Parks 1-10 - Monmouth County

About two-thirds of the park is forested, with fields and a six-acrepond on the other third. The old growth upland forest is dominatedby American beech, northern red oak. and tulip poplar trees,and has a sparse understory of American hornbeam trees, mapleleafand arrowwood viburnam shrubs, and Canada mayflowerperennials. Low-lying forested areas are dominated by red mapleand green ash trees, with an understory of spicebush, and skunkcabbagein the more saturated wetlands. The Ramanessin sectioncontains some rare strawberry bush despite the prevalence of deer.Some notable herbaceous plants include foamflower, a rare NewJersey Species, and notable spring ephemerals along the MarshTrail: early meadow rue, round-leaved wintergreen, and roundlobedhepatica.Most of the 182 acres of fields in the park are meadows with warmseasonnative grasses and plants like Goldenrod that provide pleasantvistas and habitat for field-nesting birds and insects. Some of theremaining fields with cool-season grasses are maintained as ‘hay fields,’with infrequent mowing. The two man-made ponds contain stockedtrout, and their shorelines have been planted with native vegetationto provide habitats for butterflies and aquatic insects. Notable wildlifesightings in the park include pileated woodpeckers, great-horned owls,painted turtles, and ring-necked ducks.89—————— —— ————holmdel park