North Cove Park
PAL Drive, Wayne Township, Passaic County, New Jersey

Directions:

US 80 west to exit 53 for Route 23 north; turn right onto Legion Pl./Parish Drive; quickly turn right onto Pal Drive, just before crossing over the overpass.  There are many parking areas, but go to the last one (passing by the PAL building). 

Facilities: 

baseball and soccer fields, PAL building, sandy lake beach with bath house

Trails:

5/21/2005.  Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I toured the area.  This is primarily a sporting complex with lots of baseball fields.  The Policeman's Athletic League (PAL) building is in the center of the complex of North Cove Park and the Oval.  I walked around the ballfields and soccer field at the Oval looking at the vegetation.  We could not walk what looked like a nice straight trail but there was a No Trespassing/Dumping sign put up by the water company.  Boy I hate this paranoid atmosphere post 9-11.    I figure if someone really wants to poison the water there is no way to stop them anyway. 

I figure we were going to strike out with this park but as we walked past the most southern ballfield we discovered there was a large parcel of swampy land that is being unused.  What Passaic County should do is put some board-walk trails through the area so that our sports crazed kids and parents to see there are other things in life besides trying to be a sports hero.  Why just let the natural area lay unused?  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip, 05/21/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (ash-leaf maple)
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Celtis occidentalis (hackberry)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Populus deltoides (cottonwood)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)  *
Pyrus sp. (apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tilia americana (American basswood)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)  *
Rhamnus frangula (European buckthorn)  *
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxter flower)  *
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis( black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Taxus sp. (yew)
Viburnum dentatum (smooth arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum lentago (nannyberry viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)  *

Vines:
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (porcelainberry)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)  *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)  *
Carex herbacea (carrion flower)  ?
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) 
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)  *
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground)  *
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Linaria vulgaris (butter-and-eggs)
Lycopus virginicus (Virginia bugleweed) 
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife)
Lysimachia nummularia (moneywort)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)  *
Myosotis laxa (lesser forget-me-not)  *
Peltandra virginica (arrow arum)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla canadensis (dwarf cinquefoil)  *
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot)  *
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)  *
Ranunculus repens (creeping buttercup)  *
Rumex crispus (curled dock)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  *
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Trifolium repens (white clover)  *
Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell)  *

Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (fox-like sedge)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

Ferns:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)