Cumberland County Eagle Festival Feb. 7 at Mauricetown Firehall

The Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival drew residents to the Mauricetown Firehall Saturday to celebrate the regional resurgence of bald eagles and connect the community with local conservation partners. Indoor programming ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., while field activities and guided walks began with a 7 a.m. sunrise outing and continued through a dusk Owl Watch.

Organizers staged the event at Mauricetown Firehall, 9544 Noble St., Mauricetown. Admission was $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. County event contacts listed 856-453-2175 and mattpi@CumberlandCountyNJ.gov for information and to reserve assistive listening devices; the firehall is fully accessible, though several viewing sites required travel over gravel. The day included vendor booths, hands-on art with Clay College, food prepared and sold by Mauricetown Fire Company volunteers, and live raptors presented by Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge inside the hall.

The indoor speaker series featured a noontime presentation by Ben Wurst, Senior Wildlife Biologist at Conserve Wildlife Foundation, titled “Seeing Red: Engaging Future Generations in Osprey Conservation.” At 2 p.m., Tyler Christensen, research coordinator with Wild Bird Research Group, delivered “Ghosts of the Taiga: Secret Lives of Migratory Owls.” The schedule also offered repeat talks and booths with partner groups including Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and its Tributaries, New Jersey Audubon, Cape May Bird Observatory, Natural Lands Trust, the National Park Service and others.

Field programming followed a detailed guided-walk schedule. The early outing began at 7:00 a.m. with a Sunrise Walk on Turkey Point Road led by Mary Watkins of Citizens United; “The group will meet by the observation tower at the end of Turkey Point Road.” A 9:00 a.m. Eagle Trail Walk was led by Natural Land’s Zac Bohm, Dustin Welch and Brian Johnson from the Eagle Trail trailhead within the Glades’ Wildlife Refuge. At 11:00 a.m., Tony Klock and Dr. Kathy Michel led a Bayshore Center at Bivalve Wetlands Walk, and a 1:00 p.m. Maple Avenue Walk featured Jim Blumenstein and Karen Williams from Citizens United with Adehl Schwaderer of Cape May Bird Observatory. Organizers also ran staffed viewing sites with scopes and birding experts and closed the day with a twilight Owl Watch.

Partners emphasized local significance: “Cumberland County, New Jersey, has the largest number of nesting Bald Eagles in the state.” The festival brought conservation groups, volunteer fire company support, and community organizations together to showcase habitat, volunteer stewardship and birding infrastructure across the Maurice River and Delaware River shorelines.

One discrepancy remains in public materials: a county web page contains older wording that lists Saturday, Feb. 11 and references an 11th anniversary and a Chili Bowl fundraiser — “The popular event features 25 different chili recipes, ranging from traditional to exotic.” Those details do not appear in other 2026 materials and may be archival; officials should be contacted to clarify anniversary numbering and whether the Chili Bowl was part of the current program. For residents, the festival reinforced local conservation gains, highlighted volunteer and institutional partnerships, and signaled opportunities for continued civic engagement in protecting the Maurice River watershed.