Great Swamp Watershed Association - Educational Programs

Outdoor Programs

Learn more about what’s happening in and around the Great Swamp Watershed region by joining us for one of our upcoming outdoor events. These programs are fun and informative for people of all ages and skill levels.

Registration & Fees.Registration is requested for all outdoor programming. Please read the following event descriptions for specific registration information. In most cases, current GSWA members participate free of charge. Nonmembers are asked to make a voluntary contribution of $10/adult and $5 per child (6 to 17 years), or $35/family (includes 4). There is no suggested contribution amount for children ages 5 and under. Please refer to the descriptions below for event-specific exceptions.

How To Prepare. When attending an outdoor program, please dress for the weather. Conditions may be wet, muddy, hot, or cold. Long pants and sturdy shoes or boots are strongly recommended. Feel free to bring your own water in a reusable water bottle, and your own snacks. Binoculars and field guides are welcome where conditions permit use.

To register for a program, click the Register link below its description or visit our Event Registration page. Event dates, times, and locations are subject to change or cancellation. If an email address or phone number is provided at time of registration, GSWA will make every effort to inform pre-registered participants about scheduling changes. Updated scheduling information is also available by calling our Event Information Hotline at 973-538-3500x22.

Spring 2013 Outdoor Programs

New Date!
Vernal Pool Exploration

Friday, March 29, 7 – 9 p.m.; GSWA Conservation Management Area, 1 Tiger Lily Road, Morristown, NJ

Pull on your rubber boots, grab a flashlight, and prepare to get a little wet as you join naturalist, photographer, and GSWA volunteer Blaine Rothauser for a Spring Peeper Party in the vernal pools of Great Swamp Watershed Association’s 53-acre Conservation Management Area (CMA). This tract of forested wetland contains many vernal pools that will be jumping with breeding spring peepers, chorus frogs, wood frogs, and lots of other amphibians. It’s fun for the whole family! Participation is limited to the first 25 registrants.

Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt & Picnic

Saturday, May 11, time to be announced; Start and end at Kitchell Pond Pavilion, Loantaka Brook Reservation, 75 Kitchell Road, Morristown, NJ.

Calling all would-be explorers, adventurers, and buccaneers! Think you know a thing or two about New Jersey’s Great Swamp? Then it’s time to test your powers of navigation and observation at the Great Swamp Scavenger Hunt! The Great Swamp Watershed Association and its partners invite you, your family, and your friends to join us at Loantaka Brook Reservation’s Kitchell Pond Pavilion on May 11 so you can set your sights on a true journey of discovery. We will provide you with a route to travel, questions to answer, and a list of treasures to find throughout the 55-square-mile Great Swamp Watershed region. It’s your job to navigate you own way, seek answers, and return with all your scavenged booty at the end of the day! The more scavenging you do, the better your chances will be to take home some fantastic prizes during our late-afternoon Scavenger Hunt Picnic. We will provide the burgers, the hotdogs, and the drinks for the picnic. You provide yourselves, a covered side-dish (to share or not), and plenty of springtime-barbecue enthusiasm! More than 100 people turned out for last year’s hunt and picnic. It’s time to get in this game and help us shatter that record!

The Essence of Primrose: A Great Swamp Photo Contest and Workshop

Saturday, June 8, time to be announced; Primrose Farm, Harding Township, NJ.

Love snapping shots of the Great Swamp in your free time? Then why not show off your photography skills in the Great Swamp watershed on June 8! GSWA is offering an exclusive first look at Primrose Farm, a 113-acre tract of land recently preserved as open space with help from Harding Land Trust, the Trust for Public Land, Harding Township, and GSWA. With a diversity of landscapes—forests, wetlands, meadows, and steep slopes—Primrose is the perfect spot for hosting a photography contest and workshop focused on the land, water, history, and wildlife of the Great Swamp watershed region. Photographers of all ages and skill levels are invited to compete to capture “the essence of Primrose” in their work. GSWA staff and professional photographers will be available all day to give guided tours of the property and photography advice. All contest submissions will be judged by a panel of local photography and environmental experts.

A complete set of contest rules and event details, including submission deadlines and cost to participate, will be published here as the event date draws near.

Jockey Hollow Explorers: Water and the Revolutionary War Encampment

Sunday, June 9, 10 a.m. – noon; Jockey Hollow Visitor Center, Morristown National Historical Park, 6 Jockey Hollow Road, Morristown, NJ

The Jockey Hollow section of Morristown National Historical Park teems with wildlife and American heritage. Enjoy a late spring hike and some storytelling as you learn more about how Revolutionary War soldiers used water at the site and what those water supplies look like today. Start the morning with a gentle, guided hike through the park’s natural sights and sounds courtesy of the Great Swamp Watershed Association. Along the way, keep an eye out for dragonflies, listen for song birds, and watch for katydids and other wildlife! After the hike, join a National Park Service interpreter around a campfire for some storytelling and history. Find out just how much or how little today’s landscape has changed from that of our forefathers two hundred thirty-four years ago!

Luna Moth on lichen tree, copyright Blaine Rothauser

Blaine Rothauser photographed
this Promethea silkmoth
(Callosamia promethean) on a
previous “mothing” expedition
in the Great Swamp watershed.
©2009 Blaine Rothauser

Great Swamp Moth Exploration

Friday, July 5, 7 p.m.; GSWA Offices, 568 Tempe Wick Road, Morristown, NJ

Join naturalist and photographer Blaine Rothauser for an introduction to moth ecology. A hands-on outdoor “mothing” program will follow a brief slide presentation and lecture. Mr. Rothauser will set up a sodium-vapor lamp outside of GSWA’s office on Tempe Wick Road. That light, in turn, will attract moths for observation, identification, and photography.

Participation is strictly limited to 15 people. End time for this event is left to the discretion of the presenter. Please feel free to remain until the presenter concludes his studies.

Download the form and hike, bike, or drive around the Great Swamp Watershed to find the plants and animals listed on the back. When you’ve found them all, send in your form and get a sur-prize!