Saturday, May 4, 2013
Conservancy plants native species, removes invasive plants from Essex County preserve.
Local volunteers kicked off a project to restore several acres of woodland at the Essex County Hilltop Reservation in April. Led by the Hilltop Conservancy, the group planted, mulched and fenced 10 deer exclosures and removed thousands of invasive wineberry and privet plants, according to Theresa Trapp, treasurer of the conservancy. These projects, Trapp explained, are part of a master plan to regenerate seven acres of the forest understory at the reservation, which straddles North Caldwell, Verona and Cedar Grove. In early April, native plants — such as redbud, serviceberry, arrowwood and summersweet — were planted and then protected from deer with eight-foot fencing. The conservancy also spread tons of wood chips from recent storms, …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Do you think the county should continue the annual hunt?
Let the hunt begin. The sixth year of Essex County's deer management program begins Tuesday. The hunt will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays until Feb. 7. Hunting will take place at South Mountain Reservation in South Orange on Tuesday and Thursday, and Jan. 29 in the afternoon only. In addition, hunters will be allowed to track trails in the Hilltop Reservation and the old Essex County Hospital Center site in the mornings and afternoons on Jan 31, as well as on Feb. 5 and 7. The hunt has been scaled back this year. The program has been reduced from 24 hunting sessions in 12 days in 2012 to nine sessions in six days this year. Open/Closed During the deer hunt, the reservations and Fairview Avenue in Cedar Grove will be closed. The …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Council to discuss two new turf fields, part of the next phase of the Hilltop recreation project.
Phase II of the Hilltop property project will be the subject of a special meeting and workshop by the Verona Township Council tonight. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the Verona Municipal Building, 600 Bloomfield Ave. Township Manager Joe Martin said the project have been going on for more than a decade and this phase will include three new recreation fields as well as passive walking trails. Centennial Field was constructed during the first phase six years ago, he said. The second phase will add a shared softball and baseball field and a full-sized utility field to house soccer, football and girls and boys lacrosse games, Martin said. “All three will be turf fields, which will meet Verona's recreational needs for years to come,” said …
40.83186
-74.2459
Verona Civic Center
600 Bloomfield Ave, Verona, NJ
/articles/verona-holds-special-meeting-to-discuss-hilltop-project
744273
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Saturday, September 15, 2012
Hilltop and South Mountain Conservancies are petitioning Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. to continue the upcoming deer hunt.
The Hilltop and South Mountain Conservancies have started a petition to be sent to Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. regarding the possibility of canceling the county deer hunt. As of now the hunt has not been canceled and no official decision has been made yet, said County Public Information Director Anthony Puglisi in a phone interview. The hunting season typically occurs in January and February he said. A total of 274 deer were removed from South Mountain, Hilltop and Eagle Rock Reservations during the 2012 Essex County Deer Management Program, said DiVincenzo in a written statement. This was the fifth year that the program has been conducted. According to a Star-Ledger report, the deer population in Essex County has been…
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Staycation? Vacation? Either way, upload photos of your summer travel experience.
This summer we were going to venture out on a 25-city, four-week tour of Europe, but we just felt like the whole spending-money-like-a-rap-star thing was really played out. OK, so the 2012 summer budget really only allowed for sitting in front of the A/C eating a pint of ice cream. Turns out we are in the minority, because AAA travel club reports that the number of Americans traveling has been on a slow and steady increase for the last two years. AAA's travel data from July 4 of this year showed a 4.9 increase from last year for people trekking more than 50 miles from home to celebrate. "Americans are still in love with their vacations and they are finding ways to finance those vacations despite the slow-growing economy," said Cythina …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Beautiful weather expected for family bike ride or hike in the woods.
The Hilltop Conservancy is hosting its eighth annual family bike ride or hike on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. The route is approximately 1½-miles long on pavement and gravel roadways. Residents can start riding any time after 9:45 a.m. Families with small children should allow about one hour for a leisurely ride and exploring. Bikes with training wheels are welcome. Hilltop officials ask participants to park in the lot behind the sports field on Mountain Avenue in North Caldwell (Courter Lane entrance to the Hilltop Reservation). The route is marked to start directly from this parking lot. Officials want residents to not bring money. "The ride, beautiful scenery and memories are free. Do bring helmets, a camera and perhaps some drinks…
Friday, March 23, 2012
Help the Hilltop Conservancy rebuild a bridge this weekend.
A 12-foot bridge that spans a permanent stream on the north end of the Hilltop Reservation in Verona has collapsed leaving a trail unable to be hiked, according to officials of the Hilltop Conservancy. Hilltop Conservancy Vice President Geordan Smith is asking for community help beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday repairing the bridge. “It is costing zero,” Smith said, but he has asked for volunteers with cordless drills and Philips-head bits to help. “We will use as much as possible from the old bridge to build the new one.” With four or five people the project is expected to take 90 minutes to complete. The ladder bridge only needs the two main 12-foot beams replaced, which West Essex Building Supply Co., 40 Depot St., Verona, has already …
40.85705
-74.2451
37 Greendale Rd, Cedar Grove, NJ
/articles/the-hilltop-needs-help
/locations/6651531
Saturday, February 4, 2012
As the annual deer management program reaches the midway point, we'd like to know your thoughts.
Essex County is midway through its annual winter deer hunt that started on Jan. 17 in the hopes of curbing the whitetail deer population. Since 2008, volunteer sharpshooters have stationed themselves at platforms in county reservations to cull deer. Last year, the county reported that the efforts had curbed 1,089 deer since the program's beginning. In 2010, the deer hunt spread to three reservations - South Mountain, Eagle Rock and Hilltop. In addition, the county has installed traffic deflectors and started replanting the undergrowth in some of the reservations as additional methods to curb deer. This year's hunt will finish on Feb. 23. Even after four years, some people object to the hunt and say it's inhumane and ineffective. We'd like …
Eric Goodman
4:59 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thank you for your input, Mike! more ›