Notes on a visit to two salamander crossing sites in New Jersey with Mackenzie Hall (Private
Lands Biologist Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (www.ConserveWildlifeNJ.org) on 20 March
2012.
TL and DH visited two locations, both country roads on sloping ground and close to large vernal
pools. The first was Swartswood East Shore road (CR-619) Hampton Twp Shoreline, the second was
Waterloo Road (CR-604) Byram Twp, both in Sussex County. Those attending were:
Brian Zarate - Biologist, NJ Div. of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program
Gretchen Fowles - Biologist and GIS manager, ENSP
John Heilferty - NJDEP Div. of Land Use Regulation
Nancy Holleran - Sussex Co. Div. of Engineering
Paula Scelsi - NJDOT Div. of Environmental Resources
Joe Sweger - NJDOT Div. of Environmental Resources
Linda Peterson - Civil engineer, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Adam Northrup - Engineering tech, USDA NRCS
Karena DiLeo - Biologist, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ
MacKenzie Hall - Biologist, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ
Tom Langton – HCI Ltd. for WFNJ /Wildlife Advisor, ACO Polymer Products
Christian Vander Vliet - ACO Sales Manager (NJ & Metro East)
Derek Humphries - ACO President (USA)
Photo 1.DH explaining aspects of drainage and tunnel installation to the group at Swartswood Road.
Swartswood East Shore Road.
The road crossing is about 10 yards wide and 400 yards long and has ground that falls quite steeply
from the north to south towards the pond. There is about a 3 metre fall from the road to the pond at
the east end.The road crowns noticably and has a rainfall gutter on the north side. There are
telegraph poles along both sides and a crash barrier on the corner of the south side. The ground is
rocky. There are two culverts under the road leading from grating within the gutter.
Scope for 3 or 4 tunnels

May have to be unslotted KT 500 under the road with slotted at the edges to allow for road
crowning

Drainage alongside gutter will need detailed design to prevent blockages

Gutter may be cleaned out as part of work

Fencing should be LEP 100 guide wall on south side and one-way fence on the north side

Ground will need regrading at north side tunnel entrance locations

Some minor tree removal may be required

Fencing limitations- cannot dig within 10 ft of telegraph poles

Draft design to be created so that consultation can be made with Authorities
Photo 2. General view northeast from start of the amphibian crossing area
Photo 3. Rising ground to the north at probable tunnel construction location.
Photo 4. Road showing steep drop-off to southeast side of road with crash barrier.
Photo 4. View southwest along road showing general aspect of land, which falls gradually from
northwest to southeast.
The site visit was generally useful in that there is a better understanding of how much country roads
crown in the middle at least in NJ and this holds issues for AT 500 installation in general and where
flooding is a factor. Equally if ACO wildlife tunnels can perform a drainage capacity at this kind of site
then it may be able to offer systems on the basis of having both a drainage and wildlife function. This
would be good as it gives the DoTs a dual reason for placing them.
ACTION – TL to assist with final design and liaise between CWFNJ and ACO USA on progress.
Waterloo Road
The salamander road crossing is about 10 yards wide and 600 yards long. Like Swartswood road it
also has ground that falls from the north to south towards the pond although not so steeply. There is
about a 1-3 metre fall from the road to the pond. The road crowns. It does not have a rainfall gutter
on the north side but is punctuated with four small streams/water lines. The ground is rocky. There
are four culverts under the road; two are open and two have box units with gratings, one open
backed and one with a closed back construction (see photos 7 a-h for details).
Photo 5. Private property at start of the west side of the Waterloo Road crossing zone
Photo 6. View east along the Waterloo Road salamander crossing zone from the west end
Ref.
Pipe
North side
South side
a.Concrete 15” open entrance
b.Concrete pipe outfall
c.Enclosed box unit with steel grating
d.Corrugated 18” pipe with inner sleeve outfall
e.Open backed box unit with steel grating
f.Corrugated 18” pipe with inner sleeve outfall
g.Loose rock covered entrance
h.Corrugated 18” pipe with inner sleeve outfall
1
Pipe
2
Pipe
3
Pipe
4
Photos 7. (a-h) Entrance and exit points of existing culvert structures along the crossing zone
Photo 8. Pipe 1: Cast concrete; inside area
with algal slime at base.
Photo 9. Pipe 2, north side: view from above
showing entrance to pipe at or just above water line
of box chamber forming trap for amphibians during
dry periods.
Photo 10. Dry wall on slope leading down to road.
This site has more difficulties than Swartswood road as any system might need to separate existing
water drainage from wildlife passages. It could divert salamanders to the existing culverts but this is
not ideal. One simple trial might be for the group to try diverting salamanders using temporary
fencing to existing culverts but they might be expected to have a high rejection rate.
One option is for them to do this with the addition of one or two ACO KT500’s and then make the
comparisons. Then fit fences once the total capacity is better recognised. A kind of experiment.
Salamander spawn
Wood frog
The Waterloo road is a faster, busier and more dangerous road to pedestrians than Swartswood
road, however it has similar structural construction issues to Swartswood Rd and some additional
ones, being longer and having more drainage runs. It might best be suited to three ACO tunnels
between the four existing drainage pipes.
TL will work up a design with MH and liaise between ACO USA and CWFNJ.
Use slotted sections in the verge and unslotted straight across the road.
ACTION TL to progress.