REBIRTH OF RANDALL HILL FOREST

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

NATURAL HISTORY:

Even most folks living in Mine Hill haven’t heard of Randall Hill. It is a section of town bordering Wharton that was once a major mining area. It has mostly been forgotten. The mines were abandond 134 years ago and the land has been undisturbed since. In that time, the scars and barren earth have been reclaimed by nature. Shrubs and a thick canopy of trees reclaimed the hill. The piles of slag and dirt that dotted the hillside, and probably washed down hill during rainstorms, became fixed in place by a growing root system.

As vegetation returned to the hill, the flow of rainwater off the property slowed down, captured by the growing layers of leaf matter and tree roots. The sixty-some sinkholes that run along the western slope act like drainage basins collecting rainwater and sending it directly into the ground. No one ever recalls them filling with water. There are fractures, two fault lines and maybe porous rock formations in the layers below ground that allow water to move laterally through the ground to low lying areas that surround the hill on three sides. Surface water still flows in a heavy rain. It makes its way down to the lowlands as it filters through the soil and ground cover. Some of this water also resurfaces as freshwater springs and areas where groundwater seeps back up to the surface. You may know these areas as Spring Brook and the Spring Brook wetlands.

Today, Randall Hill is recognized as a Groundwater Recovery Area because it helps replenish our groundwater aquifers. Spring Brook and its wetlands are recognized as class C1 protected wetlands for the quality of its water. The water, which starts as rainfall on the hill, collects in the lowlands and travels from Spring Brook into Jackson Brook within Hedden Park. From there it flows into the Rockaway River destine for the Jersey City and Split Rock Reservoir. These reservoirs provide 45 million gallons of water a day to 1.2 million residents of Central New Jersey.

FROM MINING TO WOODLAND TO FOREST:

The pristine forest lands which once covered the highlands where we live have receded as human development encroached over time. But a narrow band of forrest land, known today as a ”greenbelt”, remained connected to Randall Hill as it was denuded of trees in search of iron ore. The type of ore found here is called magnetite. It is more than 60 % pure iron. It is a heavy and black colored mineral. Three or four hundred-thousand tons were removed before the mines closed. But the greenbelt remained at the foot of the hill remain.

This proved important for the natural recovery of Randall Hill. It allowed what would otherwise be an isolated stand of trees to redevelop into a true forest ecosystem. As the wetlands and woodlands recovered, they provided new areas of food and shelter for aquatic life, birds, and mammals that are being squeezed by their shrinking habitats. Today, they have repopulated the Spring Brook wetlands and what rightfully should be called the Randall Hill Forest.

Living beside this forest I can tell you that we are treated to almost daily examples of the wildlife that occupies the hill and surrounding wetland. A few years ago, for the first time, we spotted a fledgling great horned owl in a tree near the water tower. It was molting. A month later, around bedtime, noisy screams in the treetops caused me to grab a flashlight and run out to investigate. It turned out to be “moving day” when momma owl chased her three babies away from the nest. Two of the three found their own homes nearby. Sometimes since then, when we are up late, we can hear their beautiful night songs.

When I first heard the desperate owl sounds, I thought it was the annual racoon moving day. Every year the mommy racoon living on the hill decides enough is enough and starts screaming at her babies to move out. The juveniles scream back, as teenagers are apt to do. The racket they make is truly scarry. Two years ago, I ran out with a flashlight one night to watch the action and saw a baby racoon fall down from its nest to the ground, hitting branches as it fell. I tried searched with the light to see if it was okay when I suddenly caught site of it running on the ground. It was running straight towards me. Before I could move it stopped short eight feet away. We stared at each other for a long moment before it turned and took off in another direction.

The deer on the hill and in the Spring Brook wetlands are numerous and healthy. My yard seems to be a bit of a greenbelt for them every evening. They cut through a few properties on Randall Avenue heading towards the highway, perhaps heading for the wooded wetlands behind Canfield Avenue School. In the morning, we often spot them heading back to the Randall Hill tree line. We have seen as many as twelve of them making this nightly trek at dusk. Sometimes they are followed by coyotes, which we have seen also. When the lawn is snow covered, we nearly always see coyote tracts beside the deer tracts. We had an animal camera in our yard for a few years and have many pictures of the deer, coyotes, and red fox in our yard. We also have skunks, woodchucks, and on one occasion, what appeared to be a bobcat on the move. And, of course, there are bears. Some big, some cubs with their mother. Over the years they started out as visitors from other parts of the primary forest. This past summer, a whole family moved into an area of the Randal Hill Forest. They lived on the south-east corner of the property near the wetlands. The male bear, according to an experienced local hunter who observed them, seems to be in excess of 650 pounds. They were good neighbors and never bothered anyone.

Then there are the birds. The Spring Brook wetland hosted a whole rafter (flock) of wild turkeys this year in Autumn Run. The sky overhead often featured blackbirds, hawks, starlings, and vultures. Just this morning, during our walk, we noticed five or six vultures perched on the chimneys of houses in Autumn run, taking advantage of the warmth. The hawks are frequently seen soring above Randall Hill to catch the thermals created when the breeze rises over up and over the hill. The hawks can often be heard in the woods on the hill. This past year, for the first time that I know of, there was at least one nesting pair.

Then, much to my delight, the bats have returned over the summer months. When I was young, living in Jefferson, the bats were a nightly presence entertaining my friends and me with their acrobatic skills while the “old timers” said, “Watch they don’t nest in your hair”. Since the white nose disease problem, they have been largely absent. Three years ago, I spotted them over my home once or twice. This year there were more, and they appeared often. They are a smaller species than I remember from the past. I haven’t been able to identify them yet, but I am sure they are living on Randall Hill.

The point is that after 134 years of being left alone, this 100-acre woods is a forest once again with a full and healthy habitat for wildlife. It has value both as a habitat and water source for Spring Brook. It did it’s time as an industrial site and now deserves our protection. It is a natural feature of Mine Hill that many other towns would love to claim in their community.