Cherry Hill native Mason Kramer spends his days at a Delaware River park that was once too polluted to support fish, teaching kids to identify the bald eagles and striped bass that have since returned.
Kramer, a 2020 Rowan University biology graduate, works as a biologist and naturalist at Palmyra Cove Nature Park, a 250-acre protected wildlife preserve in Palmyra just south of Route 73. It's a short drive from Cherry Hill.
"We have one of the few beaches along the Delaware that isn't bulkheaded," Kramer told South Jersey Media, describing the park's restored natural shoreline where anglers fish for striped bass, shad and herring.
From dredge dump to wildlife preserve
The site's history is a turnaround story. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers once used the land to dump dredge sediment as it deepened the Delaware River channel for larger ships. The park opened to the public in 1999, and its habitats now include woodlands, meadows, wetlands and shoreline. Kramer credits the Clean Water Act of 1972 with bringing fish species back to the river.
Wildlife on the park's trails includes bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and beavers alongside more common species like white-tailed deer and wild turkeys. A learning trail features 30 signs with QR codes highlighting butterfly meadows and native species.
STEM center and field trips
At the park entrance, a 2,000-square-foot Environmental STEM Center houses exhibits about native fish and wildlife, an interactive virtual innovation lab and the "Collection at the Cove" display. That collection includes skulls and specimens of red fox, deer and otters, along with mussel and turtle shells, snake skins and a fish tank stocked with live native river species like white perch and eels.
Kramer leads spring field trips for students and has built a scavenger hunt list covering cardinals, hawks, woodpeckers, groundhogs and butterflies. He said students also gravitate toward the STEM center's space simulation area.
Kramer's path
Kramer grew up in Cherry Hill and majored in biology at Rowan before joining the park staff. He described the work in straightforward terms: teaching people about the natural world around them, looking at the Earth from the top down and the bottom up.
The park combines a working nature preserve with a hands-on STEM education center, and Kramer runs programming across both. A summer camp session runs Monday, Aug. 10, through Friday, Aug. 14. Parents can register at palmyracove.org.
The STEM Center is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The park and trails are open dawn to dusk. For information, call (856) 829-1900.
