![]() Summer 2019 Message from the Executive Director Julia Somers, Executive Director Every year I can’t believe how fast the first six months go. So much has happened since our last newsletter.
Warmly, Julia Somers Use NJHC10 for an exclusive NJ Highlands Coalition supporter discount.
![]() Highlands Hero Video Release: This month we released Stormwater Camp: A Paulinskill Hero, the second video in the Highlands Hero series, produced in partnership with members of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative.
Check it out to see how this group of students took direct action to solve a flooding issue on their campus! ![]() Policy Update Elliott Ruga, Policy & Communications Director On May 30 an editorial of ours ran in the Star Ledger calling on Governor Murphy to make appointments to the Highlands Council.
Despite a new Governor and new leadership at the Highlands Council, with three Christie appointed opponents of the Highlands still active on the Highlands Council, the Council has not been able to regain the momentum it lost when Governor Christie maneuvered to undermine it. We had been pressing the Governor ever since he was elected to move on appointments. We had attended meetings with his staff and there was considerable correspondence between us.
The same day the editorial ran we received a call from the Governor’s office requesting a meeting. On June 7, we met with the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff and the Director of Appointments. It was a very positive meeting and we were assured appointments would be made swiftly. Still, no appointments have been made. What’s up Governor?
It was a very positive meeting and we were assured appointments would be made swiftly. Still, no appointments have been made. What’s up Governor?
We had been strong supporters of the bill that was recently signed into law allowing municipalities, or groups of municipalities, to create stormwater utilities. Unmanaged stormwater is the primary cause of surface water pollution in New Jersey. This was all too perfectly illustrated recently with the closing of Lake Hoptacong to swimming over the Fourth of July weekend—normally their busiest weekend of the summer— due to harmful algae blooms (HAB). Record rainfalls in the last month, combined with inadequate stormwater management and summer heat created the perfect conditions for HAB.
![]() 255 sq. mile core forest of the Highlands Preservation Area Just prior to the outbreak, District 24 Legislators, whose district include some of the towns on the Lake, had pressed towns to pass resolutions affirming never to participate in a stormwater utility.
Dense development around the Lake, coupled with inadequate and poorly maintained stormwater management systems all but guarantee that HABs will continue to plague the Lake, reducing property values and crippling the businesses that rely on recreational use of the Lake. Effective stormwater management costs money. A stormwater utility is the only effective solution because it equitably raises the necessary funds to install meaningful stormwater controls. We are actively pursuing outreach opportunities in the Lake Hopatcong communities, to educate the public, business interests and officials on the benefits of creating a regional stormwater utility.
Does the Highlands Act provide adequate protections for Highlands forests now that we are beginning to understand the value the Highlands mature forests provide in mitigating the impacts of climate change? We will be exploring this issue over the coming months. The core forest of the Highlands, approximately 255 square miles of dense woods, located north of I-80, from Ramapo Mt. in the east, to Sparta and Hamburg Mountains in the west, continues to be reduced in size and quality because of activities exempted from DEP regulations. ![]() More ways to experience the New Jersey Highlands Zachary Cole, Outreach & Education Director All year we find creative ways to engage our members and supporters with the vibrant cultural and natural treasures in the Highlands, keep up traditions and share new experiences in the Highlands.
![]() Happy Hikers at Apshawa Preserve golf ranged from pretty good to pretty bad; breakfast and lunch were delicious and a grand old time was had by all.
The Highlands Hikers kicked off with a successful outing to Apshawa Preserve in April. Hikers enjoyed views over Butler Reservoir and a delicious craft beer at Ramstein Brewery after a day on the trail.
These outings are open to everyone and all levels of ability. Get in touch with Zac to find out where and when the next outing will be.
This special event was coordinated with Keep It Green NJ, a network of more than 150 organizations across the State working to increase ![]() Preparing to launch at Splitrock Reservoir awareness about the intrinsic benefits of Open Space preservation: clean air, clean water, and healthy communities - more information about Keep It Green can be found at the updated Keep It Green web site.
Coming up this summer we’re excited to announce the 3rd Hopped Up Boonton Pub Crawl and Scavenger Hunt (Aug 31st), and the NJ Highlands Brewfest at Boonton (Sept 7th) two unique events that celebrate community, clean water, and craft beer. Early bird tickets are available for both events. ![]() Highlands Coalition Member Spotlight: An interview with Friends of Sparta Mountain/ New Jersey Forest Watch Over the last two years an ecologically disastrous forest stewardship project has pitted the environmental community and ecologists against the Department of Environmental Protection and the Division of Fish & Wildlife. What was at stake was an 18.5 acre tract of forest inside the Sparta Mountain WMA. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Silvia Solaun and the Friends of Sparta Mountain (FoSM), we were successful in further reducing the size of this project to 12.5 acres total, thus saving an area of mature forest to the NE of the stand that was known to be habitat for Barred Owls and a rare species of orchid.
Silvia: We've visited Stand 18 with members of the Highlands Coalition Natural Heritage Committee numerous times to document how destructive these stewardship projects are. It’s really impossible to describe how drastic a change this area has undergone, from being a healthy, age-diverse forest to an opening in the forest torn apart by heavy machinery. The area is now devastated and the soil on the site severely disturbed with rutting sometimes several feet deep, and many smaller trees cut down because they were in the way. Tree tops, and slash stacked in an attempt to cover the ruts created by the heavy machinery used on Stand 18. They significantly widened the access road to the Stand, pushing huge amounts of dirt into wetlands areas and exposing large areas of bare soil that is now vulnerable to invasive species.
Yes. One thing we can thank the loggers for is our ability to count tree rings on the stumps of trees that were cut down and confirm what we already knew; that the trees on Sparta Mountain are not stuck in “middle age.” Of the samples we’ve analyzed, the ages range from 70-150 years, and interestingly the rings also tell us that for many of the trees cut down the last few years were their healthiest and show the fastest growth. After years of competing, some of these trees were finally able to release, which has big implications for their capacity to sequester carbon dioxide. ![]() Members the NJ HC Natural Heritage Committee conducting an environmental inventory of the tree species on Stand 18 before the work started. What are you hoping for the future? We have always stated that public lands in New Jersey belong to all of us, and it is appalling to see them managed for specific interests - either to create habitat for game species or the sale of timber. There is no accountability or oversight of these activities. It is our hope that using all the evidence and the experience of what has happened on Sparta Mountain, we can have influence over future projects that involve this type of forest management. We want to persuade DEP to reconsider in favor of true restorative stewardship. We cannot afford to log the last remaining intact forest that exists in the New Jersey Highlands. ![]() Destruction caused as a result of widening the access road to Stand 18 to allow huge trucks into the forest to collect the timber. The NJ Highlands Coalition is advancing a new paradigm for forestry where forests are managed for restoration and the intrinsic ecological value of intact forests for the ecosystem services, and mitigation of climate change they provide.
For more information about our vision for forestry in the Highlands check out our Policy Recommendations for Forest Stewardship on Public Lands, that we are presenting to different stakeholders in Trenton and throughout the Highlands. ![]() Changing Times in the Highlands George Stafford, Highlands Ambassador
Upcoming Events New figures recently published by, among others, the State of New Jersey and the New Jersey Highlands’ Council confirm what far-sighted investors in the Highlands have long known: the New Jersey Highlands continue to prosper.
Land values have risen strongly since the end of the Great Recession and the infamous Real Estate Bubble that began in 2007. While some areas of the Highlands are losing population other communities in the east are growing rapidly. Jobs in portions of the Highlands are down, but employment is up! The simple answer to that counter-intuitive math problem is that many more Highlands workers are commuting out of the Highlands. By the way, incomes here are also up.
Yes, the times, real estate markets, retail sales and employment patterns and many other factors are changing. Tourism is returning as a major sector particularly in the western Highlands. Agriculture is expanding. Our traditional corn and tomato crops continue to thrive. Shifting markets are making so-called “Farm to Table” crops big money-makers as well, and towns with far-sighted leadership are discovering that small town, downtowns can be attractive, profitable and sustaining with creative marketing and modest investments.
In the coming weeks and months ahead the Highlands Coalition will be rolling out hard numbers that will demonstrate that the future of the Highlands Region can be kind to those who understand that “Changing Times” favor the bold and the creative. ![]() The New Jersey Highlands Coalition We represent a diverse network of organizations - small and large, local, regional, statewide and national - and individuals with the common goal to protect, enhance and restore the New Jersey Highlands and to preserve the quality and quantity of drinking water both for the 850,000 people in the Highlands as well as the more than 6.2 million people in surrounding areas who depend on Highlands water.
Contributions from supporters such as you are the New Jersey Highlands Coalition’s largest source of funding and ensure that the Coalition has the resources to continue to be your voice speaking up for the NJ Highlands in the future. ![]() |