Clinton Wildlife Management Area
7 Van Sykel's Road, Hampton, Union Township, Hunterdon County, NJ
1,475 acres
This wildlife management area surrounds most of Spruce Run Reservoir.

Directions:

There are many pull-offs for this wildlife management area.  I will give the directions for the pull-off we used.

Take I-78 to Exit 12 (Perryville/Norton); travel north on NJ 635 for a short distance to the first small parking lot on the right; turn right into the parking lot and park.

(For maps see: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/wmaland.htm)

History:

1998  --  DEP added 60 acres to Hunterdon parkland for $270,000. The property was owned by the Dalrymple family and is located between Spruce Run Reservoir and Recreation Area and the Clinton Wildlife Management Area.  The land will be managed by the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, which has jurisdiction over the Clinton Wildlife Management Area. (http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/1998/gs80623-.php)

2003 (June 7) -- the opening of the Clinton Wildlife Management Area section of the Highlands Trail.

Habitats:

fields, woodlands

Facilities/Uses:

hunting, hiking, bird watching

Trails:

2003 (March) --  the Musconetcong Mountain Conservancy completed that section of the Highlands Trail that goes from where the trail leaves Spruce Run State Recreation Area and continues through the Clinton Wildlife Management area.

Numerous unmarked trails. On the north side of Van Syckel's Corner Road are many woods roads.

6/19/04.  This area is one of open fields in succession with varying degrees of coverage by shrubs.  There are some "hedgerows."  We did not walk far.  Went left a little ways along an open field and then back to the start and then right to walk around a small segment of woods and returned to the parking area.  This part of the Spruce Run Recreation Area is not Highlands, but Piedmont with the brownish red soil typical of the region. Saw a wild turkey. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = blooming on 6/19/04

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)   
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn)
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed) *
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) *
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Agrimonia parviflora (small-flowered agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Anagallis arvensis (scarlet pimpernel) *
Arctium minus (lesser burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed) *
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Bidens frondosa (beggar ticks)
Chenopodium album (pigweed)
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy) *
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle) *
Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower)
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Euphorbia maculata (spotted spurge) *soon
Galium mollugo (wild madder) *
Geum aleppicum (yellow avens) *
Geum canadense (white avens) *
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day flower) *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed) *
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Matricaria matricarioides (pineapple weed) *
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Physalis heterophylla (clammy ground cherry) *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed) *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose knotweed) *
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb) *
Polygonum sp. (knotweed) 
Potentilla norvegica (rough cinquefoil) *
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) *
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Silene latifolia (white campion) *
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Trifolium aureum (yellow clover) *
Trifolium hybridum (alsike clover) *
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Trifolium repens (white clover) *
Urtica procera var. procera (tall stinging nettle)
Verbascum blattaria (moth mullein) *
Vicia cracca (crown vetch) *

Rushes and Sedges:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Rushes and Sedges:
Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge)

Grasses:
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Bromus japonicus (Japanese brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Lolium perenne (perennial rye grass)
Phleum pratense (Timothy grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Athyrium thelypteroides (silvery glade fern)
Botrychium sp. (rattlesnake fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)