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Save the Environment of Moorestown was founded in 1972 as a grassroots
organization with a mission to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural environment of Moorestown, New Jersey, for today and for future generations. STEM’s work over the years to address local environmental issues such as water and air pollution, solid waste disposal, & recycling also includes helping to preserve and protect Moorestown’s open spaces. Our Natural Area Care program helps to maintain these sites on an ongoing basis. We are always looking for new members. |
Moorestown Township Awarded $243,700 Grant for Swede Run Fields Habitat Restoration
Save The Environment of Moorestown (STEM) is thrilled to report that Moorestown Township is the recipient of a US Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware River Conversation Fund Grant of $243,700 for Ecological Restoration and Wildlife Habitat Improvements at Swede Run Fields. The Township has committed $100,000 in cash towards the project and STEM committed an additional $40,000. The Township, in partnership with Save The Environment of Moorestown (STEM), will provide additional matching in-kind services bringing the total project investment to nearly $487,400. The project focuses on a 39.84-acre section of Swede Run Fields that includes wetland and riparian zones and Swedes Run, a direct tributary of the Delaware River.
The project supports the conservation and restoration of native ecosystems and wildlife populations through targeted eradication of invasive species combined with intentional spatial ecological design with a special focus on avian Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Invasive species present on-site—including common reed (Phragmites australis), oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellatus)—are known to degrade habitat and water quality by promoting soil loss, destabilizing soils, and altering hydrologic volume. Their removal, paired with the re-establishment of native vegetation, would restore habitat structure and function critical to sustaining avian and amphibian populations. As part of the monitoring component, avian community dynamics—including breeding, migration, and wintering patterns—along with calling anurans would be studied to elucidate the anticipated ecological benefits of these restoration efforts and inform long-tern outcomes.
The project improves land and watershed management through the strategic removal of invasive species and the establishment of native plant communities within Swedes Run Creek, its associated wetlands, the riparian forest, and upland meadow buffers. These restoration efforts would directly enhance vegetative cover and soil stability, leading to improvements in water quality, including reductions in total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS), increases in dissolved oxygen (O₂), and reductions in conductivity and temperature. By restoring native plant structure and ecological function across the site’s diverse and ecologically significant habitats, the project advances the long-term protection and maintenance of water quality throughout the 39.84-acre area. As part of the project’s monitoring component, macroinvertebrate populations would be studied and water quality parameters collected to help elucidate these anticipated benefits.
The project enhances recreational opportunities within Swede Run Fields, a publicly accessible preserved open space that remains open year-round in accordance with Moorestown Township’s designated hours. Restoration efforts would integrate with the existing trail network, providing opportunities for interpretive educational signage along the trails. The removal of dense invasive plant colonies would improve visibility, walkability, and overall access throughout the park, increasing public enjoyment of the natural landscape and enhancing the user experience for passive recreation, including birdwatching. The site is already a well-established birding destination within both Moorestown Township and Burlington County. Through intentional plant selection, the project will incorporate spatial ecological design to support critical nesting habitat and high-quality stopover habitat for migratory species. In addition, a formal bird study would be implemented using permanent monitoring plots, enabling long-term observation and data collection by citizen scientists (eBirders), and supporting the Township’s adaptive monitoring efforts into the future.
This project builds open the existing habitat restoration efforts that have occurred on site at Swede Run Fields. STEM installed and continues to maintain an award-winning native pollinator garden adjacent to the Swede Run Dog Park and worked with the Township and the US Fish and Wildlife Partners for Wildlife program to convert a 70 plus acre fallow farm field into a native grass and flower meadow.
In 2024 STEM was awarded a $40,000 grant by NJ Audubon Society to fund an Ecological and Geomorphic Assessment of Swede Run. This study provided a strong foundation for the pursuit and win of the larger grant that will fund actual restoration work.
STEM is thankful for the Townships commitment to this and the previous projects that have fundamentally restored a large percentage of the habitat at Swede Run Fields. We are excited to enter the next phase of the project. Work on the project is expected to begin in Spring of 2026 and extend into 2028.
We will keep you posted on the progress of this exciting project.
The project supports the conservation and restoration of native ecosystems and wildlife populations through targeted eradication of invasive species combined with intentional spatial ecological design with a special focus on avian Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Invasive species present on-site—including common reed (Phragmites australis), oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellatus)—are known to degrade habitat and water quality by promoting soil loss, destabilizing soils, and altering hydrologic volume. Their removal, paired with the re-establishment of native vegetation, would restore habitat structure and function critical to sustaining avian and amphibian populations. As part of the monitoring component, avian community dynamics—including breeding, migration, and wintering patterns—along with calling anurans would be studied to elucidate the anticipated ecological benefits of these restoration efforts and inform long-tern outcomes.
The project improves land and watershed management through the strategic removal of invasive species and the establishment of native plant communities within Swedes Run Creek, its associated wetlands, the riparian forest, and upland meadow buffers. These restoration efforts would directly enhance vegetative cover and soil stability, leading to improvements in water quality, including reductions in total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS), increases in dissolved oxygen (O₂), and reductions in conductivity and temperature. By restoring native plant structure and ecological function across the site’s diverse and ecologically significant habitats, the project advances the long-term protection and maintenance of water quality throughout the 39.84-acre area. As part of the project’s monitoring component, macroinvertebrate populations would be studied and water quality parameters collected to help elucidate these anticipated benefits.
The project enhances recreational opportunities within Swede Run Fields, a publicly accessible preserved open space that remains open year-round in accordance with Moorestown Township’s designated hours. Restoration efforts would integrate with the existing trail network, providing opportunities for interpretive educational signage along the trails. The removal of dense invasive plant colonies would improve visibility, walkability, and overall access throughout the park, increasing public enjoyment of the natural landscape and enhancing the user experience for passive recreation, including birdwatching. The site is already a well-established birding destination within both Moorestown Township and Burlington County. Through intentional plant selection, the project will incorporate spatial ecological design to support critical nesting habitat and high-quality stopover habitat for migratory species. In addition, a formal bird study would be implemented using permanent monitoring plots, enabling long-term observation and data collection by citizen scientists (eBirders), and supporting the Township’s adaptive monitoring efforts into the future.
This project builds open the existing habitat restoration efforts that have occurred on site at Swede Run Fields. STEM installed and continues to maintain an award-winning native pollinator garden adjacent to the Swede Run Dog Park and worked with the Township and the US Fish and Wildlife Partners for Wildlife program to convert a 70 plus acre fallow farm field into a native grass and flower meadow.
In 2024 STEM was awarded a $40,000 grant by NJ Audubon Society to fund an Ecological and Geomorphic Assessment of Swede Run. This study provided a strong foundation for the pursuit and win of the larger grant that will fund actual restoration work.
STEM is thankful for the Townships commitment to this and the previous projects that have fundamentally restored a large percentage of the habitat at Swede Run Fields. We are excited to enter the next phase of the project. Work on the project is expected to begin in Spring of 2026 and extend into 2028.
We will keep you posted on the progress of this exciting project.
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