Community Corner
Learning Nature Through Interaction at Cheesequake
Cheesequake State Park's Nature Center leaves visitors with a better sense of the environment and history of the area.
Up a small trail at the 1,500 acre Cheesequake State Park lies what James Faczak calls a “special little oasis.”
Here 20,000 plus annual visitors a year come to the Nature Center according to Faczak, resource interpretive specialist at Cheesequake State Park, to learn about wildlife and historical exhibits through interaction.
It is one of the few parks to have a nature center with living animals. The animals on display are native or naturalised animals to the area. They have crabs, turtles, frogs, fish, snails and turtle eggs.
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The animals in the center are rescued animals.
Faczak finds injured animals dumped in the wrong environment and receives calls from people wanting to pass off their pets. However, his budget is currently filled to capacity and he is unable to take anymore living creatures.
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He brings injured turtles to special agencies to be treated and other companies come in to look at injured birds. Faczak describes himself as the middleman during the process.
Native and nonnative stuffed and mounted animals can be found in the center both. Some are donated and others are found in the park. Faczak has a federal permit that that allows him to salvage the animals and bring them to taxidermy to be mounted. Without the permit only game animals can be mounted.
Artifacts such as utensils, coins, musket balls and pipe stems from the Lenape and Chesapeake Native American Indians that lived in the area are on display.
The walls inside the center are covered with photos taken throughout the park and information about the history of the area.
Outside the center people can feed the squirrels and chipmunks peanuts, supplied at the center, from the deck.
“People need to leave the center with an awareness of what we have environmentally here,” said Faczak. “It’s so special with the salt marsh, cedar swamps and freshwater wetlands and two types of forest. They’ll learn a little here and see things that they didn’t see out in the field. Get to experience and touch things they might not get to see. You’ll have a good time, learn a lot about Cheesequake Park.”
Senior citizens, outdoor groups, church groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and students attend the center often, according to Faczak. Scouts come to fulfill requirements towards merit badges and completing their Eagle or Gold Reward Project.
Faczak is a staff of one at the center. In the summer he as seasonal worker, usually a college intern or graduate who is there on Monday and Tuesday to assure that the center can remain open when there is a charge. Faczak handles all building maintenance of animals, interaction with media, interruptive programs, writing grants and handling the surrounding environment.
A donation box has recently been added inside the Nature Center recently and there is appropriate literature at the door with upcoming events.
The Nature Center was constructed in 1989 and opened the next year on a part-time basis. In 1996 the center was opened fulltime when Faczak arrived. He would be the first naturalist biologist to work there.
It is open seven days a week from Memorial Day weekend to Labor and Wednesday through Sunday for the remainder of the year.
Cheesequake Park is the only state park that has three diverse ecosystems, according to Faczak. The park's Green trail was recently nominated by USA Today as one of the best trails in the country.
All programs at the park are free with a few that require preregistration.
“I want them to leave with an apperception of what we have here at Cheesquake,” said Faczak. “When they leave the center I want them to understand it’s a special little oasis. It’s not my term, it’s the public’s term. It’s a little oasis 40 miles from New York City.”
