Annual Message January 1997

Dear Members and Friends,

The Trustees and Officers of Citizens United hope that you and your family had a happy and healthy holiday season. We also wish to extend our best wishes for a Happy New Year.

Citizens United Accomplishments in 1996

This past year has been an especially productive year for Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc. We would like to review some of the highlights for you. We rented boats for Bayday and the Annual Conference of Mayor’s Seafood Fest and gave educational tours for these visitors. The State Police was kind enough to provide a boat to the County Planning Department on which we gave a river tour to the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism.

A campaign of sorts was launched to discourage Vineland from placing an Industrial Park along the upper Maurice River. Thus far we have been successful in having the City embrace a different site for the expanded Industrial Park, but we still endeavor to have the City Council and Mayor see the wisdom of preserving the Maurice River site.

Citizens United was instrumental in organizing a state wide Ecotourism Workshop with the Stockton Alliance. We also participate as a member of the Stockton Alliance. This group builds bridges of understanding between the environmental and corporate communities.

We received a grant from NOAA and donations from the National Park Service, NJ Network and PSE&G that has enabled us to produce a documentary film on the Delaware Bayshore entitled “Down Jersey” – it is super! We plan to premier the movie in March at Cumberland County College.

Our osprey project continues to prosper and our design is now being used statewide. The Wetlands Institute, NJ Fish and Game and PSE&G are all using our design. By providing a prototype to the Bayside Prison, people can get osprey platforms from them. We constructed osprey nests at New Jersey Audubon’s new Goshen Observatory and erected a second nest at the Peek Preserve (both nests at the Peek Preserve produced young this year). This year we hope to donate to The Natural Lands Trust dollars that will enable them to construct a viewing platform at the Peek Preserve. We plan to take school groups to the platform for interpretive field trips.

We collaborated with the Wildlife Habitat Council and Morie Sand Co. to improve habitat on their Port Elizabeth Property. We hosted the Rutgers Field Ecology class to a river field trip on which some students saw their first eagle in the wild. We continue to bring together property owners and land conservation groups to discuss land preservation options.

When we look at all our accomplishments it reminds us of Margaret Mead’s quote in our brochure, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world – it’s the only thing that ever has.” Often we receive letters from our members that say the most wonderful things. In December we received a very generous donation from a Cumberland County farmer, who was one of the first farmers to put his property in the farm land preservation program. Permit us to share his words, “From the rich productive agricultural farmlands, to the pristine watershed of our freshwater wetlands and the tributaries that lead to the tidal marshlands along the Delaware Bay, our South Jersey area has truly been blessed by God in the abundance of natural beauty encompassing both plant and animal life. Protecting and preserving these vital natural resources will require the effort and financial support of all of us, if these treasured gifts are to be maintained.” As we reflect on these words, each of us is reminded of our responsibility as stewards of these treasures.

Sincerely,

The Officers and Trustees and Officers of
Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc.