U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge 1547 County Route 565 Sussex, New Jersey 07461-4013 / 973/702 7266 Wallkill River b m 1 800/852 7899 TDD o c l o 1 800/852/7897 voice S National Wildlife H W n www.fws.gov/northeast/wallkillriver/ i F v S e U K Refuge Bottomland hardwood forest Federal Relay Service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing 1 800/877 8339 Important The refuge is open from dawn to dusk. Information For Visitors U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Observe wildlife from a safe and 1 800/344 WILD respectful distance. Binoculars, http://www.fws.gov spotting scopes, and telephoto lenses allow you to view wildlife closely October 2006 without disturbing them. Stay on maintained trails. Please do not feed wildlife. Feeding wildlife trains animals to be unnaturally dependent on and less frightened of humans, concentrates animals in one area and may make them more susceptible to disease. Please take memories and photographs. Do not gather or disturb any plants, flowers, insects, or wildlife. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protects archaeological sites from destruction during its own activities. It is against the law to damage archaeological sites or remove archaeological artifacts such as old bottles or arrowheads on the refuge. Please help protect sites by leaving artifacts in place and reporting locations to refuge staff. Leashed dogs are allowed on the Liberty Loop Trail. Otherwise, pets are not allowed on the refuge. Camping, jogging, horseback riding, bicycling, all terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and snowmobiles are prohibited. Chipping Sparrow Overnight parking is not allowed © Scott A. Vincent anywhere on the refuge. At the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, we conserve the biological diversity of the Wallkill Valley by protecting and managing land, with a special emphasis on migratory birds, wintering raptors, and endangered species, while providing opportunities for scientific research and compatible public use. Overlooking the Wallkill Valley Kevin Holcomb/USFWS Our Mission Welcome to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. Congress established the refuge in 1990 “to preserve and enhance refuge lands and waters in a manner that will conserve the natural diversity This blue goose, of fish, wildlife, plants, and their designed by J.N. habitats for present and future “Ding” Darling, generations and to provide has become the opportunities for compatible symbol of the scientific research, environmental National Wildlife education, and fish and wildlife- S W Refuge System. oriented recreation.” Congress F S U also required the protection of / d i aquatic habitats within the refuge, e R e including the Wallkill River and i l u Papakating Creek. J Wallkill River In turn, Wallkill River NWR in fall The refuge is located along a nine-mile supports the mission of the National stretch of the Wallkill River, and lies in Wildlife Refuge System, which is a rolling valley within the Appalachian “to administer a national network Ridge and Valley physiographic of lands and waters for the province. The Wallkill Valley is conservation, management, and bounded by the Kittatinny Ridge to where appropriate, restoration of the west and the Hudson Highlands to the fish, wildlife, and plant resources the east. This area is part of the Great and their habitats within the United Valley, which extends from Canada to States for the benefit of present and the southeastern United States. future generations of Americans.” As the ice sheets retreated from the Shaped by Nature The Wallkill River begins in Sparta, Wallkill Valley area, a glacial lake and People New Jersey, flows north through formed. The region’s major wetlands Orange and Ulster Counties in New are former glacial lake bottoms, and York, and merges with the Rondout the lake’s organic muck soils support extensive bottomland hardwood Trout lilies Creek to flow into the Hudson River. © Gene Stires, Sr. forests, wet meadows, and farm fields. The valley is underlain by limestone, with outcroppings sometimes appearing as “islands” along the river and in adjoining wetland complexes. Occupation of the valley by Native Americans began as early as 10,000 B.C. The Wallkill River was first known by the Lenape people as “Twischsawkin,” meaning “the land where plums abound.” The Wallkill Valley was an important source of flint and chert for Native Americans, who used these stones for hunting and cutting tools. Beginning in the 1600s, European A Variety of Swamps and floodplain forests of red settlers followed the Wallkill River Habitats maple, river birch, American south from settlements along the sycamore, green ash, buttonbush, Hudson River. It is thought the river silky dogwood, highbush blueberry, was named for Holland’s Waal River. spicebush, skunk cabbage, marsh With the bottomlands along the marigold and sensitive fern Wallkill River flooding extensively, characterize much of the refuge. the area became known as “The Drowned Lands.” As early as 1775, A small Atlantic white cedar forest people tried to drain the river for grows on the refuge. The mixed farming. The effort did not succeed hardwood forests of the higher until 1835 when a large canal lowered elevations include sugar maple, white the river’s water table. Mill owners, oak, shagbark hickory, flowering however, sought to keep the lands dogwood, witch hazel, mayapple, flooded, beginning the battle known cardinal flower, and columbine. as the “Muskrat and Beaver” wars. The disputes ended in the farmers’ Grasslands and scrub-shrub habitats favor in 1872. The fertile Wallkill are important refuge communities. Valley continues to sustain a variety The original native grasslands and of agriculture including fruits, extensive wetland occurring vegetables and sod. alongside the river before it was Chestnut-sided warbler with nestlings © Scott A. Vincent channelized are gone. Farmers have planted cool season grasses at the river’s edge and in upland meadows for haying, and some native warm season grasses have been restored in t these fields. n e c n i V . The third important habitat on the A t t refuge is the river and its tributaries. o c S The Papakating Creek, almost as big © as the Wallkill, forms a wide wetland Indigo bunting area west of refuge headquarters. The refuge also manages 350 acres of former sod farm as waterfowl impoundments. By controlling the water level in this area, the land can support large numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds. Bobolinks, The Wallkill River bottomland is one Bog Turtles, of the few large areas of high quality Impoundment Black Ducks, waterfowl habitat remaining in Edward Henry/USFWS and More northwestern New Jersey. As a major A total of 225 species of birds occur watershed and wetland area, the on the refuge, including 19 species of Wallkill River provides migratory waterfowl, 35 species of waterbirds, and nesting habitat for Atlantic 24 species of raptors, and 125 species flyway black duck populations as well of songbirds. Red-winged blackbirds as wood duck, mallard, green-winged and the spectacular courtship display teal, common mergansers and of the American woodcock harken Canada geese. spring’s arrival. Also common during spring migration are wading birds Eastern bluebirds such as the greater and lesser yellowlegs. In summer, the indigo bunting, bobolink, scarlet tanager, Baltimore oriole, grasshopper sparrow, savannah sparrow, cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler and other songbirds bring color and melody to the refuge. Kestrels commonly nest on the refuge, and the barred owl’s “who-cooks-for-you” call is often heard. The fall migration brings waterfowl, shorebirds, and other songbirds that had nested further t n e north to the refuge. Raptors are c n i plentiful during fall migration as well, V . A when sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper’s t t o c S © Wildlife Refuge management is focused on Management conserving, restoring, and enhancing the natural diversity of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats along the Wallkill River. Many of the historic wetland areas along the Wallkill River were drained in the past. Management activities include restoring some areas to their natural wetland condition, creating “potholes” which hold spring and fall floodwaters in areas where the original hydrology cannot be restored, and managing some Birdwatching on areas as moist soil units for Hillside with fall foliage waterfowl and wading birds. Kevin Holcomb/USFWS the Wood Duck hawk, and broad-winged hawks fill Nature Trail Grassland and forest areas are the sky on clear September days. important to raptors and songbirds Short-eared owls, northern harriers, and will be maintained and enhanced and rough-legged hawks are found S W for nesting and migrating species. primarily during the winter. F S The refuge has an active grassland U / d restoration and management The diverse mammal population n a l r program. Our cooperative farming includes bats, beaver, muskrat, river e H program provides opportunities for otter, mink, red fox, gray fox, coyote, y b local farmers to harvest hay in late b white-tailed deer, and black bear. i L summer from the refuge. While amphibian and reptile populations are generally declining Enjoying the The National Wildlife Refuge due to habitat loss and degradation, Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 the Wallkill River valley provides designated wildlife-dependent some of the best remaining habitat recreation as an important part for salamanders, frogs, turtles and of refuge management. If compatible, snakes in the northeast. Of special refuges are to offer opportunities significance on the refuge is the bog for wildlife observation and turtle, a federally threatened species Farmers photography, hunting and fishing, protected by the Endangered loading hay Species Act. Jeff Shryer/USFWS The refuge supports 48 species identified in New Jersey as Short-eared owl threatened, endangered or of special concern, and 11 species listed in New York.