curious things because we each bring a different perspective to our...

by Meghan Kolk, Conservation Scientist reTURN the Favor (RTF) volunteers have a lot to be proud of as The Wetlands Institute’s horseshoe crab rescue program celebrated its tenth season this year. This dedicated team of horseshoe crab heroes has developed into a key piece of the conservation puzzle, contributing to the recovery of a keystone...

Coastal Conservation Research Program The CCRP interns in the 2022 Luing Family Internship Program began their positions in full force just before Memorial Day, and the weeks have been speeding by since! Over the course of the 10-week program, CCRP interns will be conducting their own independent projects and contributing to our wetlands bird and...

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director It’s in our nature to steward our fragile coastal ecosystems. It’s in our nature to conduct applied research to understand how these marshes are changing and how the wildlife that depend on them are impacted, and to use that research to inform conservation. It’s in our nature to educate people of all ages...

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director Entering the lecture hall, a little girl looks up from her mother’s neck. She points a tiny, chubby finger at the mobile overhead, and chirps “birds, birds, birds”. Floating above are The Wetlands Institutes’ signature mobiles featuring hand-carved birds commonly spotted on the marsh and nearby shores....

by Devin Griffiths, Marketing & Communications Specialist Perhaps you’ve seen them soaring over Seven Mile Island, foraging within the verdant salt marsh grasses, or bathing in the freshwater pools nestled in the Avalon high dunes – exotic white birds, wings fringed in black, reddish bills strongly downcurved from base to tip in a graceful...

by Devin Griffiths, Marketing & Communications Specialist Saturday, May 14, 3:00 AM. Hours before sunrise, and The Marshketeers are already on the hunt. After two years of socially distant birding, The Wetlands Institute’s team of obsessed birders is finally back together and on the road, and for the next 24 hours they’ll be (with apologies...

by Dr. Lisa Ferguson, Director of Research & Conservation   This summer we were able to hire another early career scientist, Gwyneth Daunton, thanks to the Jeannie Morris Graduate Fellowship program. As a Research Assistant, Gwyneth is gaining valuable field experience in Diamondback Terrapin ecology, as well as exposure to avian and...

Meet Meghan Kolk Meghan Kolk joined the Research and Conservation Department at The Wetlands Institute as the Conservation Scientist in early May. Prior to joining us, Meghan spent five years as a wildlife biologist with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. For four of those years she served as a partner biologist with the U.S. Fish and...

by Steve Scheff, Seasonal Naturalist I am a lifelong educator, having been an elementary school teacher for 30 years. Upon my retirement, I decided to leap into another passion of mine… nature! Having always been interested in the natural world, coming of age during the birth of the environmental movement, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and...

The First Steps of Embracing TWI 2.0by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director The dawn of 2022 brings with it a renewed sense that the worst of the uncertainty is behind us. It’s time to go beyond thinking about the next chapter for The Wetlands Institute and begin to implement. The past several years has been a time of remarkable growth and the...

by Joan Roberts Barminski What little kid wouldn’t be happy going hand-in-hand with Grammie to touch a slimy sea cucumber? Or to sit with Baga to see a show about a prehistoric creature, the horseshoe crab? Nancy Roberts knew her stuff, and forged a strong bond with The Wetlands Institute, and in the process, influenced the lives of her kids and...

by Daniel Klem, TWI Honorary Board Member and author of Solid Air, Invisible Killer: Saving Billions of Birds from Windows Imagine an invisible barrier placed along a busy thoroughfare, indiscriminately killing millions each year. Old and young, healthy and frail, all going about their lives, all equally at risk and none aware of the danger....

by Brooke Knapick, Director of Educational Program Development So much of what makes outdoor and environmental education impactful, and real, relies on the interaction of participant, educator and outdoor experience, all working in concert to create a genuine human connection to the environment. It is the sights, the smells, the sounds, the...

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director Fall is in full swing as I write this and the marshes are a vibrant golden color this morning. Later stage migrants are moving through and the wintering waterfowl and raptors are returning to the marsh. It’s a beautiful time, and while the shortening days are harbingers of the winter to come, it’s also a...

by Rae Griffiths, Office Assistant What do Carly Baniewicz, Ava Dorfner and the Dougherty siblings have in common? They are all young nature-lovers who chose The Wetlands Institute (TWI) to benefit from their entrepreneurial spirit this past summer. And what better way to celebrate summer than with a lemonade stand! Carly Baniewicz from Malvern,...

by Erin Rawls, Outreach Coordinator Setting up a Wetlands livestream. Photo Credit: Steve Scheff, Seasonal Naturalist This past spring, The Wetlands Institute booked over 30 virtual field trip programs, reaching nearly 1,500 students in classrooms across the mid-Atlantic. Along with the exciting possibilities of virtual field trips came the need...

by Danielle Meeker, Aquarist & Environmental Educator A few months ago, The Wetlands Institute (TWI) had the pleasure of hosting Sean McVey, a photographer from North Jersey who specializes in taking detailed pictures of animals against a white or blackback drop. The result are images that capture many animal characteristics often overlooked...

by Michelle Rebilas, Environmental Educator “The marsh mud will wash off, but the memories will last a lifetime!” I shout as I lead a group of curious, yet hesitant, Scouts and chaperones onto The Wetlands Institute’s “Muddy Trail” in search of our famous fiddler crabs. Immediate squeals erupt as the mud squishes beneath their shoes. Before long,...

Monitoring and Management in Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary by Brian Williamson, Research Scientist When you think of The Wetlands Institute’s research and conservation efforts, you probably think of our work to study and protect our local salt marshes and the animals that inhabit them. However, staff at The Wetlands Institute also work on projects...