Gardener State: Rutgers student restores once-forgotten trail
Tucked on the back of the Rutgers University Inn on Cook campus lies a hidden and once forgotten gem: the Arbor Trail.
Four years ago, Rutgers senior Elliot Nagele was walking along the inn’s lawn and noticed this hidden Rutgers relic overgrown with weeds, leaves and tree stumps. Intrigued, Nagele, went inside the inn to talk to its director, Deana Pagnozzi.
“He met with me and said, ‘I see you have a trail back there, I am part of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) program and I’d be really interested in cleaning it up,’” Pagnozzi recalls. “I said ‘absolutely,’ and Elliot immediately became a part of our family.”
And so began the Arbor Trail restoration project. Originally built in 1911 as part of the Sydney B. Carpender estate, which is now the present site of the Rutgers University Inn, the Arbor Trail was a gift to Carpender’s wife, Louise Johnson, daughter of Johnson & Johnson founder James Wood Johnson. Rutgers acquired the estate in 1965 and the trail was actively in use until the mid-1970s.
Maintaining the trail fell to the wayside because of budgetary decisions decades ago until Nagele, with help from faculty adviser Dr. Jean Marie Hartman got involved. Although removing rocks and tree stumps required serious manual labor, Hartman says Nagele was not concerned by any difficulty restoring the trail posed.
“He really worked very hard cleaning and restoring the trail, especially in the middle of the summer all by himself,” Hartman says. “He’d clean up some parts, but then they’d get messed up again. He would plant something but then a deer would eat it. I think he really learned how much management went into working on something like this, especially something that would extend beyond his term here.”
Pagnozzi insists that without Nagele, the trail would still be unwalkable. “Other than restoring the trail, he’s the reason so many departments are now working with us on this specific project, building upon his original idea,” she said.
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An internship to restore the trail further has been developed by SEBS. Hannah Consiglio, a senior bioenvironmental engineering major, is designing a rain garden retention pond that will create a flowing stream and creating an app about the trail’s history and the native plant species found there.
“Finding relics of the past, even stone paths and walls set by people who lived 100 years ago is so exciting,” Consiglio said. “Though the trail’s purpose has somewhat changed since then, it’s a special feeling to walk and work on that same path.”
What once was an anniversary gift for a Johnson & Johnson heir has been transformed into a learning ground for students who have created a sculpture garden and are now working on a bee pollinator project. And it all started from one student’s curiosity and commitment.
Rutgers Ecological Preserve
The Rutgers Ecological Preserve and Natural Teaching Area is a 360-acre wooded preserve located between Busch and Livingston Campus in Piscataway. The preserve – one of the largest contiguous patches of forest in the area – is habitat to wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, salamanders, red tailed hawks, herons, snakes, turtles, fish and foxes. The landscape covers fresh water streams, mature forests and meadows. Six trails crisscross the eastern portion of the preserve, and since October of last year, access to the western portion has opened up through a seventh trail.
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The new 1.4 mile long section has been named the Wildlife Loop Trail and winds through maple-oak-cedar woodlands and open glades. “I am really excited to be able to open up the whole western section of the EcoPreserve to access for nature study, hiking, running, mountain biking, and snowshoeing/skiing,” said EcoPreserve faculty director Rick Lathrop. The trail traverses a variety of terrain, bringing the grand total of trail mileage in the EcoPreserve to nearly eight miles in length.
Literally more than a ton of lumber needed to be hand-carried over a 1/3 of a mile into the Preserve to build a bridge across the headwaters of Metlar’s Brook and a 100-yard long boardwalk over a wetland seep (where groundwater naturally comes to the surface). The bulk of the work was undertaken by the land stewards over the past two summers, along with volunteers from the student chapter of the Wildlife Society and the Rutgers University Outdoors Club, the Raritan Valley Road Runners, and the Friends of the Ecological Preserve.
Run for the woods
Experience the wilderness of Rutgers! A single-loop 5K trail run through the Rutgers Ecological Preserve on Livingston Campus, organized by the RU Ecology & Evolution Graduate Student Association, will take place on Saturday May 11 at 9 am.
Race proceeds will support trail maintenance and habitat restoration at the EcoPreserve and research grants for Ecology & Evolution graduate students. Registration through May 11 is $25 for online or paper form (cash/check only) or $30 the day of the race. Interested trail runners and woodland enthusiasts can find details and register for this event online at https://runsignup.com/Race/NJ/Piscataway/RunfortheWoods.
Every registration includes a t-shirt and post-run snacks. This run will be hand timed and results will be posted online. Prizes include shoes from Road Runner Sports and native plants from Pinelands Nursery.