Merrill Creek Reservoir

08/26/2026

Southern Species of Butterfly spotted on Scott’s Mountain near Merrill Creek Reservoir.

An occasional butterfly species visitor to NJ was spotted recently near Merrill Creek Reservoir. According to the NJ Butterfly Club (A Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association), this species, the Little Yellow (Eurema lisa) is very small — 1.3” (much smaller than Clouded Sulphur Butterfly). The male is bright yellow with many small, dark spots plus a larger, palish rusty-pinkish spot at hind wing apex. Two tiny black spots at base of forewing clinch the ID. The female is lighter yellow with variable markings usually bolder than the male’s, particularly the Hind Wing apex spot. Rarely seen basking with open wings.

It is a nonresident of NJ. Primarily a southern species that occurs as a regular stray in NJ. Although reported from throughout the state most of the reports are from the southern NJ counties. However, it establishes small, temporary colonies where the ephemeral host plants are common.

The host plants of the Little Yellow are Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) and Wild Sensitive Plant (C. nictitans). While MCR does not have Wild Sensitive Plant, MCR does have lots of Partridge Pea!

Starting 3 years ago, MCR started incorporating the native Partridge Pea seed into meadow restorations, pollinator gardens and even in soil stabilization projects. Partridge Pea (the yellow flowers in the photos) provides vital support to local ecosystems by feeding pollinators, hosting butterfly larvae, enriching the soil as it is a nitrogen fixer, and supplying crucial winter food (its seeds) for birds. Also, the plant’s small glands at the base of the leaves secrete nectar that not only attract bees and butterflies, but it also attracts ants, wasps, and lady beetles. In exchange for the nectar, these predatory insects protect the plant by eating harmful insect pests. In fact, one study done at the University of Maryland, titled "Partridge Pea: Your Local Community Buffet for Natural Enemies in Organic Corn," suggests it may even act as a trap crop, luring pests like stink bugs and the European corn borer away from corn crops.

Partridge pea is also a larval host plant for the Io Moth, Gray Hairstreak, Sleeping Orange Butterfly, Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly, and Common Tan Wav Moth.

If you see a Little Yellow at MCR please let us know where you encountered it on the property and date and forward any photos of it to MCR at [email protected]

08/04/2026

MCR Bald Eagle Update: We are happy to say that this year both Bald Eagle nests produced and fledged young! A total of 3 Bald Eagles successfully fledged their nests at MCR and can be seen with the adults around the reservoir!

08/03/2026

Check out the August Newsletter from MCR's Ranger Rich on Crane and Midas Flies!

MCR Monthly Newsletter What’s Hatchn’ing at Merrill Creek Reservoir with Ranger Rich About the Author: Richard Dansen Sr. Rich has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in zoology and wildlife management. Rich has been with Merrill Creek Reservoir since 1995 where h...

07/29/2026

Timberdoodle Broods at MCR! The American Woodcock (AKA The Timberdoodle) is a small plump semi-migratory shorebird that unlike its coastal cousins lives in young forests and shrubby old fields across eastern North America. Typically, wildlife enthusiasts and birders equate seeing Woodcock in early Spring when at dawn or dusk, the males put on an exhibition for females by performing amazing aerial displays and making loud, nasal “peent” calls.

But where are they during the summer months as they raise their young? Well apparently, they are here at Merrill Creek Reservoir!

Over the last few weeks MCR staff while out doing various vegetation surveys in several forestry treatment areas at MCR have been coming across not just adult Woodcock, but adults with young (broods)!

According to many Avian-centric education and research groups and State and Federal Wildlife Agencies, to successfully breed and raise young, the American Woodcock relies on specific structural and ecological components grouped in close proximity in early successional landscapes. American Woodcock breeding habitat requires a mosaic of four distinct, closely linked environments: singing grounds for courtship, open canopy young hardwood forest and thickets for nesting and brooding, moist or disturbed soils with thick layer of leaf litter for earthworm and insect foraging, and open shrubby fields for nighttime roosting.

Over the past few years MCR has been implementing various ecological forestry practices such as forest thinning, harvest, invasive vegetation controls, plantings and prescribed fire under a NJDEP approved Forest Stewardship Plan. These practices vary in forest stand, but overall, they are specifically designed to support increased biodiversity of native flora and fauna by creating habitat types that at some areas of the property are uneven aged (rather than an even aged forest where the trees are of equal age and roughly equal height creating a uniform closed canopy upper layer of leaves and branches.).

As the regeneration of native vegetation, especially trees and shrubs, at these treatment areas progresses, overgrown bushy thickets form that feature high density woody stem densities. This habitat type of young forest offers ground nesting species, like American Woodcock, an excellent place to nest and raise young because of the overhead concealment from predators that the brush provides.

According to the NJDEP, “American Woodcock populations have experienced a severe, long-term decline in New Jersey. Historical data shows an estimated 80% drop in NJ's woodcock population from 1970 to 2017, driven primarily by a massive loss of early successional (young forest and scrub-shrub) habitats as open lands turn to mature forests or get developed”. MCR’s diverse habitat mix of meadows, wetlands, forest with forest clearings, agricultural fields, and open secondary growth forest stands coupled with active forest and meadow management bring together all habitat elements for Woodcock to thrive.

07/21/2026

RARE PLANT FOUND AT MCR! While performing vegetation regeneration survey work at one of MCR’s ecological forestry cuts recently, surveyors from New Jersey Audubon found a very rare plant for NJ. The plant, the Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is an endangered native wildflower in New Jersey. The plant was confirmed by MCR staff who also found a second individual plant in close proximity to the other.

Tracked by the NJDEP Office of Natural Lands Management, Wood Lily carries an S2 state rank, meaning it is considered imperiled due to extreme rarity, with only 6 to 20 known reproducing populations remaining in the state. It features showy, upright, fiery red-orange cup-shaped flowers with purplish-brown spots, blooming from June to July. The plant naturally grows is environments of open canopy woodlands, open glades, as well as, open upland early successional fields/young forest, thickets, including powerline right-of-ways and sandy plains.

The main cause of the decline of Wood Lily in NJ is natural succession to closed canopy forests and fire suppression. It also is browsed by deer. The species historically thrived in open areas maintained by periodic wildfire disturbance, however with fire being suppressed it is harder to establish new patches of the plant without active ecological forest management such as forest thinning and/or harvest to create tree canopy gaps. These tree canopy gaps provide additional sunlight to the forest floor thus stimulating the native seed bank. Wood Lily bulbs can remain dormant for years before re-emerging when conditions favor growth (i.e. appropriate light, moisture, temperature conditions triggering dormant seed).

MCR has been implementing ecological forestry practices under its NJDEP approved Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) for several years. However, over the last 3 years, specific forestry treatment practices including harvest and forest stand thinning at a much larger scale have created habitat conditions that do stimulate growth of native vegetation. In fact, prior to implementing these large-scale practices, two botanical inventory studies for the entire MCR property were performed in 2014 and 2022 and some of the native plants that we are now seeing growing in the forest treatment areas were either: not found at all on the property during the botanical surveys or were not found in various forest treatment areas prior to treatment. Examples of some of these plants that are now being found in the treatment areas are American Hazelnut (Corylus americana), Alternative Leaf Dogwood (AKA Pogoda Dogwood) (Cornus alternifolia), Green Milkweed (Sclepias viridiflora), Showy Orchis (AKA Showy Orchis) (Galearis spectabilis), and Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa).

07/01/2026

Check out the latest MCR newsletter from Ranger Rich about Ravens and Crows!

MCR Monthly Newsletter What’s Hatchn’ing at Merrill Creek Reservoir with Ranger Rich About the Author: Richard Dansen Sr. Rich has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in zoology and wildlife management. Rich has been with Merrill Creek Reservoir since 1995 where h...

06/26/2026

Five of the Six NJ Swallow species breed at MCR. Check out our blog about these amazing aerial acrobats!

06/19/2026

ANGLERS of MCR WE NEED YOUR HELP
Starting June of 2026 MCR, in conjunction with NJDFW, is performing a study of MCR’s Salmonidae species in the reservoir. Specifically, MCR is conducting creel surveys for ONLY Atlantic Land-locked Salmon, Lake Trout and Rainbow Trout. Should an angler catch any of these three species at the reservoir we are respectfully asking that the fish be reported to any on-duty MCR’s Boat Ramp Attendant located at the Boat Ramp Parking Lot.

MCR Boat Ramp Attendants will have a measuring board and scale at the MCR Boat House to record weight and length. Even if the fish was caught and released, we are asking that anglers upon returning to the boat launch please report the estimated weight, length, and Salmonidae species name to the MCR Boat Ramp attendant.

At some point during the summer months, collection of stomach contents from these 3 species may occur. Stomach content collection is OPTIONAL and is ONLY at the permission of the angler harvesting the fish. Should an angler allow stomach content collection on its harvested fish, an MCR Boat Ramp Attendant will perform the collection.

This study will help the management of MCR’s fishery providing important information in these three categories:

• Angler success and harvest rates for these Salmonidae species in MCR
• Obtain a better understanding of prey usage by these Salmonidae species in MCR
• Assist with a better understanding of overall health / population dynamics of these Salmonidae species in MCR

Of special note for any Salmon caught at MCR. All salmon stocked by NJDFW at MCR have a “Fin Clip” identification mark to determine what year they were released into the reservoir. Fin clipping is a fisheries management and research technique where specific fins are harmlessly removed from fish. It is primarily used to distinguish hatchery-raised fish from wild fish, track stocking programs, and identify specific groups of fish or family lines in breeding and research. Upon catching a salmon at MCR, please look at its fins to see what year the fish was stocked. This information is important to determine age of the fish. A chart of Salmon Fin Clip Info will be posted at the kiosk adjacent to the MCR Boat House in the Boat Ramp parking lot.

06/15/2026

Check out our latest blog on a unique native plant in bloom now at MCR!

Between 2021 through 2022 Merrill Creek Reservoir had a Botanical Inventory performed at the property. The results of that inventory found “375 plant species, including 293 native species (78.1%) and 82 non-native species (21.9%). Additionally, the property hosts five state-listed rare plant speci...