Is New Jersey’s State Development & Redevelopment Plan the state’s Environmental Superpower?

By LRWP Board President Heather Fenyk, Ph.D., AICP/PP

New Jersey’s State Development and Redevelopment Plan – currently in cross-acceptance process across the state – is New Jersey’s first to recognize the importance of planning processes integrated at the watershed level. In the current political climate, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership sees the state plan as an excellent first step toward collaborative engagement around environmental protections for our forests, wetlands, waters and soils.

Public Comment on NJ’s Preliminary State Plan is open until March 27, 2025

Within hours of returning to the oval office on January 20, 2025, President Trump unpacked the wrecking ball used during his first term to continue the process of dismantling US climate and environmental policies. With Executive Order “Unleashing America’s Energy,” Trump articulated an aggressive approach to encouraging energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters, framing a new goal: to establish the US as the leading producer of nonfuel minerals. On February 25, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), part of the Executive Office of the President, published an “interim final” rule proposal in the Federal Register: “Removal of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations.” Until now, under the coordination of the CEQ, NEPA has guided agencies responsible for oversight of federal transportation, energy and mining projects to consider: Is there a safer way? A smarter way? A way that doesn’t leave a mess for the next generation?

Rollback of these federal environmental laws is designed to put communities throughout the nation on the defensive. These federal actions pose a real threat to state and local efforts to limit planet-warming, asthma-inducing, carbon dioxide emissions. They make it harder for communities to effectively govern the pollutants discharged into local air, water and soils. And let’s not even talk about the impact of these rollbacks on ensuring protections for neighborhood forests and streams, or for the wetlands doing the lion’s share of holding stormwater during flood events, keeping it from entering our homes and streets.

Luckily in New Jersey, proactive thinking by the state Office of Planning Advocacy (OPA) and the State Planning Commission (SPC) means the state is well positioned for offense, not defense in terms of environmental protections. For the last several years these agencies have guided a series of public conversations around how to ensure safer, smarter planning and redevelopment in a way that is not only sensitive to environmental impacts, but also considers environmental restoration and enhancements, preserves special historic sites, and minimizes risks and hazards related to global climate change now and into the future. The result of these conversations is the Preliminary State Development and Redevelopment Plan (or Preliminary State Plan). Public Comment on NJ’s Preliminary State Plan is open until March 27, 2025, with public “Cross Acceptance” meetings scheduled in each County through the end of April.

Through the process of cross-acceptance, members of the public are invited to provide input into the Preliminary State Plan. This process helps bring attention to issues of local concern, and ensures that municipal, county, and regional initiatives are taken into consideration during the process. Final approval of the State Plan involves establishing regional agreements in areas of land use, transportation, housing, economic development and provision of public infrastructure. Strong collaborative planning efforts, like that offered through the State Plan Cross-Acceptance process, offer representation at multiple political scales. As a state-wide collaborative planning exercise, cross-acceptance facilitates local, county and state communication on development and redevelopment. More importantly, in Home Rule states like New Jersey, cross-acceptance helps facilitate planning collaboration across biophysical scales. Importantly in this regard, the 2024 Preliminary State Plan is New Jersey’s first to recognize the importance of planning processes integrated at the watershed level.

As an organization focused on watershed management, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership views New Jersey’s Preliminary State Plan as a step in the right direction. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Do we think New Jersey’s State Plan should at the outset be organized around watershed-based resource planning and permitting? YES. Do we think all land management should begin by considering ecological functions, and that New Jersey’s State Plan should provide guidance on how to integrate county and municipal land use planning with information on the carrying capacity of our natural systems? YES. Should New Jersey’s State Plan be specific about impacts to hydrologic systems? YES. Should the plan provide more detail regarding the how-tos of restoration, and introduce concepts like re-naturing and rewilding to guide collaborative landscape management? YES and YES. All that said, in the current political climate does the LRWP see the state plan as an excellent first step toward collaborative engagement around environmental protections for our forests, wetlands, waters and soils? YES, Absolutely.

New Jersey’s Preliminary State Development & Redevelopment Plan may do more than help New Jersey’s municipalities and counties work collaboratively to protect our air, water, land and special historic sites, and to minimize risks and hazards related to global climate change now and into the future. If New Jersey adopts the State Plan in the face of environmental rollbacks designed to put states on the defensive with respect to federal actions, it will demonstrate the certain superpower of a collaboratively defined and collectively held vision of environmental protections for now and into the future.

The LRWP will provide comments at the Preliminary State Plan Cross-Acceptance discussion at Middlesex County on Monday March 24, 6-8pm. A list of dates and times for other meetings throughout the state can be found here. These events are open to the public – we encourage you to join us in the public engagement process.

Essay and photos by Joe Mish

“Leave no trace,” sage advice from the earliest people who lived entirely off the land, is still a useful reminder for those who spend time out of doors. Today the words are meant as an environmental caution to leave the outdoors better than when you found it. Allow the next visitor to experience the pristine woods, water and landscape as if they were the first, and not the last to arrive on the scene.

The original intent of those words was passed down as a credo by which to live in harmony with nature and avoid conflict and increase chances for survival.

Competition for food often involved violating neighboring territory. Any footprints, damaged brush or broken branches would reveal a hunter or warriors’ presence to their enemy. Likewise game animals are alerted by any physical changes or scent. A bare patch of ground among leaf litter, or a trail of footsteps across a dew drenched meadow, will turn a fox inside out and cause a deer to stop in its tracks. I walked into the woods, well before sunrise, during a fall bowhunt. Two hours later a red fox walked by, and when he crossed the path I took, it sniffed the ground and ran off at full speed.

Want rabbit stew? Watch for fine branches close to the ground cut off at a forty-five degree angle, as if by razor. Find a number of fine broken branches, higher off the ground, with ragged ends, it is clear sign deer were browsing.

Trappers, whether paleo or current day, do their best to leave no footprints in the mud or disturb vegetation. They will always walk in the water, upstream, as the visibility is clear, and sign easily seen. Aware also, that the downstream water is muddy and an enemy or trap thief will be alerted to the trappers’ presence. Muddy water may betray the presence of game animals such as waterfowl or deer.

A subsistence hunter or trapper will look at the natural world through the eyes of the wildlife and realize the focus on a single species is a fools’ errand without considering the impact on the natural community in which it lives. Each life form causes ripples throughout the community and self-awareness is mandatory for good stewardship of the natural world. To leave no trace is to reduce unforeseen impact on the natural community, of which we are temporary tenants.

Winter throws a wet blanket of snow upon the world, which nullifies leave no trace. Though temporary, it can have existential consequence on wildlife. It is as if the vegetation made a covert agreement with winter, to provide a fluffy white blanket, to protect the plant life from the cold and hide it from hungry animals during the most critical period for survival. The bear and the weasel were given a heads up about the secret agreement from a talkative crow. They knew their survival was in jeopardy, so the weasel evolved to turn white in the winter, wearing a cloak of invisibility. The bear decided to likewise, disappear completely, though in a warm den, sound sleep under the heavy blanket of snow.

A layer of late winter snow provides a detailed account of wildlife activities. A set of fox tracks continue in a relatively straight line as the fox travels efficiently between points of interest. It is clear when scent or sight caught the attention of the fox as the distance between tracks change and a depression in the snow reflects where it sat down to listen or watch for food, a love interest, or danger. No matter the scenario, the daily travel plans of the fox are revealed in the snow as headline news to any interested subscriber.

Ruffed grouse will fly into deep snow, leaving only a small round entry hole, as if some invisible hand excavated a random cavity in the snow. Momentum takes them several feet from the point of entry where they hide under virgin snow, leaving no trace of their presence. When disturbed, the  grouse will explode from under the trackless white cover, like a feathered missile, to create a shower of glistening snow, accompanied by the sound of wildly beating wings, gathering air for a vertical takeoff. The heartbeat of the passerby who disturbed the bird, matches the heart rate of the frightened grouse.

Snow is the nemesis of ‘leave no trace’ advocates, as it bears witness to the otherwise covert lives who live by leaving no trace.

Author Joe Mish has been running wild in New Jersey since childhood when he found ways to escape his mother’s watchful eyes. He continues to trek the swamps, rivers and thickets seeking to share, with the residents and visitors, all of the state’s natural beauty hidden within full view. To read more of his writing and view more of his gorgeous photographs visit Winter Bear Rising, his wordpress blog. Joe’s series “Nature on the Raritan, Hidden in Plain View” runs monthly as part of the LRWP “Voices of the Watershed” series. Writing and photos used with permission from the author.

The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP), a regional non-profit organization serving central New Jersey, seeks an enthusiastic and creative Part Time Watershed Community Outreach Coordinator to help the LRWP implement and manage our environmental monitoring programs and related projects in 2025. This position works with schools, community groups, civic scientists as well as local, state, and federal government partners to support environmental engagement and stewardship of watershed health.

The ideal candidate will be bilingual (English/Spanish), with a passion for community engagement and science communication. We are looking for someone with familiarity with water quality monitoring protocols, data collection, QA/QC, and reporting methods, however we will train! The successful candidate must enjoy working with the public, be comfortable giving presentations and speaking publicly, and be comfortable working independently, as well as part of a collaborative team. The position requires excellent communication and organization to ensure that the LRWP board submits grant reports on time.

In 2025 the LRWP Community Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for four key projects:

• Green Brook Litter Trap (on-going)
• Raritan River Volunteer Pathogens Monitoring (Summer/Fall)
• Volunteer Eel Monitoring in the Green Brook (Early Winter/Spring)
• StreamKeepers Volunteer Stream Assessments (Fall/Late Fall)

The LRWP Community Outreach Coordinator will implement the 2^nd year of the Green Brook Litter Trap project, including community engagement in assessing litter flows, documenting the impact of the in-water litter collection device, and communicating findings to project partners and the broader community. In 2025 this will include schools and community outreach around eel monitoring near the Litter Trap installation site and being a member of the team planning a 5K “Run Off” and Walk/Roll/Stroll outreach and educational event to bring attention to the impact of stormwater runoff on local stream health.

The LRWP Community Outreach Coordinator will be responsible for the LRWP’s Raritan River pathogens monitoring activities, including all aspects of supporting volunteers in weekly pathogens monitoring; maintaining water monitoring equipment and supplies; populating and maintaining databases; maintaining citizen monitoring networks and contacts; and developing weekly science communication outreach materials to share via blog and social media posts.

The LRWP Community Outreach Coordinator will also work with the LRWP Board to further develop the infrastructure for, and deploy, a watershed-wide StreamKeeper’s Volunteer Stream Assessment Program.

About the LRWP: The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership was founded in 2015. Since the beginning, the LRWP has prioritized work that supports civic science community engagement on the path to environmental stewardship. The LRWP’s core mission is to protect and restore the Raritan River and its watershed by building partnerships, engaging communities to find collaborative solutions, and connecting people to its streams and lands. The LRWP also leads a wide array of on-the-ground restoration projects.

Learn more about us by visiting our website: www.lowerraritanwatershed.org

Job Description: The Community Outreach Coordinator will need to be an energetic and independent worker, excited about engaging communities in the LRWP’s mission. The following skills are required:

• Volunteer Coordination – ability to recruit, coordinate, and lead volunteer events and volunteer participation at events.
• Project Coordination – ability to implement and complete projects on time, with willingness to learn and adapt quickly, and juggle multiple responsibilities at once.
• Strong Writing Skills – ability to assist with delivery of quarterly, annual, and final reports. This requires being well organized, attentive to detail, and having excellent time management skills.
• Science Communication – ability to write summary blog posts and generate social media outreach material that describes project activities and celebrates community stewardship.
• Relationship Building – ability to develop and maintain relationships with diverse partners, such as other non-profit organizations, schools, local, state, and federal government agencies, businesses, and individuals.
• Comfortable working outside in any weather. Some labor may require lifting over 40 lbs. Frequent evening and weekend work.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in earth systems, ecology, natural resource management, environmental science, or similar field of study. Experience coordinating projects and leading volunteer events. Excellent outreach, communication, and presentation skills and experience in public speaking. Proficient in MS Office. Experience with Google Drive, Canva, Salesforce and WordPress are a plus. Compensation: $25-30/hour Commensurate with experience. To Apply:  Please submit cover letter, resume, and a list of references to: hfenyk@lowerraritanwatershed.org, include Community Outreach Coordinator in email subject line. No phone inquiries.

The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership is thrilled to announce that the Board of Directors of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has approved $1,570,400.00 for the Pipeline – South River (NJ) Ecosystem Restoration and Flood Resiliency Enhancement Final Design project.

Huge thanks to NFWF for supporting this cornerstone strategy for regional resilience against flood related hazards in the lower main stem of the Raritan River. We look forward to continuing to work with our wonderful Borough of Sayreville and Rutgers partners to realize a permit-ready engineering design plan to transform degraded wetlands of the South River ecosystem to high-quality marsh. Read more about our prior work on this project here.

What’s not to like about a project that can reduce flood risk, enhance breeding and foraging habitat for state-listed threatened and endangered avian species, and provide recreational opportunities for our communities? This is a very exciting project for the watershed!!!

Essay and photos by Joe Mish

Dark eyed junco, aka, ‘snowbird’, embodies the Chinese symbol for harmony and balance of opposing forces, and the moment when the darkness surrenders to the light during the winter solstice. This year the solstice occurs December 21, at 4:20 am.

The arrival of December is ushered in on the wings of a junco, as a pair landed in the among the protection of a stand of red cedar and darkness deepened at day’s end. Dark eyed junco migrate south in winter to escape the extreme cold of far northern climates and have earned the alias of ‘snowbird’.  Though junco may be found year round in the northeast, the local population expands with migrants as winter takes hold.

The junco is a diminutive bird, easily recognized by dark slate gray upper body and pure white lower body. It appears as if the dark bird was lowered into white paint. The colors stand in stark contrast to each other with no transition from dark to light. 

The sight of the two snowbirds perched among the dark green foliage of the cedars on this December evening, prompted a sudden realization that these winged messengers, perfectly symbolized the arrival of winter and the coming solstice.

December holds the claim to the darkest day of the year, by the measure of time from sunrise to sunset. Then, without transition, at the exact instant of celestial alignment, day light begins to depose the darkness. In that one day, December 21, 4:20 am, light overcomes darkness to retain the dynamic balancing act upon which all life on earth depends.

The Chinese, ‘yin yang symbol’, for harmony and balance of opposing forces, appropriately compliments the winter solstice. The opposing forces join in an infinite embrace to create a single entity. The image of a junco becomes an artistic interpretation of that ancient symbol and the winter solstice.

As flocks of junco move southward to precede the coming snowflakes, they are joined by black cap chickadees dressed for the cold weather with black caps, charcoal gray capes, and scarves covering their throat. Their black and white plumage pays respect to the winter solstice and the dance of day and night coexisting in dynamic balance. Chickadees thrive in the northeast states’ winter weather, tiny wisps of feathered energy traveling in small flocks, bold and cheerful. Known for their ‘chick a dee dee dee’ refrain, they give the impression that even the most frigid weather and deep snow cannot suppress their enthusiasm and cheer. In that way, chickadees have become a role model for people living in harsh climates. Encountering a flock of chickadees, cheerfully singing, deep in the snowy woods, lightens the step and brightens the mood or any winter traveler. Chickadees represent the birth of light and the flow of life-giving energy surging in the retreat of darkness.

Autumn is at risk of losing its reputation as a season of fall color and mild weather as it owns most of December, generally considered to be the heart of winter. The darkest days of the year occur during autumn and not winter. The instant winter arrives, it marks the rebirth of light, the precursor of life. December then nurtures the expanding light for only ten days before handing it off to January, where daylength outpaces the darkness and thrives on the energy of the freezing windblown snow.

Winter’s embrace preceding its scheduled arrival, is indistinguishable from its full midwinter delivery of snow and ice; winter is its own opening act. When the first snowflake lands after the first day of December, winter is declared to be in residence.

Looking toward the earth, rather than the stars, for winter’s arrival, the signs are many and varied and subjectively applied. My preference is to view natural wonders through primitive eyes. Winter arrived for me one cold morning in autumn where the first light lit the sky and everything the light touched reflected a blood red glow that was soon extinguished by darkness. The sun had only a brief window to prove its promise of another day before it was blotted out by a solid gray blanket laid across the sky. The cold sunless conditions suggested the possibility of snow and triggered a feeding frenzy. A doe and her spring fawn dressed in winter’s coat of gray and brown searched through the fallen leaves for acorns. A brown creeper, downy woodpecker and a pair of nuthatches searched crevices in the bark of leafless black walnut trees for insects.

Geese constantly talked among themselves to provide background sound to the occasion. The wind began to pick up and commit to a constant direction, and with it, delivered a brief, but heavy snow shower. One flake settled on a single stand of my wool mitten; its intricate structure easily seen. Entranced by the beauty of the snowflake I was startled by the nearby blood curdling howl of a coyote on the move. All the cackling geese went silent as the coyote demanded everyone’s attention, even the wind deferred, as if it was winter who spoke through the coyote announcing its arrival.

Author Joe Mish has been running wild in New Jersey since childhood when he found ways to escape his mother’s watchful eyes. He continues to trek the swamps, rivers and thickets seeking to share, with the residents and visitors, all of the state’s natural beauty hidden within full view. To read more of his writing and view more of his gorgeous photographs visit Winter Bear Rising, his wordpress blog. Joe’s series “Nature on the Raritan, Hidden in Plain View” runs monthly as part of the LRWP “Voices of the Watershed” series. Writing and photos used with permission from the author.

Thank you to everyone who came out on Friday December 13 to celebrate the LRWP as we move into our 10th year. How did we get so lucky with this board, these friends?

A few highlights:

-boat build lead Brian Smith’s family & friends surprised him with the winning bid on one of the canoes up for auction (thank you to everyone who donated and bid – we raised over $6000!!);

-remembering the Summer magic of Aqualumina 2024 with coLAB and Esperanza Neighborhood Group;

-sharing 6 years of water quality data – and highlighting the great value of a multi-year dataset to understand health risks;

-talking up the $1.57 million NFWF/NCRF grant, and the impact this major coastal resilience project will have on the South River and watershed.

With gratitude,

The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership Board

LRWP Board from L to R:

Johnny Quispe, Missy Holzer, Dini Checko, Anton Getz, David Tulloch, Alex Zakrewsky, Heather Fenyk, Amy Braunstein (missing: Doriann Kerber)

For the last six years the LRWP has partnered with the Interstate Environmental Commission to conduct fecal and bacterial contaminant analyses of water samples collected at sites along the Raritan River. We are so appreciative of this partnership! On Wednesday December 4, our IEC friends are hosting an open house for us to see how they process our samples and to learn more about the work they do. Please contact Evelyn for more information.