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White and Liberty Townships, Warren County
57 Acres
Cool, shaded, wet and damp, the Mountain Lake Bog Preserve is
steeped in botanical history. Located at the outlet to Mountain
Lake, the bog is a densely vegetated peat wetland formed along
the banks of Mountain Lake Brook. One of the best examples of
a black spruce and tamarack plant community grows among the sphagnum
moss. Swamp white oak, black gum and red and silver maple can
also grow in the deep wet soils. A unique glacially formed wetland,
Mountain Lake Bog has attracted naturalists and leading botanists
as early as the 1800s to look for rare plants more often found
in northern states. Nathaniel Lord Britton, founder of the New
York Botanical Garden and author of the Illustrated Flora of the
Northeast, did extensive surveys here in 1880s. Mostly unchanged,
naturalists still explore the bog in hopes of discovering any
number of rare and beautiful plants including leathery grape fern
and bog willow. Beaver dams create small impoundments where mallards
and wood ducks feed and rest during fall migrations.
Recently the Trust, in cooperation with the North Jersey Resource
Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) as well as Liberty
Township Environmental Commission, completed a successful wetland
restoration. Using grant funding from RC&D a two-acre area
of mowed grass, old stumps and trash was cleaned up and returned
to a more natural habitat condition. Dumpsters were loaded with
old stumps and scrap metal, which had filled in areas of bog,
resulting in impacts to streamside habitat. Conservation experts
designed a stream bank restoration plan using native plant materials
intended to create shade and reduce erosion. Students from Warren
County New Jersey Youth Corp planted over 100 trees and shrubs
including sycamore and red osier dogwood. Native warm season grass
was also incorporated into the design to diversify the available
habitat.
Public Access and Uses:
Due to the wet bog conditions, the preserve offers little usable
access for the general public. Parking is limited. However access
to hiking trails within Jenny Jump State Forest can be found near
the north end of Mountain Lake. The Trust allows registration
for deer hunting at this preserve.
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