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 1997
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.
“Down Jersey”, the film we completed with New Jersey Network and the National Park Service’s New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route office, was a smashing success! We premiered the movie in March at Cumberland County College; 400+ people attended. The film aired numerous times on NJN. In March we applied for a Watershed Management Public Education and Outreach Grant, distributed by the NJ DEP. Our request was for $16,700 to develop a teacher’s guide to be used in conjunction with the “Down Jersey” video. The overall project would exceed $21,000, and would again involve the National Park Service as a partner with CU. In June we received notification that we were awarded the grant, and by October we had a fully executed contract. Educational Consultant Christine Raabe was hired to coordinate this effort. For the past six months she has been working with NPS, CU and a teachers’ advisory group of 55 individuals on this unique project. We expect the first guide to be off the presses in the winter of ’98-99.
We plan to donate to The Natural Lands Trust dollars that will enable them to construct a viewing platform at the Peek Preserve, we intend to take school groups to the platform for interpretive field trips.
The National Park Service and New Jersey Network have both asked us to consider partnering with them on two separate grants involving elements that were included in the “Down Jersey” film. We will keep you informed when more has been established.
As we have done in previous years, we provided party boats for Delaware Bayday (since ’93) and the Annual Conference of Mayors’ Seafood Fest (since ’92) and offered educational tours to these visitors. Once again the artists represented among our membership led Bayday participants in “CU Paint a Landscape”.
Since 1994 CU has served on the Public Service Electric and Gas Management Plan Advisory Committee. This assignment was at the direction of NJDEP Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, and involves the world’s largest marsh restoration site. A number of our members and supporters serve on municipal advisory groups to this same project.
CU continues to serve on the Shorebird Advisory Group coordinated by NJ DEP Endangered and Nongame Species Program. This year our president participated in the horseshoe crab harvest negotiations.
CU continued to host guest lectures at regular meetings, press releases were distributed, and all meetings were open to the public.
Over 25 persons worked on the osprey colony project this past year. We constructed osprey platforms for PSE&G and demonstrated our installation technique at Cohansey River sites, where we erected our first nests outside of the Maurice River watershed. When Wilmington Friend’s student Peter Martin constructed osprey platforms as a service project, we acted as his proctor and technical consultant. Peter’s nests will be used on the Cohansey and Maurice Rivers. The Nature Conservancy assisted us in erecting an osprey platform on its Willow Grove Lake preserve. Additionally we provided Liberty State Park with an osprey platform in conjunction with a display on NJ’s raptor recovery programs.
Osprey failure statewide made major headlines. Although the exact reason for failure is unknown, many birds showed signs of starvation in Atlantic coastal areas. Was food less plentiful at a critical nesting time? Were birds disturbed by the increased use of personal watercraft (wave runners)? No one knows for sure. The upside is that the Maurice River colony did amazingly well. At least 31 birds were produced and 28 banded by our volunteers at 15 CU platforms. There were also natural nests that appeared to do well. The production rate was 2.07 per nest: not the astounding 2.5 – 2.8 of previous years, but much better than the .59 of the Atlantic coast, or the 1.5 state norm since recovery began. We look to 1998 with guarded optimism.
CU assisted NJ Division of FGW and University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center in the capture and outfitting of an osprey with a satellite transmitter for a migration study. The tracking was developed to identify important wintering areas and habitats used in migration. Sadly a large number of the transmitters failed and the Maurice River bird’s information was unobtainable; hopefully this year there will be better luck.
This was the tenth anniversary of Raptor Waterfowl Surveys. The findings were compiled by ornithologists Clay Sutton and Paul Kerlinger and published in The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.’s journal. Our eleventh year 1997-98 winter survey is well underway!
In 1997 we advocated that the City of Vineland place a proposed Industrial Park adjacent to the existing industrial park on Mill Rd. rather than along the upper Maurice River. With the assistance of CU member Congressman LoBiondo we encouraged the EDA and the City to transfer funding to that alternate location. Ultimately, the Maurice River site was deemed inappropriate because of environmental and economic disadvantages. Work has begun on the Mill Road site. We continue to recommend that the City Council and Mayor preserve the Maurice River site as part of an existing greenway. Presently there are no guarantees that this site will not be developed, but we are monitoring the situation.
Cu has been a charter member of the Stockton Alliance since its inception in 1994. This group seeks to build bridges of consensus between the environmental and business communities. As a member, CU has helped contribute monetarily to a study to find a stable source of funding for Natural Resources in New Jersey. The study was conducted by Henry Raimondo, a professor with Eagleton Institute, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy – Rutgers University.
We requested that Congress extend the life of the National Park Service’s New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route office. We continue to partner with this office on significant projects.
We assisted the NPS (Philadelphia office) in developing a visitation program for the locally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers area. CU stressed the need to focus on the education of visitors, the behavior of visitors, the creation of stewards, the proper use of watercraft and the concerns regarding carrying capacity of the waterways. We urged that the program focus more on land based visitation than water.
With CU input the City of Millville is constructing an information kiosk and developing a boater’s brochure for use at the public ramp. A Watershed Management Public Education and Outreach Grant is funding this project.
The City of Avalon nominated CU for a Quality New Jersey Conference – Shore Quality Award. CU was selected to receive the award and will apply those funds toward the costs of the Teacher’s Guide to “Down Jersey”.
CU representatives attend, monitor and participate in South Jersey Transportation Organization meetings regarding the proposed southern extension of route 55. CU advocates improvements to the existing roadway as opposed to disrupting and destroying river corridors.
For a number of years we have hosted the Rutgers Field Ecology class on an annual river field trip during which many students saw their first eagle in the wild.
CU President Galetto gave a presentation to the American Institute of Architects – South Jersey on the Delaware Bayshore and discussed design steps which can be taken to help maintain and protect the values of the landscape.
We mourn the passing of two very special members; Virginia Chamberlain and Connie Jost . Virginia faithfully attended most monthly meetings until her illness made it too difficult. Many will recall that when political candidates attended our meetings, quiet Virginia would often cut to the chase and ask the toughest question. Artist Connie Jost helped many people to experience the beauty of our local fishes with her whimsical ideas and clever visual puns. Her fish art always left a smile on our faces. Whether it was a flounder with Philadelphia depicted in its belly, entitled “Philly of Flounder”, or the greeting cards she labeled “Birthday Cods,” it always encouraged people to consider our finned friends and their fragile waters.
Inasmuch as Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc. exists to provide continued enjoyment of our resources for future generations, let us be sure to make those who came before us, as well as those who will come after us, proud of our accomplishments both new and old. Have a happy and healthy new year.
Sincerely,
The Officers and Trustees
Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc.