WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004

WEST JERSEY WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004SIERRA 2004

YEAR-ENDYEAR-END

ANNUALANNUAL

REPORTREPORT

Chair: Gina CarolaChair: Gina Carola

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004MAPMAP

BURLINGTONCAMDENGLOUCESTER

Wayne Zanni, Vice Chair

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004CONTENTSCONTENTS

• Membership• Account

• Fundraising• Politics

• Conservation• Presentations

• Events• Inner City Outings

• Refreshments

Secretary: Becky Payne

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004AccountAccount

December 2003 $4,665

December 2004 $3,450

Deficit $1,215

Treasurer: Trish Clements

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004MembershipMembership

Membership Chair: Mike Brown

December 2003 2,271

December 2004 2,659

Gain 388+17%

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004FundraisingFundraising

Fundraising Chair: Reiss Tiffany

PurchaseProjector $1,000

Sales– Onions $ 1,257– Calendars $ 518

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004ConservationConservation

Conservation Chair: Stacey Ayala

• Camden Greenways• Petty Island• Pinelands• Fast Track Bill• Highlands• Other


Lower Delaware River

• Delaware Deepening- The Army Corp of Engineers was denied its permits that it has been after for over 5 years. The request was denied citing “too many environmental issues”.

• Delaware Oil Spill - On November 26, an oil tanker, damaged while attempting to dock at a Citgo Petroleum Corp. terminal in West Deptford Township, spilled a still-undetermined amount of crude oil into the Delaware River. Since that time, the DEP has been on the scene daily, working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal and state agencies to contain and clean up the oil.


VX Nerve Gas The DuPont Corporation has submitted a bid totreat the VX nerve gas at their Deepwater

facilityin Salem County, NJ. This process would includereleasing the effluent into the Delaware River.

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Camden GreenwaysCamden Greenways

Greenways Chairs: Frank and Ellen ZinniMission of Camden Greenways:To create new parks and link existing parks along the Delaware River,Cooper, and Newton Creek in Camden, NJ. This park system will linkthe City with surrounding County Parks and the Camden andPhiladelphia waterfronts. It will provide recreational and educationalopportunities for young and old alike.

About Camden Greenways Inc (CGI):CGI is a partnership of neighborhood organizations, both local andregional organizations as well as governments including, local, county,State and federal government. CGI is a 501 C 3 not-for-profitorganization organized to help promote greenways within the City ofCamden and the region.

http://sierraactivist.org/CGI-brochure2.21.03.doc

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 PinelandsPinelands

Pinelands Chair: Lee Snyder

• Atlantic City Airport Expansion - The airport is planning an expansion of its facility which is all within Pinelands jurisdiction.

• Batsto Fish Ladder This took several years of lobbying but

DEP is finally going to build the fish ladder.

• Conectiv Tract - A 1,500 acre tract of land in Millville is possibly going to be sold to a developer who plans to build 800-900 new homes and a golf course. Most of Millville does not fall under Pinelands jurisdiction but this area could be and the state offered $2,000,000 to purchase it for conservation. As the city is for the development, it looks as though the developer will be winning the bid on the land. In a cost analysis, it was determined that it would actually cost more to develop the land than to preserve it.

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Petty IslandPetty Island

View of Petty's Island from Pyne Point Park, Camden, NJ.

Another view of Petty's Island from Pyne Point Park, Camden, NJ. Herewe see the southern tip of the island contrasting with the industrial development on the Pennsylvania bank of the Delaware River.

Petty's Island View facing south with 36th Street Bridge lower left.

Petty's Island today. Oil tanks in upper right no longer used. Marine terminal in middle. Eagle nest in between.

Petty's Island & North Camden - Shows wetlands & eagle buffers + nest. Source: Pennsauken Waterfront Master Plan

Petty's Island detail showing wetlands and protective radius about nest. Source: Pennsauken Waterfront Master Plan

Petty's Island wetlands and environmental sensitive areas. NJDEP staff overlay.

NJDEP Staff Overlay - Petty's Island buildable acres with minimum environmental protection buffers. http://sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys

Photographs by Dennis Schvejda


Elmer Clegg, NJ bald eagle monitoring volunteer, posted these signs around the perimiter of the bald eagle nesting site.

A view of what had been a dirt road, now overgrown with grasses and shrubs, on our way to the freshwater ponds on southern Petty's Island.

Here's the nest of the bald eagle pair that have captivated newspaper headlines. The nest may look small, but it's about six feet across.

Petty's Island has several freshwater ponds surrounded by emergent grasses and wetlands. They provide habitat for waterfowl and wading birds.

A closer view of the opposite pond shore.

A view looking west from the old dirt road, into what are essentially early successional trees. The most common on Petty's Island are cottonwoods, birches, paulownia, and a smattering of sweet gum and sycamore.

Yellow-crowned and black-crowned night herons also nest on the island. We are looking at a heron rookery. The dark "splotches" in the tree are heron nests.

Our guide, Don Griffin of Citgo, showing Dennis Schvejda, Sierra Club's Conservation Director, the heron rookery.

http://sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys Photographs by Dennis Schvejda


THE

CHEROKEE

PLAN

Cherokee Building Plan - Petty's Island. Shows golf hotel, Club Crescent, and Gateway Villages. 751 homes, 250 room hotel.

Cherokee Plan with 18 hole golf course covers Petty's Island. Eagle nest forest thinned for paths.

Plan for Petty's Island Detail. Note development on both sides of treed area with paths where eagle nest had been. http://sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys

Photographs by Dennis Schvejda

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004PoliticsPolitics

SierraA record number of members voted in the election and goodhas triumphed over evil. The winners were all nominatingcommittee members and the outsiders were vanquished.

National GroupLisa Renstrom 141,407 Gina Carola (enough)Jan O'Connell 132,262 Wayne Zanni (enough)Nick Aumen 123,332 Rebecca Payne (enough)Sanjay Ranchod 123,332 Trish Clements (enough)David Karpf 110,756

Political Chair: Marie Hageman

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004PoliticsPolitics

National

President George W. Bush

NJ 1st Camden / Gloucester Andrews endorsed

NJ 2nd Atlantic / Cumberland / Cape May / Salem /

Gloucester LoBiondo endorsed

NJ 3rd Burlington / Camden Saxton endorsed

Political Chair: Marie Hageman

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004LegislationLegislation

CLEAN CAR LAW - state

The first win of the year was the Clean Car Bill. This new law encourages car manufactures to produce

the cleanest cars possible for New Jersey as early as this year and in increasing numbers over time. Although the bill would not mandate manufacturers produce clean cars for New Jersey before 2009, it is believed that the state would immediately see the impact of the bill because automakers would want to start banking credits for the 2009 requirement by placing cleaner advanced technology cars in New Jersey right now. It is expected that the results will be that air toxins will be reduced by an additional 23 percent more than the federal emission standards and smog precursors by 19 percent by 2020 through stricter car emissions standards and the promotion of cleaner, advanced technology vehicles across the state.

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 LegislationLegislation

THE FAST TRACK LAW - state• This bill will enable builders to pay an extra fee

to have their applications for developing reviewed quickly. If the DEP has not responded within 45 days, the application is immediately approved. If the DEP rejects the application, they must defend their reasons in court if the developer decides to sue. Also, the developers can have the application review done by the reviewers of their choice from a list of “pre-approved” reviewers.

• However, all is not lost. On November 6, 2004 Gov. McGreevey, just before leaving office, signed an executive order delaying the implementation of the law.

There is still hope.


HIGHLANDS LAW-stateNext very significant win: Highlands Bill

• On June 10, 2004, both houses of the New Jersey Legislature passed the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act. This bill--signed by the governor on August 10--is the most significant piece of state land use legislation since the State Planning Act of 1985, and is among the most significant environmental bills ever passed by the State of New Jersey. Protection of fresh water was a primary motivation.

• The Highlands Region supplies drinking water for more than 11 million people and is home to more than 200 plant and 50 animal species. It also serves as a recreational area for nearly 25 million people who live within one hour's drive of the region that stretches from Pennsylvania and New Jersey through New York and Connecticut.

• Hovnanian Builders - Agreed to donate 6,000 acres to conservation efforts and plans to build 2,450 homes on the 1,000 acres.


HIGHLANDS LAW-federal • Surprisingly, on a Federal level, Bush signed the Highlands

Conservation Act on Tuesday, November 30, authorizing $110 million to preserve open space in northern New Jersey and neighboring states.

• The act was supported by New Jersey's Democrats and Republicans in Congress -- the chief author was Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, who said he was thrilled that Bush had signed it. Democratic Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg worked on the bill with Frelinghuysen.

• "This is a historic achievement and major victory for the preservation of the New Jersey Highlands, one of the last open space treasures in the most densely populated area of the country," Frelinghuysen said.

• Corzine said the Highlands region is a national treasure that must be preserved, and that the measure would keep the area from being developed.


SNOWMOBILES-federal We lost the Holt amendment to ban

snowmobiles from Yellowstone by a vote of 198-224. Congressman Rush Holt tried hard to get this amendment passed, but the snowmobile manufactures lobbied very hard too. Snowmobilers like to tear through the wilderness areas of the parks in large numbers. This frightens herds of deer, elk and buffalo along with other wildlife. They start running and often run until they collapse from exhaustion.


Arctic National Wildlife RefugeANWR-federal

Looks like President Bush took drilling in ANWR out of the energy bill and hid it in the House omnibus bill.

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004PresentationsPresentations

• January - Delaware River Bayshores Discovery Project:

Kristoffer Whitney • February - Water Testing Volunteerism: AmeriCorp.:

Mike Gross & Josh Melissari • March - Fish Kill: - Roxanne Shinn: RiverKeepers.• April - Organic Gardening: Rutgers Co-Op Tom Polinski,

Master Gardener • May - Smart Growth: Rowan Prof. Dr. John Hasse.• June - Solar Power: Tim Fostik.• September - Population Control: Bonnie Tillery.• October - Heritage Trail: Celeste Tracy. • November – TerraCycle: Bob Chioppa.

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004EventsEvents

• Habitat for Humanity• Earth Fairs

– April 24 - Wash Twp– June 13 - Burl County– June 13 - Glouco Waterfest

Publicity Chair: Bud Kaliss

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004OutingsOutings

Inner City Outings

Thanks toJennifer Grenier

&Maxine Vogt

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004RefreshmentsRefreshments

Thanks

to

Ellen Zinni

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 COMING UP FOR 2005COMING UP FOR 2005

• Fast Track Legislation repeal• Petty Island preservation• Politics

– State Gubernatorial– State Assembly

• Delaware Oil Spill Clean-up• Liquid Natural Gas port in Logan Twp. • VX Nerve Gas• Programs –

– January Jessica Grudowski – N.J. Watersheds – February Mike Hogan - Rebirth of Big Timber Creek

And of course---BUSHWORLD MONITORING!

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Chair: Gina Carola Vice Chair: Wayne ZanniSecretary: Becky PayneTreasurer: Trish ClementsPolitical Chair: Marie HagemanPublicity Chair: Bud KalissConservation Chair: Stacey AyalaMembership Chair: Mike BrownFundraising Chair: Reiss TiffanyPinelands Rep: Lee SnyderGreenways Chairs: Frank and Ellen

ZinniOutings Chair: Jennifer Grenier &

Maxine VogtProgram Chair: Open

WEST JERSEY WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004SIERRA 2004

YEAR-ENDYEAR-END

ANNUALANNUAL

REPORTREPORT

Prepared by: Wayne Zanni, Vice Chair

WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004

Documents

Transcript of WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004