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January 23 - 30
Points of View
Although 10,000 winters before had taught native peoples how to adapt, the Morristown encampment of 1789-90 presented a supreme challenge for patriot soldiers. Walk up the hill at Jockey Hollow that held 200 soldier huts for the Pennsylvania Brigade in early 1790. Imagine staying there until it gets warm enough sometime in April to take off your down jacket, not to mention long johns. Imagine standing there without your shoes on, without even one of the huts on top of the hill for retreat from the incessant cold. Try to conceive of something important enough to keep you on that hill for the rest of the winter. More...
Visit the site of the Great Story,
Morristown National Historical Park, and learn about the life of a common soldier during the winter encampment. Call 973-543-4030 for more information.
Chill Out
A snowy forecast promises a day of fun at the annual Winter Festival at High Point State Park this Saturday, January 25! Activities will include winter themed crafts, guided winter hike, story corner, sing along, hot cocoa and cookies by the fire, sled dog program, snowshoeing, ice fishing, and curling demonstrations (conditions permitting). The New Jersey Dog Sled Club will attend and present an education program and demonstration. All courtesy of the Friends of High Point State Park, 12-3pm.
Life of Wiley
Coyote in Winter. Painting by John Mullane.
If rarely seen, the coyote is frequently heard. In the winter, during the January to March breeding times, listen for nocturnal howls when coyote are at their most vocal. They are happy to tell other coyotes, and the world, their location. Stop and listen. They'll fall silent all too soon.
ConsiderFor many, winter is a season for reflection. The challenge of the season strips away pretense, and offers a time for learning.
Everyday we see dramatic scenes of environmental disasters like the all-consuming fires in Australia and California, toxic drinking water, fracking debacles, pipelines invading sacred lands, the extinction of thousands of species every year. We nod absently to the evidence of climate change, seeming immune and panic-proof from the impending disaster, even as local communities continue to face the ever-increasing push for living space and devlopment in the name of "growth."
Today, our so-called Environmental Protection Agency will remove federal protections from more than half the nation’s wetlands, and hundreds of thousands of small waterways. "That would for the first time in decades allow landowners and property developers to dump pollutants such as pesticides and fertilizers directly into many of those waterways, and to destroy or fill in wetlands for construction projects." (NY Times)
Communities all over the world have established the first global laws protecting nature. Close to home, Pennsylvania’s voters ratified, in 1971, the Environmental Rights Amendment to their state constitution, proclaiming their right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. Imagine a river taking her case to court!
You can help expand the body of legal rights in New Jersey to include nature here.
"The older tension in human affairs between conservative and liberal based on social orientation is being replaced with the tension between developers and ecologists based on orientation toward the natural world. This new tension is becoming the primary tension in human affairs." - Thomas Berry
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If you're already a subscriber to our magazine, you've probably noticed that we've abolished winter. Our next issue will be out for Spring, in March.
Tap our calendar for the best events for you and your family, or check our current stories. Stay tuned to our Day Trip Map for good ideas for a scenic drive! For the more aerobically inclined, the
Outdoor Map
shows the way to go, or
choose among dozens of natural attractions or outdoor activities suggested on our website. Northwest New Jersey and destinations just beyond those borders, in Pennsylvania and New York, offer brilliant ways to get out and enjoy the pleasures of the season.
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