The club will meet at the Helen Fenske Visitor Center, 32 Pleasant Plains Road, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920. We will be given a brief introduction of the history of the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge which consists of 35,000 acres. Located in Morris and Somerset Counties, it encompasses ten towns and is a vital part of New Jersey’s water supply. The Wildlife Refuge takes up about 25% of the Great Swamp’s area and consists of grasslands, sandy knolls, ponds, brooks, marshes, woodlands, and ridges. In this rich mix, the Great Swamp displays plants from both southern and northern zones, including several hundred species of wildflowers.
After the introduction, the club will be lead on a a tour of the White Oak Trail, a generally flat one-mile loop which has a mix of wood and composite boardwalk decking and compacted stone dust. On the trail, a guide will point out the flora and fauna along the way. After the walk, we will be escorted into the Visitor Center where there are exhibits and a gift shop, as well as a restroom and a water fountain. Afterward we will eat our bagged lunch at the open air pavilion and the regular meeting will take place.