The Blue Heron Rookery

Cliffview Drive, Lafayette Township, Sussex County, New Jersey

Directions:

US 287/87 north to the exit for US 287 south (at around mileage marker 30); US 287 south to exit 51B for Route 23 north; turn left onto Route 94; drive 0.8 of a mile and turn right onto Route 661 (Beaver Run); drive 4.7 miles (passing by Wallkill Valley Regional High School and Lafayette Township School) and turn left onto Lafayette Meadows Road; drive 0.7 of a mile and turn left onto Cliffview Drive; park along the right side of the road where the road levels out.  You should be able to see the Green Acres sign at the pond on the right. 

Trails:

5/12/2005.  I had several false starts before I found what I wanted.  The result is as follows:  Walk past the pond by the Green Acres sign and head toward the large cattail marsh.  You can pick up a rough trail that heads around the marsh.  I walked around two-thirds of the way around the marsh (clockwise) before I realized I had to get out of there quick in order to pick up my brother-in-law from the Veterans hospital in the Bronx.  I would like to go back and see if it is possible to make the complete circuit around the marsh. There are some interesting cliffs around the perimeter loop of the marsh.  This place seems like a good one for birding.  In walking around the loop birds would be stirred out.  There were a lot of red-winged blackbirds.  I must have run into the roost of two turkey vultures because they (one at a time) took off with a lot of fanfare that surprised me a bit.  Saw some morning doves and heard the honking of some Canada geese.  I was not looking for birds but they kept reminding me of their presence.    Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = plant blooming on date of field trip, 5/12/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)  lots
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry) 
Pyrus sp. (apple)  *
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tilia americana (American basswood)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  *
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)  *
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)  *
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum )  *soon

Vines and Climbing Herbs:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)  *
Anemonella thalictroides (rue anemone)  *
Aquilegia canadensis (columbine)  *
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress)  *
Caulophyllum thalictroides (blue cohosh)
Cichorium intybus (chicory)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) 
Fragaria vesca (wood strawberry)  *
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)  *
Geum canadense (white avens)
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground)  *)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple)
Polygomatum biflorum (smooth true Solomon's seall)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed))
Potentilla canadensis (dwarf cinquefoil)  *
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot)  *
Ranunculus bulbosus (bulbous buttercup)  *
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  *
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell) 
Viola pubescens (yellow forest violet)  *
Viola sororia (common blue violet)  *

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)

Sedges:
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Cystopteris sp. (fragile fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)