I

SI Beyond the Beach,

A Unique Place of Rapture^y Shared

h’«,Kd llamrtt HKI.l* WANTED - Manager for fiflOacre resifiential and transient fanlity^an t)Time resort area Many pernianent/gOestR. heavy temporary occupancy in Fall season .Includes maintenance of mile of beach along scenic Delaware Bay and actjoining wooded area Flexible hours, opportunity for outdoor recreation.

' , tntWerting job offer, isn't it? As employment ads sometimes do, though, it leaves out a few par- ■ ticulars For instance, that most of the residents are extremely flighty that seasonal visitors come with the avowed and licensed intention of shooting certain of the inhabitants...that alcoljolic beverages are banned from the Iiremises and autos from a grdht part of the property. Anyway—the job is filled. It’s held by. Kaymond Sayre, who’s in charge of the Higbce Beach Wildlife Management Area for the state Division of Fish and Game. And Sayre, who studied his specialty as a wildlife biologist at Arizona State University, is very happy with what's he doing. His occupancy rate would-make a motel owner drool: countless birds., including yellow' breasted .chats, blue grosbeaks, cuckoos, pine warblers, redstarts; yellow throats, vircos .and wood thrushes There are also woodcock, a wide variety of waterfowl, quail, and rabbits, all of which keep a low profile when hunting

on thr covtr -

WII.bl.IFE biologist Roy Soyrr on Iho front edge of ■ dunr high above Delaware Boy. Photos by Bob Sbllea. i/AUGUSTS. ISO I

SHIFTING'SANDS of the dunes, which really do move due to actions of wind and tide, over many generations have buried and exposed ancient cedars and other trees along the Delaware Bay shore, just north of the tip of New Jersey. Snow fencing helps to stem dune loss to storm induced erosion.

80,000 being reported. The avian check-in is particularly heavy when the wind is from the northwest and the migrants feel the need for a rest, before crossing Delaware Bay: Hospitality such as that enjoyed by the birds of passage has long been the hallmark here. Joseph Higbee established a steamboat landing on the site in 1823. His Hermitage Inn provided rest and refreshment for travelers who proceeded by horse and buggy to the burgeoning resort of Cape . Itlay City. Time overtook Higbee’s hostelry and the steamboats which brought his trade, and for }

raise innocent pheasants and trout to be shot or hooked to make

a sportsman’s holiday?

Not to mention the contractors, truckers and householders who, had found the^voods and dunes ideal spots fonidumping trash ranging from hunks of concrete to

kitchen litter.

Onto this scene of clutter, controversy and the calm beauty which had survived neglect and abuse came Ray Sayre, in September 1979. \ His job is to "manage” the arSg, which means, among other things, preserving the unique features which make it so attrac-

magnolias, flourishing at their northernmost limit. Making his home among them is the southern great tree frog, also at the limit of

his range.

Other semi-exotic guests may \ turn up when surveys of vegeta- , tion, small mammal, and breeding birds have been completed by Sayre. . t Still others may be lured to enjoy Higbee’s hospitality. ’ Under one restoration project, an artificial pond will provide a cozy home for the tiger salamander, whose habitat is dwindling rapidly elsewhere. A piping plover colony is doing well, and bobolinks,

Hospitality.'.has long been a hallmark here.

PROTKCTOR Hay Sayre in the dunegrass community, one of more than ten distinct vegetation areas as Highee’s. .

season rolls around October 25. The big influx comes with the southward migration of the big shore tjirds, which is already beginning; and the rapture, such as the golden eagles, peregrine, falcons, -espreys, other hawks, ■ eagles, and turkey vultures Higbee’s provides a convenient stopping-off place for , the birds heading south along the Atlantic Seaboard, with sightings of up to

years the tract was used only for fishing and hunting by the local farmers. The site took on another role in World War I, 1914-18, when gun emplacements were constructed on the beach by Bethlehem Steel, for use in testing artillery shells. A railroad track brought in the shells, and a small settlement was set .up for those who conducted the tests. All that remains are the concrete foundations of those emplacements. The 415. acres of Higbee Beach bordering on the bay were acouired by the state in 1978, with three quarters of the $1 million cost coming from federal funds and the remainder from the state Green Acres program. An additional 190 upland acres are leased from the Army Corps, of Engineers. The project had its full share controversy. The people Who had made a swimming hole out of one of the two lakes created by abandoned gravel pits objected to the “no swirtming” edict. Equally'unhappy were the dune buggy and dirt bike enthusiasts who had used the beach and — much more damaging, ecologically — the fragile dunes as a handy motorcross course. Conservationists were vocally dubious of entrusting the place to the Fish and Game Division. Aren’t its operatives the ones who

live to man and beast. Higbee’s has the last stand of dune forest on the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay. The lush vegetation which crowds to the landward edge of the beach attests to that distinction. Underlining that this is South Jersey, and that Higbee’s lies beneath the Mason and Dixon line, mixed iqUh the walnut, hickory, ash, aniPhackberry trees are water oak, persimmons and

.rfm the deqline in New Jersey, have shown an interest in settling in. Sayre is trying to attract housekeeping-minded terns, too. As Sayre’s uniform of work shirt and dungarees attests, much of his work day is taken up by. maintenance qhores — cleaning up, erecting barriers to keep banned vehicles from the sensitive dunes, and restoring those which have been damaged. That includes fencing and replanting,

SHRUB THICKET Community, home of the barberry and beach plum among others, extends parallel to the beach among the dunes between the dunegrass and dune woodland communities.