10-Week 'Fundamentals Of Pinelands' Plants Summer Course To Be Offered Soon

New Jersey's Pine Barrens are anything but barren.

And you can find out more about them in an ambitious 10-week summer course offered by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the Pinelands Presevation Alliance. The course includes both classroom work and field trips in Chatsworth.

The course starts on Thursday, May 11. It will focus on hundreds of plant species like Pine Barrens gentians, bog asphodels and swamp pinks.

Plant enthusiasts are invited to learn all about Pine Barrens plants at a 10-week summer course co-sponsored by New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, that begins on Thursday, May 11.

The “Special Pinelands Plants Course - Fundamentals” will include weekly classroom workshops and field trips to the 11,379-acre Franklin Parker Preserve in Chatsworth, Burlington County. The course is geared toward beginners, although seasoned field botanists may enjoy deepening their knowledge of plant families.

The course will be taught by Russell Juelg, senior land steward and Pine Barrens educator for New Jersey Conservation Foundation, who has been the course instructor for more than 10 years.

“We'll focus on the natural relationships and modern classification of plants, using the Pine Barrens of New Jersey as our outdoor classroom,” Juleg said. "By investigating, especially, plant families, and the characteristics that systematists use in trying to delineate them, we'll reinforce our understanding of plant morphology, which will greatly enhance our field botany skills.”

Students will study live and pressed specimens during the 10 evening workshops, and will make nine weekend field trips to the Franklin Parker Preserve.

The classroom portion of the course will be held every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., from May 11 through July 13, at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance headquarters at 17 Pemberton Road in Southampton.

The course fee is $150, payable in advance, and registration is limited to 30 students. High school and college students with a valid ID are eligible for a 50 percent discount, at $75 per person.

To register online, go to https://donate.njconservation.org/2017-plant-course-fundamentals. For more information or assistance in registering, contact Bill Lynch at 908-997-0725 or blynch@njconservation.org.

Two texts are required for the course: The Illustrated Book of Wildflowers and Shrubs by William Carey Grimm (1993), and Guide to Flowering Plant Families by Wendy B. Zomlefer (1994). Students will also need a 10X lens, known as a pocket loupe.

The plant course is part of New Jersey Conservation’s “Step Into Nature” series of walks, talks and outdoor events.

For more information about New Jersey Conservation Foundation and its programs and preserves, visit www.njconservation.org.

Image: Pinelands Preservation Alliance