Poricy Park

Poricy Park began in 1969 as local residents protested a proposed sewer project which would have impacted Poricy Brook. They formed a non-profit organization which in partnership with Middletown Township, the Nature Conservancy and New Jersey Green Acres began buying land between 1970 and 1973. The town designated the land as a nature preserve and leased the land to the Conservancy to manage. In 2004, the organization was officially renamed the Poricy Park Conservancy.{{cite web|url=http://mysite.verizon.net/bizp33ed/id32.html|title=Murray Farmhouse and Barn: a New Jersey Historic Site|publisher=Poricy Park Conservancy|accessdate=2009-04-19}}

File:Poricy-park-stream-bed.png

The Poricy Brook cuts through a number of geological layers which are rising due to glacial rebound. The highest layer is the rust colored sand of the Red Bank Formation. Several layers below that is the glauconitic marl of the Navesink Formation. Both of these geologic formations are from the Late Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era.{{cite web|url=http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/parks/loc52.htm|title=USGS: Atlantic Coastal Plain 52. Poricy Brook|date=July 22, 2003|publisher=United States Geological Survey|accessdate=2009-04-19}} The shell beds are 72 million years old{{cite web|url=http://mysite.verizon.net/bizp33ed/id24.html|title=Fossil Beds and Fossil Hunts|publisher=Poricy Park Conservancy|accessdate=2009-04-19}} and were probably an offshore marine shelf based on the fossil record. They range from {{convert|45|ft|m}} to {{convert|65|ft|m}} thick in the area.{{cite web|url=http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/coastalplain/cretaceous.htm|title=Late Cretaceous Stratigraphic Units of the Coastal Plain|date=July 22, 2003|publisher=United States Geological Survey|accessdate=2009-04-19}}

The Nature Center has a display of fossils found in the area. They also rent screens and trowels for use while looking for fossils. The fossils in the exposed Navesink Formation are in the stream bed and are easily accessible from the parking lot along Middletown-Lincroft Road. There is a display sign with pictures of the fossils likely to be found. The Conservancy asks that visitors collect from the stream bed only and not to dig into the banks which only hastens erosion. They also ask that visitors collect conservatively and that anything unusual be given to the Nature Center.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/11/nyregion/new-jersey-underground-fossils-gems-and-glowing-rocks.html?|title=New Jersey Underground: Fossils, Gems and Glowing Rocks|last=Pollak|first=Michael|date=May 11, 1997|work=New York Times|accessdate=2009-04-19}}

Common fossils include Pyncnodonte mutabilis, Pyncnodonte convexa, Exogyra cancellata, Exogyra costata, Ostrea mesenterica, Agerostrea, Belemnitella americana and shark teeth. These are mostly extinct version of oysters and clams.

Wildlife in Poricy park include rabbit, skunk, snake, bat, opossum, groundhog, white-tailed deer, American eel, multiple species of bird including owls, hawks, and Turkey Vultures as well as red fox (one seen 5/9/10 with pups). Murray pond supports frogs and turtles. Recently someone introduced Koi to that same small pond.

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{{reflist}}

• [http://www.poricypark.org/ Poricy Park Conservancy]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090430174457/http://www.middletownnj.org/ParksRec/Parks.asp Middletown Parks]

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{{Middletown, New Jersey}}

{{Nature centers in New Jersey}}

Category:Middletown Township, New Jersey

Category:Parks in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Category:Geology of New Jersey

Category:Cretaceous paleontological sites of North America

Category:Nature centers in New Jersey

Category:Houses in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Category:Museums in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Category:Historic house museums in New Jersey

Category:Fossil parks in the United States

Category:Paleontology in New Jersey