| Home Perspectives Calendar Shop September 15, 2023 Newsletter Brightwood Park: A Journey Through Four Seasons FOBP is excited to share the seasons in nature through an exhibition of the photography of Chuan-Chu Chou and Lloyd Marks From August 14 through September 30, 2023 during Library Hours Westfield Memorial Library 550 East Broad Street Westfield, New Jersey 07090 This photo exhibit serves as a visual celebration of the natural splendor that graces our nature preserve throughout the year. The photos share the diversity of life, both flora and fauna, amid the changing colors of the landscape that make Brightwood Park a true sanctuary. Do you have ideas on where the photo exhibit should go next? Let us know. Or better yet, join us to help map out how we can bring nature awareness to a broader population! Beech Leaf Disease Brightwood Park has been blessed with many stately beech trees that create a shady canopy. These trees are now in the path of a deadly disease that has arrived in Union County. The disease is little understood except that it is somehow related to a microscopic nematode. At present, the disease is fatal to an affected tree. Forests in New Jersey have already faced losses of native trees including chestnuts and elm due to invasive pests and disease. This newly arrived beech leaf disease will further stress our wooded areas along with climate change and invasive plant proliferation. FOBP has been advocating for and working towards repopulation of native trees in the park. Recent Eagle Scout projects have been critical to preservation of the forest. Oliver Agar's Eagle Scout project has successfully integrated oak and maple trees into an area formerly blighted by wisteria. Adrian Gripp surveyed the current sapling inventory to establish a baseline for potential forest regeneration. He and Cameron Linenberg also applied netting on saplings to protect from deer rub. Gavin Dokko worked to shore up a seriously eroded hillside that has severely exposed tree roots. FOBP also applauds the Department of Public Works recent tree work and plantings in the park. If you would like more information on beech leaf disease and how to spot it, see https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2022/22_0037.htm . Help Wanted! Photo by Chuan-Chu Chou This Fall FOBP is hoping to continue restoration efforts in the park. The Westfield Recreation Commission previously approved an expansion of our pollinator patches in the park. We will be working on the gardens contiguous to the parking lot. If you would like to help, email us. FOBP will be presenting an additional proposal at the September 18 Recreation Commission meeting to plant trees and shrubs on the slope between the parking lot and pond and near the trail head. If approved, we will gladly welcome volunteers to help! Finally, if you have social networking skills, we need you! Email us! Noel Taylor Video A WHS retired science teacher, Noel Taylor advocated for and was greatly responsible for preservation of Brightwood as a nature preserve in the 1970s. A TV news broadcast reported on his conservation efforts and followed him on a walk in the park with then 5th graders from Franklin Elementary School. This remarkable video is now available here. Jack-O-Lantern Walk Ghosts, witches, and black cats will be back in the forest soon! October 28, the Jack-O-Lanterns will be lighting up the forest as they guide our special (tree) trunk or treaters along the path. Register on the Westfield Recreation Department website to attend our third annual Halloween walk. Space is limited, so sign up early!! If you would like to help with this event, email us . Join us to carve pumpkins - we need about 75! Education " Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves ." Stephen Moss It’s a New Season of Exploration For Nature Detectives! Nature Detective classes resume this Fall with plenty on tap for the young ones to engage with each other in outdoor fun and learning in nature’s classroom. We will foster imagination with walks and group impromptu storytelling and encourage use of all of our senses to explore the changing seasons. As always, our goal is to foster an appreciation for the care and keeping of our preserve, encouraging them as young stewards of all the beauty in Brightwood Park. NOTE NEW CLASS TIMES! 2-4 year old with adult: 2:30-3:15 5-8 year olds: 3:45-4:45 September 21 Imagination in the Woods October 19 Seasons and Trees November 16 Thankful for Nature November 30 Winter Wonderland Register for these programs here . If you would like to help, email us! FOBP Store If you are looking for a special gift... Shop FOBP! Our popular caps and totes can be delivered to your door! We will also be getting in new merchandise in time for the holiday season! This will be your easiest shopping ever! BRIGHTWOOD KIDS NATURE DETECTIVES September 2023 Newsletter Brightwood Ghosts Did you know that ghosts live in Brightwood Park? That is, ghost pipes! A completely white plant that does not get its energy from the sun! So how does this plant survive? Read here to find out more. Photos by Chuan-Chu Chou What is this lion in the park? Slime Mold! What's that? Photo by Chuan-Chu Chou Once thought to be a fungus, slime mold is now recognized as a separate class of single celled organisms under the protista grouping. Slime mold includes a number of different kinds of organisms. Brightwood's "lion" is a fuligo septica organism. Known also more colorfully as "dog vomit slime" or, perhaps more pleasantly, as "scrambled egg slime" or "flowers of tan" due to its bright yellow appearance. This gelatinous slime feeds on microorganisms found on dead or decaying plant material including bacteria and fungi. It can often be found in forests. Brightwood's "lion" was found just inside the fencing along the path on a log. Slime mold thrives in warm, wet and humid conditions. When the slime mold dries out, its bright color fades to brown or tan. Kingfisher Have you been lucky enough to glimpse the regal looking kingfishers that have visited Brightwood's pond? These beautiful birds are quite unique! Click here to learn about them. Photo by Chuan-Chu Chou |
September 15, 2023 Newsletter | |
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Brightwood Park:
A Journey Through Four Seasons
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FOBP is excited to share the seasons in nature through an exhibition of the photography of Chuan-Chu Chou and Lloyd Marks
From August 14 through September 30, 2023
during Library Hours
Westfield Memorial Library
550 East Broad Street
Westfield, New Jersey 07090
This photo exhibit serves as a visual celebration of the natural splendor that graces our nature preserve throughout the year. The photos share the diversity of life, both flora and fauna, amid the changing colors of the landscape that make Brightwood Park a true sanctuary.
| |
|
|
Do you have ideas on where the photo exhibit should go next? Let us know. Or better yet, join us to help map out how we can bring nature awareness to a broader population! | |
|
|
Brightwood Park has been blessed with many stately beech trees that create a shady canopy. These trees are now in the path of a deadly disease that has arrived in Union County. The disease is little understood except that it is somehow related to a microscopic nematode. At present, the disease is fatal to an affected tree. | |
Forests in New Jersey have already faced losses of native trees including chestnuts and elm due to invasive pests and disease. This newly arrived beech leaf disease will further stress our wooded areas along with climate change and invasive plant proliferation.
FOBP has been advocating for and working towards repopulation of native trees in the park. Recent Eagle Scout projects have been critical to preservation of the forest. Oliver Agar's Eagle Scout project has successfully integrated oak and maple trees into an area formerly blighted by wisteria. Adrian Gripp surveyed the current sapling inventory to establish a baseline for potential forest regeneration. He and Cameron Linenberg also applied netting on saplings to protect from deer rub. Gavin Dokko worked to shore up a seriously eroded hillside that has severely exposed tree roots. FOBP also applauds the Department of Public Works recent tree work and plantings in the park.
If you would like more information on beech leaf disease and how to spot it, see https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2022/22_0037.htm.
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|
|
 Photo by Chuan-Chu Chou |
This Fall FOBP is hoping to continue restoration efforts in the park. The Westfield Recreation Commission previously approved an expansion of our pollinator patches in the park. We will be working on the gardens contiguous to the parking lot. If you would like to help, email us.
FOBP will be presenting an additional proposal at the September 18 Recreation Commission meeting to plant trees and shrubs on the slope between the parking lot and pond and near the trail head. If approved, we will gladly welcome volunteers to help!
Finally, if you have social networking skills, we need you! Email us!
| |
|
|
A WHS retired science teacher, Noel Taylor advocated for and was greatly responsible for preservation of Brightwood as a nature preserve in the 1970s. A TV news broadcast reported on his conservation efforts and followed him on a walk in the park with then 5th graders from Franklin Elementary School. This remarkable video is now available here. | |
|
|
Ghosts, witches, and black cats will be back in the forest soon! October 28, the Jack-O-Lanterns will be lighting up the forest as they guide our special (tree) trunk or treaters along the path. Register on the Westfield Recreation Department website to attend our third annual Halloween walk. Space is limited, so sign up early!!
If you would like to help with this event, email us. Join us to carve pumpkins - we need about 75!
| |
|
|
It’s a New Season of Exploration For Nature Detectives!
Nature Detective classes resume this Fall with plenty on tap for the young ones to engage with each other in outdoor fun and learning in nature’s classroom. We will foster imagination with walks and group impromptu storytelling and encourage use of all of our senses to explore the changing seasons. As always, our goal is to foster an appreciation for the care and keeping of our preserve, encouraging them as young stewards of all the beauty in Brightwood Park.
NOTE NEW CLASS TIMES!
2-4 year old with adult: 2:30-3:15
5-8 year olds: 3:45-4:45
September 21 Imagination in the Woods
October 19 Seasons and Trees
November 16 Thankful for Nature
November 30 Winter Wonderland
Register for these programs here. If you would like to help, email us!
| |
|
|
If you are looking for a special gift... Shop FOBP! Our popular caps and totes can be delivered to your door!
We will also be getting in new merchandise in time for the holiday season! This will be your easiest shopping ever!
| |
|
|
Did you know that ghosts live in Brightwood Park? That is, ghost pipes! A completely white plant that does not get its energy from the sun! So how does this plant survive? Read here to find out more.
| |
|
|
What is this lion in the park? Slime Mold! What's that? | |
Once thought to be a fungus, slime mold is now recognized as a separate class of single celled organisms under the protista grouping. Slime mold includes a number of different kinds of organisms. Brightwood's "lion" is a fuligo septica organism. Known also more colorfully as "dog vomit slime" or, perhaps more pleasantly, as "scrambled egg slime" or "flowers of tan" due to its bright yellow appearance.
This gelatinous slime feeds on microorganisms found on dead or decaying plant material including bacteria and fungi. It can often be found in forests. Brightwood's "lion" was found just inside the fencing along the path on a log.
Slime mold thrives in warm, wet and humid conditions. When the slime mold dries out, its bright color fades to brown or tan.
| |
|
|
Have you been lucky enough to glimpse the regal looking kingfishers that have visited Brightwood's pond? These beautiful birds are quite unique! Click here to learn about them. | |
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