South Jersey Highlights is a series of profiles on local environmental groups, advocates, clubs and natural sites. You can read all of the articles in the series. If you’d like to have your organization profiled, you can contact us.
Over 75 years ago, a small group of residents interested in conservation and educating others about the natural beauty of Gloucester County founded the Gloucester County Nature Club (GCNC).
Today, the group’s mission remains the same, and it is passing on that work to the next generation.
A key to doing this, according to Karen Kravchuck, the president of the club, is to get people outside and have fun.
“If you get people outside and they enjoy it, then they appreciate it,” said Kravchuck. “They realize the importance of it, and they also realize that it needs to be protected.”
GCNC hosts a range of programs, events, and field trips, and they’re all free to everyone.
The club recently hosted its annual Mad Hatter’s Tree Party, an event for people of all ages to learn about the trees in the community at Eldridge Trail in Wenonah. At the end of the trail, they had food and drinks for everyone.
“We have events for families because that’s how you get the people of the future, protecting it and realizing the importance of it,” said Kravchuck. “What’s more fun than a beautiful day in autumn in the woods with the trees changing and getting to learn a little bit?”
Another event is helping the residents of Wenonah learn about the importance of turkey vultures. A large number of vultures use the town as a winter communal roost, where they would roost in trees in the hundreds. Some people were upset, as they thought that the vultures would attack their pets or children.
Rich Dilks, who has been with the club for 22 years, said the club put on a festival to educate people about the importance of turkey vultures in the ecosystem.
“Vultures are basically scavengers. And by cleaning up and feeding on dead carcasses, they prevent diseases,” said Dilks. “We got people to understand that having vultures in your community is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Learning to care, respect, and coexist with the natural world is what GNC is all about.
“We can live together with wildlife with just a little bit of compromise and a little bit of just giving them a chance,” said Dilks.
