Friends of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge

Indian Trail Swamp Cleanup Project 
April 3, 2010

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Join fellow Friends and volunteers in our first major project of 2010.  We will be partnering with The Nature Conservancy to clean up adjacent Refuge and TNC preserved land located within the Indian Trail Swamp in Middle Township. The Indian Trail Swamp Cleanup will take place on Saturday, April 3rd from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.  We will meet at the Indian Trail Swamp Preserve, about a mile west of Home Depot on Indian Trail Road, in Cape May Court House.  Please arrive early and dress for the weather.  Only heavy rain or snow will cancel the event.  Bring work gloves, water, and a snack.  We will provide trash bags and all other essential items (including coffee and donuts).  Following the clean-up, there will be an optional hike through the rare Cape May lowland swamp.

 Once known as the King Nummy Trail, after the chief of the Kechemeche Tribe, Indian Trail was used as a route from the Delaware Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, where natives fished and gathered clams and oysters.   Not just important historically, Indian Trail Swamp is recognized by the New Jersey Natural Heritage Program as a Priority Site for Biodiversity.  This rare Cape May lowland swamp achieves the standard of having “very high biodiversity significance” and is considered one of the state’s most significant natural areas (US Fish and Wildlife Service).  The New Jersey Audubon Society characterizes the Indian Trail Swamp as an Important Birding Area because it lies in the heart of the Atlantic flyway and “consists of nearly contiguous wetlands and upland forests, representing a large portion of the Cape May Peninsula’s last remaining intact habitats.”  Thus, it is justified that international conservation organization Wetlands for the Americas designated the Cape May Peninsula’s diverse habitat types as having hemispheric importance to migratory bird populations (USFWS). 
According to the New Jersey Audubon Society, Indian Trail Swamp is a crucial stopover for migratory song birds and raptors.  It also “supports breeding populations of the state-threatened Barred Owl and several conservation priority species including American Woodcock, Chuck-will’s-widows, and Hairy Woodpeckers.”   As stated by The Nature Conservancy, Indian Trail Swamp is also home to a “significant concentration of plants considered imperiled in New Jersey, including glade spurge, dwarf azalea, dog-fennel thoroughwort, and Walter’s St. John’s-wort.” 
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Unfortunately, parts of the Indian Trail Swamp are plagued by littering, dumping, and inappropriate recreational use.  Containing the headwaters and upper watersheds of the Dias Creek and Green Creek, Indian Trail Swamp’s non-point source pollution is not only a direct threat to the Swamp, but also poses a hazard to the Creeks and neighboring Delaware Bay.  One of the biggest things we can do, as a community, to improve environmental quality and make a statement that we are concerned about the wellbeing of our local environment is to take proactive steps toward improving said environmental quality. 
Photos provided by the Friends of CMNWR and The Nature Conservancy
Interested in
Helping with the
Indian Trail
Swamp Cleanup?

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