The ecological study will form the basis for Save the Environment of Moorestown to pursue grant money for future habitat restoration work in the Swede Run waterway.
Save the Environment of Moorestown’s (STEM) annual meeting featured guest speaker Michael McGraw, senior project manager and senior wildlife biologist at Princeton Hydro, who led an ecological study of Swede Run focused on the section of the waterway that traverses the Swede Run Field open space.
That study was funded by a 2024 New Jersey Audubon grant, money that funded an ecological, geomorphic and water-quality assessment of the waterway.
“I always love being a fly on the wall for these types of groups, because you obviously are all gathered here for a common cause, which is that you care about the environment,” McGraw said at the Community House on March 25. “ … We’re grateful that New Jersey Audubon invested in (all of) you (and) we’re grateful that you invested in us to create this framework, this road map to get funding to do more work.”
McGraw has more than 20 years of experience in ecological assessments and wildlife surveys, and he’s also an ornithology instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. McGraw has conducted and designed wildlife surveys and ecological investigations across various conditions and ecosystems in the eastern U.S., as well as the southern, midwestern and western states; Canada; and Hawaii.
“ … I’ve been studying landscapes in year zero collecting baseline data, and then working with designers (and) landscape architects to come up with ecological restoration plans,” he explained, “cost those plans, find money to support those plans, implement those plans and then come back and study afterwards, and quantify the ecological uplift and value …
“What’s the return on investing not from a dollar sign but from a wildlife perspective and from a plant diversity perspective?”
The ecological study of Swede Run will form the basis for STEM to pursue grant money for future habitat restoration in its waterway, work that will build on the successful habitat restoration project on the big field at Swede Run, which STEM undertook with the township and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through its Partners for Wildlife program.
Swede Run Fields – formerly the Benner Farm – is the largest chunk of open space in Moorestown. As it traverses the smaller 40-acre parcel, Swede Run is bordered by brush wetlands and flood plains. The open-space site provides diverse opportunities for wildlife habitat and a natural area to enhance the quality of water in Swede Run.
“We have enough data to say scientifically and infer as intelligent human beings that we are genuinely optimistic that investing in this site will provide significant value for the natural resources for this county,” McGraw said of the study. For this township and for anyone who wants to enjoy it and beyond.”
“I think we really have a special place at Swede Run,” remarked STEM president Mark Pensiero. “It’s unusual, it’s big enough that it can be impactful. There’s active recreation, there’s a dog park, there’s trails to walk, there’s wildlife to see and we’re so fortunate.”
For updates on the ecological study, visit STEM’s website or Facebook page.
