Cranford Gives Back to County Parks

They have a tradition in Cranford's Boy Scout Troop 80 of taking new scouts to the Watchung Reservation for their first camp out.

But utilizing Union County's 2,060-acre preserve also comes with a responsibility, said Assistant Scoutmaster Steve Lupin.  So on a recent Saturday morning, Lupin and his son, Randy, a First Class scout, volunteered to help restore a section of the Orange Trail, one of the reservation's many trails.

Volunteering for the trail work was important, Lupin said. "We're giving back so this is here for generations of scouts to come," he said.

When it comes to volunteering to help preserve and maintain Union County's parks, some, like the Lupins, turn out on the first Saturday of the month.  Others take off a day from work.  Some are teens earning community service hours while others, like Boy Scouts, need projects to advance in rank. And then there are the retired, who have the flexibility to turn out whenever the whim strikes.

But what they all share in common is a love for the outdoors and a deep concern for the county's parks, whether it is ripping invasive plants out of Lenape Park or repairing the trails that weave through the reservation.

"As a kid, I was up in the reservation all the time," said Lawrence Russo, who grew up in Plainfield and now lives in Cranford.  "Now that I'm semi-retired, I can give back.  It's a beautiful  area and I want to maintain it."

Russo is just one of nearly 550 people who volunteered their time this past year to work in the county's parks. All totaled, they put in nearly 2,700 service hours, according to officials.

The volunteers are an indispensible part of maintaining the county's parks, said Alfred Faella, director of Parks and Community Renewal.

"These volunteers enable us to get to projects that we would never be able to get to because of limited resources and staff," Faella said.

Recent Boy Scout projects have included the building of footbridges, kiosks and nesting boxes for birds in several parks. A fishing area on Lake Surprise was redesigned to be accessible to the disabled while in the Rahway River Parkway, a turtle crossing was created to increase protection for the snapping and box turtles living near Munsee Pond.

A number of larger projects, such as the removal of invasive species and their replacement with native plants have been tackled on group days. While groups of volunteers have come from area churches and civic associations, a number of area corporations give their employees release time to work with a range of community service projects.

Recently, a group from LexisNexis in New Providence, spent the day planting in Lenape Park.

Lenape has had a huge problem combating Japanese Knotweed, so much so that the county requested the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to spray sections of the park for the past three years to bring it under control. However, once an area has been cleared, then new plantings that include native species, must be planted in order to reclaim the area.

As  Surya Rao worked with his colleagues to plant nearly 600 saplings, the former Summit resident said he takes a great deal of pleasure in volunteering for the days of service in the parks.

 "I like it," said Surya Rao, noting that living in an apartment in Scotch Plains, he rarely has the opportunity to work outside.

"I like being in nature. And whatever we plant is going to stay for a long time," he said.  

Because the weather can turn pretty nasty over the coming winter months, the group projects will not resume until the spring.  However, many of those who turned out for the last trail day—Adopt A Trail work days are held the first Saturday of the month—will continue to volunteer through the winter, as trail stewards.

Assigned to various stretches of trail across the 2,000-acre reservation, they check to see that the trails remain passable for hikers.  .

Some, like Bob Czaja, of Scotch Plains, went to special chain saw training classes.  Now the 72-year-old retiree from Merck he and his friend, Bill Wallis, which check their section of the Sierra Trail—a 10-mile loop around the reservation—and make sure their section of the trail is in good shape.

For so many of the volunteers, the parks have always held a special place in their hearts. Russo is now the steward for a section of trail near Seeley's Pond, on the western end of  the reservation.    

"My buddies and I would ice skate all the way up the Green Brook to Seeley's Pond and we would camp out there," said Russo. "It was illegal, but we were 10 years old." 

Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski, the freeholder board's liaison to the parks, said the county would never be able to afford a staff to do the myriad of projects "the volunteers willingly take on."

"We owe them an immeasurable debt of thanks," Kowalski said.

Any individuals, corporations or community groups wishing to volunteer for the Adopt-A-Trail or Adopt-A-Park programs can sign up by calling the parks department at 908-789-3683.