November - Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association

November 2007 www.gehwa.org Issue 44
What’s Happening in and around the River and the Watershed
GREAT EGG HARBOR WILD AND SCENIC RIVER: The Great Egg Harbor River Helped Decorate
the Official White House Christmas Tree
This year, First Lady Laura Bush asked the Great Egg Harbor River to decorate a
large gold ball to be used as a decoration on the official White House Christmas Tree.
The theme for the decorations is "Holiday in the National Parks". All 391 Units of the
National Park System, from across the nation, were asked to decorate a ball. The
Great Egg Harbor River is one of these Units.
L>R Julie Akers &
Jennifer (Akers)Docimo
Jennifer (Akers) Docimo designed and painted the artwork that decorated the Great Egg Harbor
River ornament. The images on the ball included a Swamp Pink plant, a Pine
Barrens Tree Frog, an Otter, and green landscapes with gold water.
Jennifer submitted the ornament, and she and a guest were invited to
the White House to celebrate the tree. On November 28, Jennifer and
Julie Akers, her mother, visited the White House in Washington DC
and saw the National Park System tree displayed in the Blue Room. The tree, an
eighteen-foot Fraser fir, was decorated with the 347 holiday
ornaments that were supplied by the different Units of the
National Park Systems. Due to the size of the tree and a large
crowd, Jennifer and Julie could not find the Great Egg’s
ornament on the tree. The ornaments were hand-decorated by artists whose designs
represent America's national parks, memorials, seashores, historic sites and monuments.
Each ornament reflects the diversity of our national landscapes and the many wonderful and uniqu
found from sea to shining sea!
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e treasures
The following websites offer additional information: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071129-
18.wm.v.html or http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/2007/index.html
SOME FUN FACTS ON THE 2007 HOLIDAY SEASON AT THE WHITE HOUSE
• Guests touring the White House during the Holidays: 60,000
• Number of Christmas Cards Sent by President and Mrs. Bush: 895,000
• Christmas Trees: 33 (From Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania , and West Virginia)
• Feet of Garland : 862
• Handmade Tamales: 10,000
• Wreaths: 232
• Pounds of Crab: 700
• Amaryllis: 514
• Pounds of Asparagus: 600
• Christmas Cookies: 20,000
• Pounds of Green Beans: 400
• Assorted Holiday Cakes: 700
• Gallons of Eggnog: 320
• Pounds of Shrimp: 1,000

ATLANTIC COUNTY-Dorothy Preserve Cleanup: Brownie Troop 3755
from the Lenape Pines Community
spent Saturday morning, October 21,
cleaning up the roads surrounding
the Dorothy Reserve. GEHWA
helped the Brownie Troop organize
the event. Joining Troop 3755 were
Cub Scout Pack 316, Lenape Pines
Junior Cadet Troop 16654, and Brown Troop 42112. There were 15
participants. The find of the day was an intact deer skeleton minus
the head, which was found a short distance from the body. After
some expressions of revulsion, time was spent examining the skeletal remains.
SOMERS POINT-Dawes Avenue School Save the Bluffs
Project Update: The fall clean up of weeds and trash from
the Kennedy Park bluffs took place on November 5 th and 7 th
by the 4 th and 6 th grade classes respectively from Dawes.
The 4 th grade class was assigned an area of the Bluffs to
clean up.
By the
end of the
day they
The SUPER 6 th graders - “We did it!”
The FANTISTIC 4 th graders –
Proud of their debris pile.
had achieved their goal. They were spectacular. It rained on
November 6 th , so the work day for the 5 th grade class was
cancelled. As a result of the missed day, the 6 th grade class
was challenged to try and accomplish the remaining clean up
work. Thus motivated, they tackled both the 5 th and 6 th grade
areas and achieved their goal. WOW. In addition to the
clean up, the students classified animals and plants,
identified invasive species, created landscape drawings, and
wrote poetry.
An inventory was taken after the clean up of the bushes that were planted by the Dawes students in the spring of
2006. 160 bushes were originally planted. Forty-two bushes will need to be replaced.
STOCKTON WATER WATCH PARTNERSHIP: During the fall
semester GEHWA worked in partnership with Richard Stockton
College’s Water Watch program. The Water Watch program, a
partnership between NJPIRG and AmeriCorps, equips students and
community members so they can work towards improving water
quality through education and action. GEHWA worked with the Water
Watch participants: by instructing interns and students where and how
to monitor streams and by providing tools for teaching environmental
education. On December 7 th four student interns presented their stream
monitoring data. This data will be used by future Water Watch interns.
L>R John Spadola, Matt Donnelly,
Pete Gotta, & Elizabeth Kaugerts
PINELANDS DISCOVERY FESTIVAL: GEHWA had a table at the festival on October 7, 2007. The
festival was sponsored by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA). The event was supported by crafters and
a diverse group of nonprofit organizations.
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BIRD SURVEY: RC Cape May Holdings, LLC, which operates the B.L. England Generating Station, recently
contributed $3,000 for the 2007-2008 bird survey to the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association. This
contribution will assist GEHWA in continuing its valuable environmental research for the final year of a five
year study. The water birds and raptors of the Great Egg Harbor River Watershed are one of the many
“Outstandingly Remarkable Resource Values” that enabled designation of the river into the National Wild and
Scenic Rivers System in 1992. This continuing study provides information on the status and trends of water
birds and raptors in the river corridor to assure their long-term protection, and promote the importance of wild
places in the American landscape, especially here in South Jersey.
Special Note: The 2006-2007 bird survey for the Great Egg Harbor River and the Mullica River has been
completed. This report is posted on our website: http://www.gehwa.org/newsletter.htm.
TUCKAHOE - Eagle Scout Osprey Project: On Sunday, November 4 th , Adam
Day, from Boy Scout Troop 79, erected five osprey
platforms on the Tuckahoe River for his Eagle
Scout project. Adam raised funds to build three of
the platforms, and Fred Akers donated two
platforms that he had previously built. While
traveling by boat to the location where the first
platform was to be erected, two Bald Eagles were
observed flying overhead (a heartwarming event
Adam Day
while embarking on an Eagle Scout project).
Equally moving was the chiming of church bells at the precise moment the
pool of the platform settled into place. The young men from Troop 79 were
terrific to work with.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP: YOU ARE INVITED! During the hunting season (now
until the end of January) volunteers are needed to walk around the property line of
Unexpected Wildlife Refuge. The best times to walk are early in the morning or in the
afternoon until dusk. The refuge is an inviolate sanctuary for wildlife. Hunting is
prohibited. Please donate a few hours of your time. Contact Sarah Summerville at 856-
697-3541 to setup a time.
Don’t forget!
The next members’ meeting is at 7:00 pm on Tuesday January 22 , 2008 at the Warren Fox
Nature Center in Estell Manor. The program will revisit the work of Warren E. Fox, an
active environmentalist who contributed thousands of hours to a better understanding
of the New Jersey Pinelands, and other advocates that promoted the Wild and Scenic
designation of the Great Egg Harbor River.
Please mark your calendars.
Special Notice to All Members: From: Julie Akers, President GEHWA
RE: ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: Tuesday MARCH 25, 2008 AT 7:00 FOX NATURE
CENTER, RT. 50, ESTELL MANOR. Please plan on attending.
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Where’s the
pollution?
Transferring Pollution to Protect the Pinelands
By: Fred Akers
Prior to the adoption of the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan
(CMP), the U.S. Department of the Interior published a full Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), including an analysis of alternatives. The final EIS for the
Pinelands National Reserve analyzed the following five alternative management
strategies: No Plan Alternative, Proposed CMP Alternative, More Preservation
River Administrators Desk
Oriented CMP, More Development Oriented CMP and Federal/State Management
Alternative.
There was serious concern in this analysis whether any of these alternatives for Pinelands protection
would actually work on an ecosystem basis. It was already recognized that pollution and other adverse impacts
that occur in one part of an ecosystem would readily affect other parts of the ecosystem.
Given the importance of surface water and ground water to the Pinelands ecosystem, there was concern
that significant changes in water quality and quantity would seriously compromise Pinelands natural values in
the future. This in-turn would defeat the intent of the federal legislation of preserving, protecting, and enhancing
the natural and cultural resources of the Pinelands National Reserve.
The outcome of the EIS was the selection of a CMP that was essentially a compromise between a More
Preservation Oriented CMP and a More Development Oriented CMP, where the “preferred alternative” was not
the “environmentally preferable” alternative. The principal mechanism to protect the Pinelands under the
adopted CMP was a zoning scheme that would transfer development and its associated pollution from the
Preservation and Forest Areas to Regional Growth Area, Pinelands Towns and Villages, and Rural
Development Areas. The possible negative and positive consequences of this plan were recognized in the EIS:
“It is expected that Rural Growth Districts, Regional Growth Districts, and Pinelands Villages
and Towns would contribute to some loss of water quality as discussed under the No Plan
alternative. Concentrating development would potentially provide for more efficient waste
management, and leave the large Preservation Area and Forest District regions in a pristine state.
Proposed CMP water quality standards for these areas are very stringent, and do not allow for
any pollutant impact. Water standards for the other districts are not as stringent. Data presented
under the discussion of pollutants shows that they are already present in moderately developed
areas and agricultural lands”.
An analysis of management area acreage reveals that the Rural Development Areas, Regional Growth
Areas, and Pinelands Villages and Towns make up over 30% of the Pinelands under the jurisdiction of the
CMP. So in essence, one-third of the Pinelands were planned to be sacrificed with regards to water quality, to
protect two-thirds of the Pinelands in the Preservation and Forest Areas.
Twenty-six (26) years later, it appears that the original ecosystem protection concerns were well
founded---indeed, understated. For example, a 2005 report published by the Pinelands Commission science
staff on the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Management Area (WMA) concluded that,
“Most survey sites in the Great Egg Harbor River WMA displayed some level of aquatic
degradation. Non-Pinelands fish, anuran, and plant species were widespread in the Great Egg
Harbor WMA and few sites could be characterized as reference sites. The results of this study
highlight the scarcity of Pinelands streams displaying characteristic water quality and native
aquatic communities in the Great Egg Harbor River WMA, which represents almost 25% of the
Pinelands National Reserve.”
Unfortunately, the Great Egg Harbor Watershed includes 110,862 acres of Forest Area (12% of the
Pinelands) that are now degraded. Since the CMP intended to protect the Forest Area and the Preservation Area
by transferring development outside of these areas, it is time to assess the cumulative degradation in the
“protected areas” and ask if the CMP is adequate protection.
Given the incredible amount of complications and competing interests in the environmental protection
of almost 1 million acres, the implementation of the CMP has provided a substantial firewall to slow and delay
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the rate of environmental degradation in the Pinelands. But water quality and other environmental parameters
in the Pinelands are continuing to be degraded, despite the best intentions. Increased protective efforts will be
required to just hold the line on future degradation, and making advances against this degradation will require
forward thinking and strict adherence to the CMP.
**Member Meetings**
And
“What’s in Our Backyards?”
WHAT CAUSES FLOODING
On September 25 th River Administrator Fred Akers showed slides of the flooding in the watershed from the
April “Northeaster”. The Great Egg Harbor River swelled to record levels and homes were flooded in
Weymouth and near the dam at Lake Lenape. The damage was so severe that Atlantic County was
designated a disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), Fred also demonstrated how the changing land uses within the watershed are
impeding its ability to mitigate flood waters. Using the FEMA flood plain mapping layers, Fred also explained
that 156 square miles of the 627 square mile Great Egg Harbor Watershed is within the flood hazard area.
BIRD STEWARDSHIP
Clay Sutton, a Naturalist, Biologist, Writer, and Lecturer, who has studied birds in the wild for over 30
years, presented a great program on November 27 th . Clay gave the highlights of the 2006-2007 bird
survey. He also provided an update of GEHWA’s on-going baseline documentation of the status and
trends of bird use and populations on the Great
Egg and Mullica Rivers. Included in Clay’s
program were many slides of raptors in flight.
For some of us, identifying raptors in flight is no
easy undertaking. But after viewing Clay’s
many slides of airborne raptors, that endeavor
may be less difficult.
Which is the Rough-legged Hawk and
which is the Osprey? Answer below.
Mommy Cat a.k.a. Houdinis
and Her Little Houdinies
By Lynn Maun
I am sure that many of you have been visited at one time or another by a stray or feral
animal. Last fall, a feral cat and her litter of kittens took up residence in my stable.
Her three kittens would often take refuge in the wood chipper - stored in one of the
stalls - whenever a human approached. As time passed, I attempted to entice the
kittens with food so they would grow accustomed to human contact. I also endeavored
to find homes for the kittens. Mommy Cat was not content with her kittens
approaching me so one day she took them into the woods, and the kittens were never
seen again. As the months passed, I fed Mommy Cat whenever she showed up in my
yard.
Late last winter, Mommy Cat had another litter of kittens. By this time she was appearing daily for a meal. She
gave birth in the hollowed out base of an Oak tree on my property. This second litter met with the same fate at
the first. I had contemplated trying to capture Mommy Cat to have her spayed, but when the kittens failed to
survive I did not pursue it. In early summer, Mommy Cat appeared to be pregnant once again. I do not know
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where she had her kittens, but one day in September four cute bundles of fur were playing hide-n-seek with me
while I gave Mommy Cat her breakfast (she was now getting two meals a day). I assumed these kittens would
meet with the same fate as the others. What I didn’t take into account was that Mommy Cat had become
accustomed to getting two meals a day and had no intention of taking her kittens into the woods to teach them
how to fend for themselves. Instead she and her kittens would stare at my house until I came out to feed them.
As the kittens continued to thrive, it was now time to take action. Mommy Cat needed to be captured and
spayed. Mommy Cat is feral, even after feeding her for a year I cannot touch her. So, Mommy Cat was
trapped and taken on, possibly, her first car ride. When I brought her home from the veterinarian’s, I put her in
what I thought was a secure enclosure so that she would have a chance to heal. Within one half hour she had
escaped, hence the name Houdinis. After several days’ absence, Mommy Cat cautiously approached my back
door looking for her dinner. She looked none the worse for wear.
In the interim, Mommy Cat’s four kittens (3 tabbies and 1 black)
continued to appear for meals twice a day. I thought I could capture
the kittens and take them to my county SPCA. But, they would not
take the kittens, and the other animal shelter in the county told me
they would euthanize the kittens. I later learned the SPCA would have
done the same. After many calls to an assortment of No Kill animal
rescue organizations, I came to the realization that if I did not want to have the kittens destroyed my only other
alternative was to have the kittens neutered (all males) and then release them onto my property. Following the
kittens sterilization, they spent the night at the veterinarians’. When I brought them home the next day, I
planned to confine them in the same enclosure that had been built for Mommy Cat. I reinforced the opening I
“thought” she had escaped from (I even climbed inside and checked for openings in the wire), and proceeded
to transfer the kittens from a large dog crate into the larger enclosure. The kittens found an opening in the wire
that I had missed and were out of the enclosure within five seconds. I think that Mommy Cat had showed her
little Houdinies the escape hatch. I now have a feral colony of five cats on my property.
Well that’s what has been happening in my backyard. What about yours? Let me know.
lynnkmaun@comcast.net.
Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association
Julie Akers, President (856) 697-6114
Fred Akers, Administrator (856) 697-6114
P. O. Box 109; Newtonville, NJ 08346
Email: fred_akers@gehwa.org
Web Site: www.gehwa.org
Lynn Maun, Coordinator (856) 453-0416
Email: lynnkmaun@comcast.net
National Park Service
Paul Kenney (215) 597-5823
Paul_Kenney@nps.gov
NJDEP Watershed Management Office
Robert Mancini (609) 777-0580
Atlantic County Department of Planning
Bob Lindaw (609) 645-5898
US Army Corps of Engineers (215) 656-6725
NJDEP Regulatory Office for Atlantic County
(609) 292-8262
NJDEP Enforcement Officer
Kevin Brown (732) 255-0787
Pinelands Commission
Main Number (609) 894-7300
NJDEP Hotline: 1-877 WARN DEP
Answer: Picture on the left is
an Osprey, and on the right a
Rough-legged Hawk
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, December 25, 2007 (Cancelled)
Trustees
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
GEHWA Members Meeting
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Eagle Festival, Cumberland County
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Trustees
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Annual GEHWA Members Meeting
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Calendar of Events 2007-2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Trustees
Sunday, April 27, 2008
ACUA Earth Day
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
GEHWA Members Meeting
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Trustees
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
GEHWA Members Meeting
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Trustees
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
GEHWA Members Meeting
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Trustees
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
GEHWA Members Meeting
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Great Egg Harbor NS & R River Council
Meeting
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Trustees
Membership Information
Your membership supports our mission and ensures our survival as a non-profit advocate, as we work to protect
and preserve the Great Egg Harbor River and Watershed throughout the year. As a result of federal budget cuts,
your support is needed now more then ever. Without you, we could not exist. Thank you for your support!
Name/Organization: ___________________________________________________________________
Street Address: ___________________________________________________________________
City, State, and Zip: ___________________________________________________________________
Phone Number: ___________________________________________________________________
Email address: ___________________________________________________________________
_____ Yes, I would like to receive notices by Email.
Annual Membership: Individual: $10; Family: $15; Supporting: $35; Patron: $50; Corporate: $100
Please mail this form along with your check to:
Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association, Membership, P.O. Box 109, Newtonville, NJ 08346
Give the Gift of a GEHWA Membership!
It does not deplete any of our vital resources. But instead, it will help
to preserve and protect our environment both today and in the future.
Please note: In order for your donation to be tax deductible
for 2007 it must be sent by the end of the year.
Thank You
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z
Newsletter from the Great Egg Harbor Watershed
In 2016 our Nation will celebrate the 100 Year
Anniversary of the National Park Service
Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association
P.O. Box 109
Newtonville, NJ 08346
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