Lubber's Run: Neil Gylling Memorial Preserve
Mansfield Drive, Byram Township, Sussex County, NJ

Directions:

US 80 west to exit 25 (Route 206 north); drive about 1.9 miles and at the light turn right onto Route 607 north;  drive 0.6 of a mile and turn right onto Mansfield Drive; drive about 0.1 of a mile or so and turn left into the large unpaved parking lot.  The park is across from the municipal building with its municipal offices, police, recycling, and animal shelter.

Geology:

The Musconetcong River flows out of Lake Hopatcong into Lake Musconetcong; reverses itself for almost 2 miles northwest to meet its major affluent, Lubber's Run.  From Lake Hopatcong to the valley of Lubber's Run, the river falls relatively fast (approximately 55 feet per mile). (Wacker 1968:3)

Tributaries of Lubber's Run feed both basins of Cranberry Lake (Byram Township, Sussex County.)

In the USFS Highlands Regional Study draft report, one of the major areas of high resource value singled out as "gaps" in conservation protection was Lubber's Run (Sparta Mountain Greenway), which is under development threat. (http://www.nynjtc.org/issues/2002/highlands.html)

History:

Several iron bloomeries were established in the Musconetcong Valley in the later part of the 18th century and early 19th century.  There was one on Lubber's Run (1802).  (Wacker 1968: 112-113)

1750  --the earliest mine located in the Musconetcong Valley was owned by Martin Ryerson and was located at Lubber's Run. (Wacker 1968: 113)

Byram Township may purchase a 27-acre tract of forested wetlands along both sides of Lubber's Run.  The parcel is owned by the Stabile family, which also owns and operates the adjacent Wild West City theme park.  http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/2004/gs040727.php

The Byram Township Environmental Commission has a project that involves the study and development of a greenway and trail system along Lubber's Run, a waterway traversing Byram Township.  http://rachel.org/orgList/ORGDETAIL.CFM?Org_ID=4649

Facilities:

two baseball fields, picnic tables, children's playground

Fauna:

The Integrated Biological Aquatics Assessment under the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife found the most diversity of dragonflies of the Odonata genus at Burr's Mill Brook (21 species) and Lubber's Run (17 species). (http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/ibaa03.htm)

Trails:

6/06/05.  On a warm day, Ceferino Santana and dog Sonar accompanied me for a morning of botanizing.  There are no trails in this small park.  I chose to stop at the park because its eastern boundary is Lubber's Run. I was pleasantly surprised at how many plant species I found in such a limited area.  There is a woods edge on three sides of the park.  On two sides is Lubber's Run and the large marsh associated with it. We also examined the plants from and around the bridge over Lubber’s Run. Later we learned it is not far from the new New Jersey Land Trust Preserve on Route 607 at green road mileage marker 1.   Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = plants blooming on date of field trip, 6/06/2005. 

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Salix sp. (willow)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus sp. (elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)  *waning
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Lonicera morrowii  (Morrow's honeysuckle) 
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)
Rosa palustris (swamp rose)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)  *
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)  *
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)   *
Salix sp. (willow)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium stamineum (deerberry)  *
Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum )

Vines and Climbing Herbs:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)  *
Dioscorea villosa (wild yamroot)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)  *
Actaea alba (white baneberry)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)  *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Aster spp. (aster)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)   *
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed)
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed)   *
Chenopodium album (pigweed) 
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Erigeron philadelphicus (Philadelphia daisy fleabane)   *
Erigeron pulchellus ? (robin's plantain)   * 
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     
Glechoma hederacea (gill over the ground)  *
Hieracium caespitosum (yellow king devil)   *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Krigia biflora (two flowered Cynthia)  *
Lemna sp. (duckweed)  
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)   *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)   
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)  *
Matricaria matricarioides (pineapple weed)  *
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover)  *
Nuphar advena (yellow pond lily)   *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)  * 
Peltandra virginica (arrow arum) 
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)   
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)  *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Potentilla argentea (silvery cinquefoil)   *
Potentilla canadensis (dwarf cinquefoil)   *
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaf buttercup)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)  *
Ranunculus repens (creeping buttercup)  *
Rumex acetosella (sheep sorrel)  * 
Rumex crispus (crisped leaved dock)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaved dock)
Saururus cernuus (lizard's tail)  --  lots 
Senecio aureus (golden ragwort) 6/02/01
Silene latifolia (white campion)  *
Silene vulgaris (bladder campion)   *soon
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  *
Trifolium pratense (red clover)   *
Trifolium repens (white clover)  *
Trillium sp. (trillium)   
Tussilago farfara (colts foot)  
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein) 
Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell)     
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)  * 
Viola sp.  (violet)
 

Rushes:
Luzula multiflora (wood rush)

Sedges:
Carex intumescens (bladder sedge)
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Eleocharis sp. (spikerush) 
Scirpus atrovirens (dark green bulrush)   
Scirpus validus (soft-stem bulrush)   
 

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Lolium perenne (perennial wild rye grass) 
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass) 
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris carthusiana (spinulose wood fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

Larix laricina (tamarack)