The river means nature for Highland Park. A chain of county and municipal parks and natural areas follows the Raritan River the full length of Highland Park as a loosely connected Highland Park Greenway. In spring, much of this land floods, as it is meant to. Kept natural, it absorbs the floodwaters like a sponge.
These natural areas open to the
public provide outdoor experiences
rare in today's urban communities.
Starting on the northeast above the
river, the first natural area is the
largest and least tamed: the
university-owned Rutgers
Ecological Preserve (68 acres in
Highland Park, the rest in Edison and
Piscataway). Its fields, woods, and
stream (Buell Brook) offer varied
habitat to birders and hikers braving
the rough, unmarked trails.
On the river itself is Middlesex
County's Johnson Park (473 acres,
Highland Park and Piscataway).
Highland Park's portion includes a
bikeway, playing fields, and wildlife-watching
ponds. Buell Brook and Mill
Brook enter the Raritan here. The
Piscataway section offers a zoo,
harness-racing track, and historical
exhibits at East Jersey Olde Towne
(plus Low and Metlar-Bodine Houses
above River Road). There is
hiking/biking access across the
Landing Lane Bridge to the
Delaware & Raritan (D & R) Canal
State Park.
The East Coast Greenway offers new travels to Highland Park hikers and bikeriders. This national trail from Florida to Maine already reaches Highland Park via the D & R towpath and Johnson Park bikeway. An extension will soon be built along Cedar Lane, around the Ecological Preserve, and to the east.
The Highland Park Native Plant
Reserve (3 acres) on the river
downstream of Johnson Park is our
compact but rich "arboretum" of
native plants. Overseen by our
Shade Tree Advisory Committee and
volunteers (yes, you can help), its
riverside woods, display plantings,
and educational signage won an
Environmental Quality Award (2000)
from US EPA Region II. Entrance:
River Road at Harrison.
The river's edge continues as
natural habitat (but on private land)
to the next public access at Valley
Place Ravine (1.8 acres), where a
trail drops down a wooded ravine to
a fine river view. Beyond, Red's
Marina (historically Ayres Beach)
and a freshwater marsh are private
lands Middlesex County is acquiring
to preserve habitat at the sharp river
bend and landmark cliff that early
settlers dubbed the Devil's Elbow.
Donaldson Park (90 acres) is the
park most used by residents,
whether for sports, picnics, jogging,
boating, or birdwatching. Planned
renovations for this county park will
increase its natural character.
Downstream of Donaldson is the
final and wildest of our riverside
natural areas, a tangle of fields,
woods, and wetlands that old photos
call The Meadows (16 acres).
Currently difficult of access, this
recovering nature refuge has our
largest tidal marsh (different habitat
from the freshwater marsh past the
other end of Donaldson). Grants
have been received to study its
ecology and establish a trail.
Leaving the river, nature is more accessible just above The Meadows at the Southside Bikeway (Fifth and Valentine to Seventh and Donaldson), where wide paving leads toward Donaldson Park. Plantings of native trees and shrubs provide for both a pleasant stroll and an environmental education. Here, public land continues partway up the ravine known as Buck's Woods.
Highland Park's pocket parks offer trees, flowers, benches, or play areas. These are Karsey Street Park, Felton Avenue Tot Lot, Veterans' Park at the triangle of Raritan and Woodbridge Avenues, and one Northside garden triangle at Fourth Avenue and Madison Avenue (an angled street believed to follow the original colonial Mill Road and Native American Assunpink Trail). A proposed pocket park in the triangle between River Road and Lincoln Avenue would mark the borough entry with native plantings. Another minipark is on South Eighth Avenue. The High School/Middle School has a display garden with native plants, and one is planned at Irving School.
Street trees in Highland Park are themselves a linear arboretum of some 4,000 trees. The Shade Tree Advisory Committee suggests species for annual plantings to increase variety, especially of native species. Call the borough to 1) request a tree in a future round of plantings or 2) ask permission to plant your own in the municipal right of way along the street (quicker). Your site must be found suitable and the species must be approved to avoid such problems as tall trees under wires and species that prove brittle, invasive, or disease prone (Bradford pear, Norway maple). In addition to these two routes to your own street tree, you may 3) donate to the Tree Fund. This can be a graceful gesture to honor someone who has passed away, to mark the birth of a child, or to celebrate a birthday, special occasion, or tree-planting holiday such as Arbor Day, Earthday, or Tu'bi-shevat.
Ask the reference librarian at the public library for the Natural Resources Inventory (1992), Greenway Feasibility Study (1994), Street Tree Master Plan (1998), and environmental information file.
[Reprinted from Highland Park Residents' Handbook]