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September 12, 2025: BOG BASH '25
CP Environmental Science students, Honors & Advanced Ecology students, AP Environmental Science students, GATE 8 students, and Southern Regional Barrens to Bay students travelled between 8 stations run by professionals from various organizations to preview and explore the various projects happening around our region and our Pinelands Bogs.
HS Stations
Station 1: Stockton Maple Grant (Debbie Sommers)
Station 2: Macroinvertebrates as Bioindicators (Caroline McFarlane -- Barnegat Bay Partnership, Bailey Sanders -- Wetlands Institute)
Station 3: Watersheds & Estuaries (Kaitlin Gannon--JCNERR)
Station 4: ReClam the Bay (Deb & John Meiman)
JHS Stations
Station 5: Soil Particles & Components (Jess Pinto-- Ocean County Soild Conservation District)
Station 6: NJ Parks-- Natural History of Batsto (John. Hebble--NJDEP, Wharton Historian, Alexandria Horan, Naturalist)
Station 7: Fire Ecology (Andy Tonnesen, Harrison Lewis, NJ Forest Fire Service)
Station 8: Pine Barrens Trail (Joel Mott, NJ Pinelands Commission)
2025-2026 Water Testing: Students in Environmental Science classes, and Honors & Advanced Ecology classes will be testing water to monitor pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, and phosphorous levels at various locations and times throughout the Pinelands Bogs
June 11-12, 2025: Human Impacts Research Presentations! Students examined one of the topics below and developed presentations or podcasts to communicate their findings!
Climate Change
Ocean Acidification
Offshore Wind
Living Shorelines
Shellfish Recycling
Sea Grass Restoration
Sea Level Rise
Habitat Degradation
Microplastics
Invasive Species
Coastal Resiliency
April 19, 2025: Students designed a presentation board and attended the Little Egg Harbor Eco Fair to answer questions, discuss our projects, hand out shirts, and share our maple syrup.
November RECAP: #FollowTheFlow Podcast produced our Advanced Ecology students
November 13, 2024:
AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassadors Caroline McFarland, Forrest Jennings, Cameron Shapiro, & Courtney Lacombe helped Honors Ecology & Environmental Science students complete a Benthic Macroinvertebrates sample study in the Pinelands Bogs.
Follow the Flow Podcast:
Our first three seasons of podcasts includes a student review of
Characteristics of Pine Barrens water
Explanations of a watershed
A deeper look into a specific watershed or sub-watershed that includes the Pine Barrens or Barnegat Bay.
You can listen to student projects here:
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/q7gIcsO3pub
September 19, 2024: BOG BASH '24
CP Environmental Science students, Honors & Advanced Ecology students, GATE 8 students, and Southern Regional Barrens to Bay students travelled between 8 stations run by professionals from various organizations to preview and explore the various projects happening around our region and our Pinelands Bogs.
HS Stations
Station 1: Macroinvertebrates as Bioindicators (Bailey Sanders -- Barnegat Bay Partnership)
Station 2: Stockton Maple Grant (Debbie Sommers)
Station 3: Soil Types & Profiles (Becky Laboy--Ocean County Soil Conservation District)
Station 4: LBT Field Station Projects (Angela Andersen)
JHS Stations
Station 5: Soil Particles & Components (Jess Pinto-- Ocean County Soild Conservation District)
Station 6: NJ Parks-- History of Batsto (John. Hebble--NJDEP, Wharton Historian)
Station 7: Fire Ecology (Andy Tonnesen, Oakley Spisak, NJ Forest Fire Service)
Station 8: Pine Barrens Trail (Joel Mott, NJ Pinelands Commission)
Pinelands Bog Bash '24.mp4March 22, 2024: Mr. Jim Ardoin, Dr. Kimberly Clark, and Mrs. ToniAnn DiFrancia present about the Pinelands BOGS at the National Science Teacher's Association national conference in Denver, Colorado.
The presentation focusses on utilizing outdoor space and building a science community with professionals and community members to engage students.
June 1, 2023--The Inaugural Pinelands Bogs Open House!
Student leader volunteers organized educational stations around the Pinelands HS & JHS campus for PRSD GATE 7 & 8 students and Bordentown Regional AP Biology students. We joined by members of the Bog Committee, Administration, and representatives from Southern Regional HS and Barnegat HS. Both schools will be instituting the "Barrens to Bay" curriculum for the 2023-24 school year!
Educational Stations
Watersheds & Water Quality
Benthic Macroinvertebrate Studies
Cedar Swamp Walk & Soil study
Pine Barrens Trail & Soil Study
Fire Ecology
Special thanks to Mr. Greg Gates (PRHS), Miss Melissa Yurowski (PRHS), Mr. Joel Mott (NJ Pinelands Commission), Jessica Pinto (Ocean County Soil Conservation District), Bailey Sanders (Barnegat Bay Partnership), and Virginia Kopkash (New Jersey Fish & Wildlife) for their assistance!
BogOpenHouse.mp4April 17, 2024: Students researched one plant or animal native to Barnegat Bay or Great Bay and developed a post for our Bogs Pages in addition to their poster and fact sheet for our interactive wall in the HS Commons.
March 28, 2024: After reading Chapter 9 "Life And Mostly Death" of Dr. Kenneth Able's book Beneath The Surface, students developed "Death In The Mullica" horror movie themed posters.
February 6, 2024: Students researched one plant or animal native to the NJ Pine Barrens and developed a post for our Bogs Pages in addition to their poster and fact sheet for our interactive wall in the HS Commons.
February 1, 2024: Students developed “Did you know?” posts inspired by our reading of "The Pine Barrens" by John McPhee and discussions following the book. These posts were shared on our social media pages.
January 31, 2024: Advanced Ecology students developed “Did you know?” posts inspired by our reading of "The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" by Mark Kurlansky and discussions following the book. These posts were shared on our social media pages.
December 22, 2023: Students researched 5 types of relationships shared by living organisms in the NJ Pine Barrens or Barnegat Bay and developed a poster to communciate their findings. Relationships examined included: predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.
December 5, 2023: Students worked in collaborative groups to complete their Biogeochemical Posters to communicate how Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous cycle through Pine Barrens ecosystems. Students needed to illustrate major parts of each cycle, and relate each cycle to our region including local human impacts.
November 4, 2023: Students completed a Benthic Macroinvertebrates survey of the western end of the Bog 2 stream. AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassadors Melanie Thorn, Kersten Axe, and Caroline McFarland helped students collect and use dichotomous keys to identify the various organisms they found.
June 14-16, 2023: Human Impacts Research Presentations! Students examined one of the topics below and developed presentations or podcasts to communicate their findings!
Climate Change
Ocean Acidification
Offshore Wind
Living Shorelines
Shellfish Recycling
Sea Grass Restoration
Sea Level Rise
Habitat Degradation
Microplastics
Invasive Species
Coastal Resiliency
April 19, 2023: The PRSD Bogs were featured as a field trip for the Ocean County Soil Conservation District's annual Environmental Educator's Roundtable. Mr. Jim Ardoin and Mr. Joel Mott from the NJ Pinelands Commission led a discussion & tour through the Giffords Mill Stream Bogs to describe how PRHS Honors Ecology program students are collecting data to monitor water quality, efficiency of the culvert filter project, and water table levels at various locations throughout the bogs.
April 17-18, 2023:
3 additional trail cameras with both picture and video capabilities were installed to monitor wildlife along all 3 bog trails. Students will review SD cards to collect data every other week to identify and monitor our bog inhabitants! This gives us a total of 5 trail cams throughout the Gifford Mill Stream Bogs!
The cameras were engraved by Mr. Carmona in our wood shop and the technology department installed tracking devices in all cameras.
March 10, 2023: After reading Chapter 9 "Life And Mostly Death" of Dr. Kenneth Able's book Beneath The Surface, students developed "Death In The Mullica" horror movie themed posters.
February 1, 2023: Students work on developing a poster and fact sheet for one NJ Pine Barrens native animal and plant.
Our work can be accessed through the Pine Barrens Animal & Plant Interactive Display
December 5, 2022: Students worked in collaborative groups to complete their Biogeochemical Posters to communicate how Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous cycle through Pine Barrens ecosystems. Students needed to illustrate major parts of each cycle, and relate each cycle to our region including local human impacts.
December 2, 2022: Mr. Ardoin presented at the Southern Barnegat Bay Watershed Advisory Committee Meeting to discuss the efforts of the Pinelands Honors Ecology students in maintaining and monitoring our Giffords Mill Stream Bogs. The Southern Barnegat Bay Watershed Committee comprises of municipalities, residents, major landowners, businesses, environmental managers, government agencies, and local organizations to advise the development a of a watershed restoration plan for Southern Barnegat Bay/Little Egg Harbor Tributaries. The project team provided updates on the watershed planning process and prioritized green infrastructure projects allowing time for review, feedback, and comments.
Watershed Restoration Plan for Southern Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Tributaries.
Photo courtesy of Mrs. Lisa Auermuller, Jacques Cousteau NERR
November 4, 2022: Students completed a Benthic Macroinvertebrates survey of the western end of the Bog 2 stream. Bailey Sanders, a AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador and representative of the Barnegat Bay Partnership helped students collect and use dichotomous keys to identify the various organisms they found.
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