Helmetta Bog: A Swampy Soggy Little Shop of Horrors and a New Dragonfly Species for Middlesex County

Helmetta Bog is one of the absolute natural gems of Middlesex County. Although this bog has long been known by naturalists for its botanical and entomological uniqueness, most people don't even know this amazing place exists. Helmetta Bog and Jamesburg Park are a large remnant of the "Spotswood Outlier" an area of Pine Barren's vegetation and wildlife that is separated from the remainder of the Pine Barrens by about 15 miles or so. Much of the "Spotswood Outlier" has been lost to development and Jamesburg Park and Helmetta Bog are one of the largest remaining areas. A few years ago, I was fortunate to accompany the wonderful nature writer, Dave Wheeler and his dad on a foray into Helmetta Bog. Dave wound up including it in his awesome book Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State. If you haven't read this book yet, get a copy!

The uniqueness of Helmetta Bog led the United States Environmental Protection Agency to classify it as an EPA Priority Wetland. Helmetta Bog is actually a huge wetland system and large parts of it were old cranberry bogs before the turn of the last century. The extreme northern edge of these wetlands, just west of Hemetta Boulevard, is in East Brunswick and is well worth the effort to explore. But exploring the bog is only for the intrepid, with no trails and deep, nearly bottomless muck. One wrong step and waist deep muck is a guarantee. The best way to access the bog is to park at the small dirt pull-off just before the road crosses the swamp and hike west into the woods along the trail. About 200 feet from the road, bushwhack south until you find the wooded swampy edge of the bog. At this point there are two options. One way is to walk along the edge in either direction until you find an old and not easily recognized path into the bog (there are some old wooden timbers in the wetter areas), or if you cant seem to find the old path, to carefully pick your way through the wooded swamp trying to stay on hummocks and fallen logs until you pop out into the open bog. The wooded swamp is only a narrow band of about 50 feet, so it isn't too far to get to the bog. One wrong step is sure to add some time as you try to find something to grab onto to extracate your leg from the sucking muck. Evergreen Atlantic White Cedar is abundant in this swamp forest and creates a dark shady almost surreal feel to the forest even on the sunniest days.     

But once you get out onto the open bog, the place is magical. The bog is actually a floating mat of vegetation on top of deep saturated muck and every step is a balance between sinking and standing. The ground is covered by water filled sphagnum moss (squeeze a handful and see how much water it holds) and all kinds of cool plants abound. There are three species of carniverous plants: sundews, pitcher plants and bladderworts, all that get their nutrients primarily from eating insects. A close look at the sticky hairs on the leaves of the sundews will often reveal tiny trapped insects slowly being dissolved by the plant. In some places sundews are so abundant their red leaves cover the ground. And there are literally hundreds if not thousands of pitcher plants in the bog with their beautiful red-streaked water filled tubular leaves just waiting for an insect to make the mistake of entering them. The leaves have downward pointing hairs that prevent the insects from climbing out and they ultimately drown in the pool of water in the leaf where they are then dissolved by the plant for food. Carefully cut open any leaf and look at the bottom for the remains of insects, there are usually plenty that were unfortunate. The small yellow flowers of bladderwort are beautiful but the roots have small "bladders" on them that trap tiny insects and other invertebrates. And as if these botanical treasures aren't enough, there is Atlantic White Cedar, water lilies, Awned meadow beauty, and much much more. 

While in the bog this week with my friend and fellow Friends Board member Liti Haramaty, we saw a very small dragonfly that turned out to be a female Elfin Skimmer our smallest dragonfly in New Jersey. I took a photo of it and as it turns out, it does not seem to have been found in Middlesex County before (http://odonatacentral.org/index.php/IssueAction.getFile/issue_id/118/volume_id/32/disposition/inline#page=3  

http://www.njodes.com/Speciesaccts/skimmers/skim-elfi.asp

http://bugguide.net/node/view/10887). 

Helmetta Bog is about as wild a place to explore as any in Middlesex County. So just be careful, tread lightly in the bog, and have a wonderful time being close to everything but in a place that will seem like the middle of nowhere.

A link to some information about Jamesburg Park is on the Friends website Online Parks Guide at http://www.friendsebec.com/ebparks.htm