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Archive for the 'water protection, filtration, & control' Category
Tags: american littoral society, wma 13 (barnegat bay)
Posted in biological diversity, ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $5000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
Oysters were once prolific in the lower-salinity waters of the BarnegatBay–Little Egg Harbor estuary, which contained approximately 12,800 acres of oyster beds. Their loss is primarily attributed to overharvesting, due to a lack of resource management and regulation. Historic oyster reefs served to filter and buffer freshwater nutrient inputs to the estuary. The bay has been degraded by eutrophication and the loss of aquatic habitat, such as tidal wetlands lost to development and shallow water areas lost to hardening of shorelines. Thus re-establishment of oyster reefs is an important adjunct to other efforts aimed at improving the bay, such as hard clam restoration, reduction in nutrient inputs, and softening shorelines.
This project will build upon oyster restoration efforts of the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program (BBSRP) by expanding the reef restoration site created in 2008. As part of the BBSRP, approximately 8,000 bushels of clamshell and 110,000 oyster seed were planted in December 2008 on a one-acre parcel within historic oyster habitat off Good Luck Point, at the mouth of Toms River, a major source of nutrient input to the bay. The area was selected by NJDEP as the best site among all other candidate areas surveyed in the bay for their oyster restoration potential following a site-selection process that included State-designated open waters.
A diver survey contributed by Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences confirmed bottom type and the suitability of the site for oyster restoration. The American Littoral Society contributed funds from the NOAA-Restore America’s Estuaries Partnership to the planting of the clamshell and ReClam the Bay volunteers reared the oyster seed in land-based nursery systems (upwellers). Oyster seed (a disease-resistant strain) was purchased by the Division of Fish and Wildlife from Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory hatchery at the Delaware Bay cape shore. This was the first activity of its kind in the bay and serves as a model of how citizen organizations can work with state and federal agencies to improve the environment. Since 2008, an additional 360,000 oysters (cultchless and spat-on-shell) were planted on the reef.
Project goals:
Enhance benthic habitat in historic reef area with shell to support live oysters;
Engage the bay community in oyster restoration; and
Restore functional oyster reef to Barnegat Bay and build community support for and identity with the oyster as a critical component of a healthy bay.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- filtration
Biological Diversity: Ecosystem restoration; Habitat- restore healthy reef habitat
Total Project Cost: $296,386
Status: The American Littoral Society has secured $130,560 in cash from the NOAA-RAE Partnership, and $128,759 in in-kind services, equipment, and facilities usage from several sources including scientists, trained volunteers, bayside landowners, and Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Science. NJ DEP has identified an appropriate site and given the Littoral Society permission to conduct reef restoration at the site under the State’s existing permit. The Littoral Society has confirmed contractor costs for spring/summer shell plant.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: north jersey resource conservation & development council
Posted in franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2011, CRI awarded this project $5000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The River-Friendly Farm Certification Program publicly recognizes and rewards farmers who do an excellent job of managing their farms in an economically and environmentally sound way that protects and improves soil and water resources for future generations. The program provides the farmers free consultation to help identify resources concerns and choose best management practices. The program then helps the farmer find any available cost-share to help offset any financial burden in the installation of the conservation practices. Upon meeting all of the necessary criteria, a farm is certified as “River Friendly” and receives public recognition.
The criteria for the certification include soil loss management, nutrient management, pest management, riparian buffers, and irrigation water management. This recognition program is an incentive-based method for increasing adoption of conservation practices in the target watersheds. An additional benefit is that the program, through the signage and media coverage, informs the general public about sound contributions farmers make to protect and improve our soil, water and related natural resources.
The River-Friendly Farm Certification Program (RFF) is currently supported in the Raritan Basin until 2014. North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development (NJRC&D) serves six counties: Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren. NJRC&D would like to expand RFF to fully serve all six counties.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality
Total Project Cost: $749,036
Status: After posting the River-Friendly Farm Certification Program Expansion on The Conservation Exchange website, NJRC&D received a $5,000 grant from the Franklin Parker Small Grant Program to begin the launch in the Musconetcong Watershed. The launch into this watershed was a perfect fit because it was adjacent to a current project area and the portions of the Musconetcong River are designated as a National Wild and Scenic River.
The expansion into the Musconetcong watershed has also evolved into a partnership with The Heritage Conservancy. The Heritage Conservancy saw the River-Friendly Farm Certification Program as an ideal companion to their Lasting Landscape initiative in the Musconetcong River Valley. Wanting to help with the expansion, The Heritage Conservancy is providing both financial and technical assistance. Currently NJRC&D is forming the local committee that will be certifying farms and updating information material preparing for full scale outreach. They are optimistic and excited because one farm has already signed up to participate, and they are looking forward to more after the official launch.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: new jersey conservation foundation, wma 20 (assiscunk crosswicks and doctors)
Posted in climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, land preservation project, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
This 20-acre property is a key link in the Allentown Historic Greenbelt and the Crosswicks Creek/Doctors Creek Watershed Greenway Plan, a plan devised by the Crosswicks Creek/Doctors Creek Watershed Regional Greenway Planning Group. It offers a scenic vista and gateway to Allentown and the region. The historic house is a community landmark that reminds citizens and visitors of the region’s history as a backdrop for Revolutionary War activity. A local citizens group is working to preserve a greenway commemorating the region’s historic legacy, referred to as the Allentown Historic Greenbelt, with this property featured as key to the integrity of the Greenbelt.
The property links with adjacent preserved lands, creating a greenway for healthier habitat. The land is identified in the Crosswicks/Doctors Creek Watershed Greenway Plan as well as the Township of Robbinsville’s Land Preservation Plan. The connected system of lands will create an opportunity for a trails network. With few wetlands, the property can support a variety of recreation activities.
The land buffers Indian Run, a tributary to Doctors Creek to Crosswicks Creek which outlets into the Delaware River through the Hamilton Trenton marsh. Flooding along Indian Run severely impacts the drinking water supply of Allentown Borough. Preservation of this land would help protect the drinking water supply from further degradation.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- avoided deforestation
Water Protection, Filtration and Control: Water quality- protection of wetlands, water supply
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails as part of historic greenbelt
Total Project Cost: $4,075,000
Status: This property is under option with the private landowner. One appraisal has been completed, and a CMV is underway.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: new jersey conservation foundation, south jersey land & water trust
Posted in biological diversity, climate stabilization and/or air pollution mitigation project, land preservation project, water protection, filtration, & control
Maple Ridge is a 113-acre former golf course that straddles the Mantua Creek in Deptford and Mantua Townships, Gloucester County. The property serves as excellent wildlife habitat and helps protect the water resources of the Mantua Creek watershed. The site is just upstream from the Wenonah Ravine Natural Heritage Priority Site, a wooded ravine featuring a critically imperiled tree species. Preservation would help establish conservation linkages up and down the stream corridor. Successful preservation of Maple Ridge would provide a host of recreational, educational, economic and sustainable growth services to the region. It is well positioned for a park of regional significance in an area that has experienced significant growth in recent years. In fact, conservation efforts need to move quickly as the property has obtained preliminary local approvals for 123 housing units.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Climate Stabilization and Air Pollution Mitigation: Carbon sequestration- avoided deforestation
Biological Diversity: Preservation of critically imperiled tree species
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- protection of headwaters
Total Project Cost: $5 million
Status: Project partners include The New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the Friends of Maple Ridge, and the South Jersey Land and Water Trust. The Friends of Maple Ridge organization is exploring all potential funding sources from government grants to private fundraising. At this time, no funding commitments have been secured.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: stony brook millstone watershed association, wma 10 (millstone)
Posted in biological diversity, completed projects, franklin parker small grants program, land preservation project, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3000 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
The 68.84 acre Thompson property is of critical importance to the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed and its surrounding region. It was purchased in July 2011 by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association (SBMWA) through the state Green Acres program, in partnership with Mercer County and Hopewell Township, with support from CRI. The tract now connects the Association’s formerly separate units into 930 contiguous acres. In addition to important habitat and resource protection, securing this land is also critical for completing an uninterrupted hiking trail between Hopewell Borough and Kunkel Park in Pennington.
Honey Brook, a tributary to the Category One waters of the Stony Brook, bisects the property. Approximately one third of the tract includes associated wetlands and habitat. Honey Brook is also the feeder stream to a 4.5 acre pond, so the protection of this area is crucial from a habitat management standpoint.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection of wetland habitat, groundwater recharge areas
Biological Diversity: Habitat- management of wetlands habitat
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails
Total Project Cost: About $1.5 million
Status: Purchase was completed July 2011.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: ny-nj baykeeper, wma 07 (arthur kill)
Posted in recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
The Head Mistress is moored in Keyport, NJ and is modeled after NY/NJ Baykeeper’s successful pumpout boat program in Jamaica Bay, NY. The boat offers free, convenient and reliable pumpouts to the over 4,000 recreational boaters in Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays from April through November. During the Summer of 2010 the boat serviced 168 recreational boats in Raritan Bay, from Keyport Harbor up to Perth Amboy, and 157 boats in Sandy Hook Bay. This amounts to approximately 6,460 gallons of waste that might have otherwise been dumped overboard, polluting our shared waters. All these pumpouts were provided at no cost to the boat owners.
The Bayshore Pumpout Boat captain and crew educate the public about the nuisance of algae blooms and hypoxia through the distribution of brochures and discussion with boat owners about the detrimental effects of excess nitrogen from sewage disposal into the bay waters. The brochures, news releases and stories in local newspapers related to the project build a constituency for cleaner water, combined sewer discharge abatement, and bolster the local municipalities’ knowledge of the effects of nitrogen discharges from its sewage treatment. The project also highlights positive steps being taken toward the clean-up of Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays, engaging our constituents to take a greater personal interest in the health of these shared waters.
There are only five stationary pumpout stations in the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays, excluding the tributaries. The Pumpout Boat travels the coast and provides easily accessible pumpouts to recreational boaters in the Bays. This decrease of waste discharge into the bays will help reduce the occurrence of algae blooms, lesson introduction of toxics into the water and decrease fish kills.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- preventing water pollution from sewage
Outreach, Recreation, and Aesthetics: Environmental education- outreach to boat owners
Total Project Cost: $14,500 per year
Status: Initial funding for this project, including the purchase of the boat, was provided by the Clean Vessel Act, IBoatNJ, Keyport, Hazlet, Atlantic Highlands, Matawan, Perth Amboy, and Middletown, and in-kind support from John Olsen’s Marina. The project was made possible thanks to a loan from the Keyport Yacht Club. NY/NJ Baykeeper is seeking $14,500 per year to continue this vital service.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: american littoral society
Posted in biological diversity, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
Part of the New York – New Jersey Harbor Estuary, Jamaica Bay is truly New York’s last great wilderness. Jamaica Bay is the most intact remnant of what was once a thriving estuarine ecosystem throughout New York City. Collectively, its salt marshes, mud flats, and shallow water areas are the largest expanse of estuarine habitat in this highly urbanized landscape. It lies at the confluence of two of the world’s most urban, heavily trafficked, and stressed waterways–the New York Bight and New York Bay. Add to this the Bay’s position in the geographic “corner” formed by the east-west position of Long Island and the North-South orientation of the Mid-Atlantic Coast, Jamaica Bay is a unique ecological phenomenon, supporting an exceptionally high concentration and biodiversity of life.
As part of a larger plan to restore the bay’s coastal habitats, in 2011-12 the American Littoral Society will be restoring 40 acres of coastal marine habitat including saltmarsh, mudflats, and intertidal beach in Jamaica Bay, New York City, by removing derelict boats and other large and small marine debris. This will enhance critical fish habitat for Atlantic silverside, killifish, alewife, striped mullet, winter flounder, Atlantic menhaden, bluefish, and striped bass. They will clean up habitat essential to the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle and federally threatened loggerhead turtle, as well as the diamondback terrapin, a New York State Species of Concern. Avian species that depend on these habitats include the federally endangered roseate tern and the state threatened least bittern, American oystercatcher, black-crowned night heron, osprey, pied-billed grebe, and common barn owl.
The American Littoral Society would also like to produce brochures that will increase public engagement in and knowledge of marine debris issues, and train volunteers to aid them in their efforts.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- improving the health of a tidal ecosystem
Biological Diversity: Habitat- enhance aquatic habitat for threatened and endangered turtles, shorebirds, and fish species
Outreach, Recreation and Aesthetics: Environmental education- train volunteers, educate public
Total Project Cost: $250,000
Status: The American Littoral Society has been awarded a grant of $120,000 from the NOAA Marine Debris Program. The NYC Department of Sanitation, Brooklyn College, and the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance are some of the partners that have agreed to donate time and services to Jamaica Bay Clean Sweep. The American Littoral Society needs to raise $25,000 to complete the first phase of this project.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: franklin parker small grants program, new jersey audubon society
Posted in biological diversity, completed projects, ecological restoration project, franklin parker small grants program, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
In 2010, CRI awarded this project $3500 through its Franklin Parker Small Grant program.
In 2010, the New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) was awarded a Franklin Parker Small Grant to assist in the construction of a 2-acre wetland at the Elvin W. Georges Grassland Preserve. The preserve is a 71-acre parcel that, in addition to wetland enhancement, is being planted in native warm season grasses. Wetland construction began in late July 2011 and was completed by October. By late November the wetland was already showing the transformation from a seep with non-native invasive vegetation to the beginnings of a functional wetland. Insects, frogs and some birds began using the wetland nearly immediately.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection and expansion of wetlands
Biological Diversity: Habitat- extend habitat for amphibians and migrating wetland birds; increase diversity of habitats on preserve
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- hiking trails; wildlife viewing
Total Project Cost: $16,300
Status: The wetland is complete. This wetland restoration project was partially funded by NRCS and was designed by NRCS engineers. The New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) obtained a WHIP grant that provided about $10,000 towards construction costs. Additional funding sources for the wetland included a NRCS WHIP grant and NJAS.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: new jersey conservation foundation, south jersey land & water trust, wma 18 (lower delaware)
Posted in biological diversity, land preservation project, water protection, filtration, & control
The South Jersey Land and Water Trust (SJLWT) and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) are working cooperatively to preserve this remarkable property overlooking the tidal Oldmans Creek in Salem County. An approximately 39-acre property, the landowner is offering to subdivide about 31 acres of woodlands to sell for fee to the SJLWT as part of the SJLWT’s newly established Oldmans Creek Preserve. The proposed 30-acre preservation area is a hardwood forest of Beech, Hickory and Oak on 2,900 feet of the Oldmans Creek shoreline. The tidal marshes along the property are rich in wild rice and are important habitat for migratory waterfowl. The property includes a tributary stream with deep ravines and high bluffs overlooking the Oldmans Creek. The property has good biological diversity, many specimen trees and a largely intact native plant community. It’s one of the largest unprotected, forested riparian buffers remaining on Oldmans Creek and serves as an important bald eagle foraging site.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality- protection of tidal marshes, riparian buffers
Biological Diversity: Habitat- protection of native plant communities and migratory waterfowl habitat
Total Project Cost: $155,000
Status: NJCF is negotiating the terms of an agreement, and will need funding soon to cover the cost of the survey.
If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources.
Tags: franklin parker small grants program
Posted in biological diversity, franklin parker small grants program, land preservation project, projects funded by conservation resources, recreation & aethestics, water protection, filtration, & control
The Wollman Property Preservation Project is located within one of the 20 Pinelands Planning Areas that encompass environmentally sensitive regions that have not been permanently protected from development. This property is comprised of forests, swamps, and extensive, high-quality surface and groundwater resources. This property provides a unique habitat for a wide diversity of threatened and endangered plant and animal species and contains many other significant and unique natural, ecological, agricultural, scenic, cultural and recreational resources.  YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Inc. owns the 563.85 acres contiguous to the property. The acquisition of this property would create a large preserved tract within an area identified by the Pinelands Commission as a priority. This property contains the headwaters to the two large bodies of water used for recreation and ecological studies at YMCA Camp Ockanickon. The purchase of the property will insure that the property will not be developed, thereby protecting these vital water resources for the camp.
While the specific use of the property has not been identified, Camp Ockanickon presently operates an extensive array of recreational, camping, health and wellness and natural studies programs for children, families and schools. The addition of the property would not only secure and protect significant resources, but also provide an opportunity to expand the range of programs available to the community. These programs might include organic and sustainable farming, wilderness camping, recreational trails for hiking and biking, or forestry programs.
Ecosystem Services Provided:
Water Protection, Filtration, and Control: Water quality and quantity- protection of headwaters, groundwater recharge areas
Biological Diversity: Habitat- protection of habitat for federal threatened/endangered species
Recreation and Aesthetics: Public access- outdoor recreation; Environmental education- instructional programs
Total Project Cost: $2,100,000
Status: YMCA Camp Ockanickon Inc. is seeking funding for this project.
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