The Jersey Shore

From time to time I will find the need to post something about the beach that has nothing to do with New Jersey. This is my first, hence the #1.

I was come across this blogpost about Galveston Island State Park reopening. This park is located on Galveston Island in Texas and was pretty much wiped out by Hurricane Ike. There were a few camping areas, a welcome center and a picnic area just behind a small dune that seperated the gulf beach from the rest of the park (the park extends from the gulf shoreline to the Galveston Bay shoreline).  The beach was washed away and all this other stuff that was just behind the dunes was smashed to bits.

The interesting part of the story of this place reopening is the way the park got back to being able to be used again. The local “friends” group for the park spent countless hours cleaning up. They literally moved mountains of trash by organizing a lot of volunteer help, and working with the Texas parks department. The beach is still not open and the campsites are still gone, but the rest of the park is now usable.

The state had no idea when they would have opened the park if they would not have had the volunteer stuff that was done. After the hurricane Texas officials basically said they did not anticipate opening the park for the forseable future. Basically everyone was resigned to them taking years to get back to being open, and it was unclear if they would offer any services there again.

Instead what has happened is the park will now be usable, at least for non-campers or people that do not want to visit the beach.  It is remarkable that the volunteers did what they did.

I thought this was a great story about people loving their local beach, so I wanted to pass this along.

Here is a little gem of a place that not many people hear or know about. Wells Mills County Park is the largest Ocean County municipal park. It features over 900 acres of property.

Some of its features and offerings:

• located in the middle of the Piney woods
• has nature tours, programs and information
• has a three story nature center
• plays host to the Pine Barrens Jamboree every October
• the beautiful Wells Mills Lake is found here
• 18 miles of nature trails
• canoeing
• fishing (license required)

The nature center is the focal point of the park, besides of course the beautiful natural areas you can walk around and see. The center has a floor of displays that feature local wildlife and the environment. There is also a library and on the third floor is the “Elizabeth Meirs Morgan Observation Deck.” The name honors one of Ocean County’s most well known naturalists and conservationists. From there you can look out over the piney woods and a portion of southern New Jersey’s extensive sand plains.

Nature programs are given in a variety of locations, including an eighty-seat lecture room. There are also numerous outdoor locations where a large variety of programs and talks are given.

The park has a large freshwater lake, swamps, streams and slighty higher and dryer forested land. You can see and walk among pine-oak forests, Atlantic white cedar swamps and bogs. The size of the park and the various habitats also means there is a diverse collection of plants and animals found here.

Wells Mill County Park is located at 905 Wells Mills Road (Route 532) in Waretown, NJ. It is open every day from 7 a.m. until dusk, while the nature center is open from 10 a.m through 4 p.m. There is no fee charged for entering the park but there may be charges associated with attending different nature programs. There are also restrictions concerning what you can and cannot do in the park, which includes access and boating in the Wells Mill Lake. Do contact the nature center if you have any questions or concerns.

You can find out more about the park here: Wells Mill or by calling the nature center at 609-971-3085.