Cooper River Watchable Wildlife Walk : Reptiles - Cherry Hill, NJ - Flora and Fauna Information Signs on Waymarking.com

This interpretive is part of a series of seven scattered about the eastern side of the Cooper River. The interpretive program, called Cooper River Watchable Wildlife Walk, is part of a 1.8 mile path that stems from Greenwald Park and extends along a small branch of the Cooper River that is wooded and shaded. There has been a lot of activities and initiatives lately with our local parks department. Our main facility was just upgraded with an addition and is LEEDS certified! The green-roofed facility adjacent to the parks department's longtime headquarters on North Park Drive in Cherry Hill opened in 2011. I watched them build it and wondered what the heck was a bunch of green weeds doing up on the roof. Now I know it is an environmental thing. Built for $2.4 million, about half of it from a state green-energy grant, the center has begun to host organizations, programs, and events on a regular basis. This interpretive series is one of those programs. The free "Talks and Walks" will focus on the Cooper watershed's flora, fauna, and history, and will continue biweekly through June 16, 2013, paying particular attention to these interpretives. The South Jersey Land and Water Trust recently received a $7,600 Subaru of America grant to fabricate and install these seven handsome "watchable wildlife" informational signs for the park, which is home to small mammals (including muskrats), the occasional marsupial (possums), as well as an aviary's worth of sparrows, cardinals, robins, nuthatches, chickadees, and woodpeckers.

When I originally catalogued these interpretives I missed a few but was able to go on one of these "walk & Talks" with the guy who actually took the pictures for the interpretives and spearheaded their installation, so that was kind of exciting. If you look in the photo gallery, you will see him standing next to the interpretive.

The Cooper River Watchable Wildlife Walk is located at the Maria Barnaby Greenwald Memorial Park. Maria Barnaby Greenwald was a really nice lady and mayor of my home town of Cherry Hill and the first woman to be elected as a Camden County Freeholder. The 47-acre park named in her honor encompasses a variety of different habitats from woodland, scrub and streams to field and pond. With abundant habitat for wildlife in the heart of a heavily developed area, birds and other wildlife are drawn here like magnets. A two or three hour walk around the area can yield at least 40 species of birds in May or September and slightly less at other times of the year. Wetland and woodland marsh habitat is observable from a slightly elevated trail. The 1.8 mile Cooper River Watchable Wildlife Walk begins here (Trailhead at Hopkins Lane), with interpretive signs and brochures available at the Parks Administration Office and 3 locations along the trail.

About the Interpretive

The painted, snapping and red-bellied turtles and the
bullfrog are common in and along the Cooper River

Look for the painted and red-bellied turtles sunning
themselves on a log or stream bank. The snapping turtle
is shy but can sometimes be spotted in the river coming
up for air or looking for a meal.

Look for the bullfrog along the banks of Hopkins and
Driscoll Ponds. Listen for its deep "jug of rum" call.

The entire interpretive is watermarked with a picture of a Painted turtle. Well, not exactly watermarked as the picture is just as prominent as all the other, it is just the others were layered on top of it as it takes up the entire length and width of the sign. There are also colorful pictures of a bull frog, snapping turtle, & a red-bellied turtle, all on the left side of the interpretive, stacked vertically, in the order I listed them. These pictures make identification of our reptile life very easy an fun. The logos of the Subaru Cooperation (which is just up the river), Camden County Parks Department and the South Jersey Land & Water Trust can be found in the lower right hand corner.