On July 9, 2025, LRWP Board Member Heather Fenyk joined the 2024-2025 class of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Watershed Ambassadors at Monmouth Battlefield to celebrate the graduation of these special humans. We were thrilled to be recognized as the NJDEP AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassadors Program “partner of the year.” The LRWP’s annual Green Brook Clean-up has grown to engage eight (8) municipalities through the partnership work with these Watershed Ambassadors – we should be thanking them!
A heartfelt thank you to the graduating 2024-2025 cohort: Olivia Stettler: WMA 1, Team Leader Jenna Black: WMA 2 Peyton Curley: WMA 3 Emilie Wigchers: WMA 4 Isaiah Leach: WMA 5 Toni L. Tamberelli: WMA 6 Kaitlyn Pinto: WMA 7 Daniel Magda: WMA 8 Brianna Casario: WMA 9, Team Leader Claire Paul: WMA 10, Team Leader Mike Sherr: WMA 11 Forrest Jennings: WMA 13 Cameron Shapiro: WMA 14, Team Leader Morgan Crouch: WMA 15, Team Leader Courtney Lacombe: WMA 16 David Ferrara: WMA 17 Jessie Lisanti: WMA 20 Emily Vasquez: SWP North Sheyla Casco: SWP Central Gina Freshcoln: SWP South
The AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassadors Program is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Monitoring, Standards and Pesticide Control. The goals of the program are to promote watershed stewardship through education and direct community involvement, and to monitor stream health through performing visual and biological assessments. Individual AmeriCorps members are assigned to each of New Jersey’s 20 watershed management areas (WMAs) to serve as “Watershed Ambassadors” to their watershed communities. In addition to the 20 full time Watershed Ambassadors, 3 part-time Source Water Protection Ambassadors are assigned to a region in Northern, Central, and Southern NJ. The Source Water Protection Ambassadors serve 900 hours from September – May, conducting education and stewardship projects that relate to sources of drinking water.
Dear Governor Murphy and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection –
I am writing on behalf of the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP) regarding Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline project. The LRWP is opposed to construction of a fracked gas-powered compressor station in Franklin Township, including 3.5 miles of connecting pipeline through a portion of the Lower Raritan Watershed (New Jersey Watershed Management Area 9) in Old Bridge Township. The LRWP is also opposed to a core component of this project, the proposed 23.4-mile-long, 26-inch-diameter pipeline loop (called the “Raritan Bay Loop”) extending from the Middlesex County coast crossing under Raritan Bay and New Jersey and New York State marine waters.
The LRWP formed in 2015 to address industrial pollutants that left a legacy of contamination in the Raritan River and the Lower Raritan Watershed. Our Lower Raritan Watershed communities have worked hard to restore landscapes destroyed by decades of industrial dumping and toxic pollution. Many of these areas are now thriving, and others are natural Heritage sites, part of the NY/NJ Harbor and Estuary, which provide habitat for federally threatened and/or endangered species.
The LRWP’s most specific concern is with the project’s impact to the marine ecosystem, including the benthic habitat of Raritan Bay. Estimates indicate that as many as 14,100 acres of Raritan Bay may be impacted, with potential serious adverse impact on the Bay’s fisheries. These fisheries include many species of anadromous fish with established spawning grounds in the up-stream Raritan River area, and vulnerable populations of horseshoe crabs, sea turtles, and many other marine mammals.
The LRWP respectfully requests that NJDEP deny permits for the NESE Pipeline project that would result in significant environmental degradation of our Lower Raritan Watershed and Raritan Bay.
Please join us for a tour of the Middlesex County Utilities Authority Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sayreville on Friday, October 17, 1-3pm. We will learn how Middlesex County works to remove and eliminate contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle through a primary outfall in the Raritan River. Space is limited, pre-registration required.
During the LRWP’s pathogens monitoring work we often observe “flushable” sanitary wipes floating in the River and caught in vegetation along the riverbank. So-called “flushable” wipes are non-flushable! They are typically made from synthetic materials and do not easily break down in sewer systems.
There is no such thing as a “flushable” wipe!
These materials escape the process of wastewater treatment, most typically at the point at which sanitary sewage infrastructure and stormwater infrastructure meet, in an outdated system called a “combined sewer”. As these materials escape the processing system, they contribute to the presence of disease-causing pathogens in our waterways and cause beach closures. As they are caught up in the processing activity, they lead to huge costs to wastewater systems like the treatment plant in Sayreville, causing clogs and damage to wastewater pipes, pumps, and treatment equipment.
Treatment plants like MCUA regularly clear combined sewers of the clogs of sanitary wipes and other materials that become trapped in underground intercepting structures to limit the flows of this waste through the CSO outfalls. While conducting pathogens monitoring on June 5, 2025 at our water monitoring station near Perth Amboy’s Wilentz Elementary School, the LRWP team observed a pile of the waste cleared from an intercepting structure near the MCUA-managed CSO. Approximately four tons of wipes and feces were removed from the interception point and deposited on land to await transport to a landfill.
This practice of removing wipes from interception points and dumping them on land to minimize flush into waterways and damage to sanitary sewage infrastructure is not unique to the MCUA, or even to CSOs in New Jersey. This is a permitted practice under the Clean Water Act that is managed by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Each CSO has a separate permit, and each municipality must adopt a Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) for CSO management.
Taking Action
Could present day practices be improved for our local CSOs? Absolutely. All utilities should be working to identify and elevate best practices with respect to CSO management. As the state NJDEP moves toward repermitting for CSO management in coming months, we think the MCUA could set a fantastic example for the rest of the state.
In addition, in March 2025 Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan introduced H.R. 2269, the Wastewater Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety (WIPPES) Act. On June 23, 2025 it passed the Senate and moved to the House where its companion S. 1092 (Merkley) was favorably reported out of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in late May. The WIPPES Act would establish a national “DO NOT FLUSH” labeling standard for non-flushable wet wipes. If WIPPES is signed into law, wet wipe manufacturers would be required to place symbols and standard language labeling on products that recommends consumers not flush the wipes after use. It would further restrict any verbiage on packaging that would imply that the product is actually flushable. Regulation of the policy would have the teeth of the Federal Trade Commission, with violations punishable as an unfair or deceptive practice.
This lady of the sky left the cage in full flight as if shot out of a cannon. The green band on the right leg reads, H 52. she is a large 3 year old female, born locally, with no guarantee she will remain anywhere in NJ. Sky is the limit to her future travels.
The X-ray revealed the three year old female eagle’s ulna, broken in three places. Her prognosis was uncertain, as her bone could not be pinned because some healing had already taken place. My heart sank at the news, this would be the third eagle rescue in which I was involved, where two of the three rescued birds had to be euthanized despite appearing very healthy; this feisty eagle looked to be another failed effort.
I was beginning to feel more like the messenger of death, than a rescuer.
The good news was the preliminary field diagnosis of possible lead poisoning tested negative. She was a large female and otherwise appeared healthy with a feisty attitude and voracious appetite. All that could be done was to wrap her wing and hope for the best; a case of tincture of time and scientific neglect. The prospect of hope was slim, but glowed brightly, compared to the absence of all hope in the other rescues.
The weight of the effort to locate her and affect a rescue, given her location amid a steep grade and blow downs covered in wild underbrush, personalized the physical and emotional expenditure. Her survival was as important to me as it was for the species. What a joy it would be to see the shadow of her wings pass over the earth! A symbol of hope and undiminished spirit flying across the heavenly regime of open sky.
This injured eagle was in a difficult location to capture. Her condition and behavior had to be evaluated before making an attempt to reach and constrain her, without doing further injury. The mottled plumage, color of eyes and beak, indicated she was a three-year-old eagle.
Every few weeks from her capture on May second, I would text Cathy at Raptor Trust for an update. Hope was still holding as the eagle remained full of spirit, despite confinement, her was appetite undiminished and notably voracious. Imagine a creature whose domain was the heavens, now confined to a flightless cage. Taking an unavoidable anthropomorphic view, what sustained mental gymnastics would it take to survive that unimaginable confinement? This eagle is a role model for adaptability and emphasizes the critical importance of undiminished spirit in the face of adversity. Hope on a wing and a prayer.
Her wings were eventually unwrapped when it was certain the fractures healed; the next step was to release her into a flight cage. This would be a test of the strength of her healed wing and a final determination of her fate. There is always some feather loss during treatment, so that would delay her recovery further. Her appetite was insatiable as she ate her way back to health and the heavens where she might rule for the next thirty years.
On the afternoon of September 18, 2024, I got a call from Cathy at Raptor Trust and in cooperation with endangered species director, Kathy Clark, told to come get the eagle and release it near where it was rescued. So September 19, I drove to Raptor Trust and loaded the caged eagle in the back seat of my truck for the long awaited release.
On the way to Raptor Trust what song comes on the radio? Englebert Humperdinck singing, “Please release me, let me go”. The hair stood up on the back of my neck! Eagle magic?
The negative outcome experienced on previous rescues, made this release especially meaningful in a very personal way. This lady of the sky left the cage in full flight as if shot out of a cannon. Eagles will dive from a perch to catch air under their wings, as she took off from ground level; she needed a long runway to get airborne. She flew parallel to the ground for about 200 yards and then quickly disappeared in the tree line along the stream. I was hoping she would land on a high perch where I could confirm a successful release, no such luck. I took about 20 minutes to get back to the truck and drive in the direction she flew, to park on the other side of the treeline. I waited for half an hour and finally gave up, leaving her to her fate. Just as I started the truck, her majesty did a fly by directly over me! By the time I unbuckled my seat belt, grabbed the camera, and stepped out of the truck, she was gone. What the heck just happened? More eagle magic! It is no wonder why so many cultures hold the eagle in high esteem.
Nothing official, but this eagle convinced me her name was, Angela.
Angie has been banded for identification with a silver federal band on her left leg and a green anodized aluminum band on her right leg. The green band can easily be read with binoculars or a good camera. Be on the lookout for H52. If you see her, report her to the state AND let me know. People who band birds celebrate any time a band has been reported. It is almost like putting a note in a bottle and tossing it out to sea. What are the chances of a response? Note from the images she still has that immature mottled plumage, orange eyes and dark beak. In a year or two the white head and tail will be more prominent; eyes and beak will turn yellow. Her life expectancy can be 30 years or more, so make sure you tell your kids and grandkids to keep an eye out for Angie and tell her story to their kids. We collectively wish her a long and healthy life, and long may her shadow glide across the earth wherever she may go.
What a pleasure to announce the successful release, 9.19.24. 3 year old female, NJ green band H52
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.
Starting September 2025, as our contribution to the celebration of the semiquincentennial, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP) Boat Build Team will “launch” a new year-long project: crafting a facsimile of the historic American Star four-oared gig. The original American Star was presented as a gift to General Lafayette on his last visit to the United States in 1825 and remains to this day a part of Lafayette’s museum collections within his family estate some 30 miles south of Paris, France. The vessel is the only known surviving example of “lightly built American small craft” of its period, which Lafayette referred to as an example of the “ingenuity of American mechanics.”
Note the four-oared gig depicted in the center foreground of J. Pringle’s painting “Arrival of the British Queen at the Battery in New York” (1839):
The original American Star was built as a racing boat in Brooklyn, NY by brothers John and William Chambers shortly before 1820. It’s design was a modification of the common “Whitehall” rowboats that aided transport and communication, and which were integral to the growth of New York City. These boats “gathered in greatest numbers in a basin under the Battery wall at the foot of Whitehall Street” and thus acquired their name. The American Star, however, was designed for a different purpose: “The lines of the American Star show a hull slimmed and lengthened for speed, with flat sheer and scant freeboard — the evolution from workboat to race boat well advanced.”
When the Captain of the British frigate Hussar challenged New York City’s Whitehallers to a “sham-fight” against the British vessel Dart, which was purported to have won in the Thames and in the West Indies, the American Star was chosen for the event. On December 9, 1824, with “50,000 spectators lining the wharves and the Battery,” the American Star and the Dart raced between the Battery and Hoboken Point, a distance of some four miles. The American Star was victorious, finishing some “300 to 400 yards ahead of the Dart. Time: 22 minutes.” Both crews were cheered by the audience, and it was reported that “victors and vanquished strove to outdo each other in exchange of compliments and amenities.” Never did a contest of this sort end more happily and with more good feeling on either side, an accurate reflection of the state of the political and economic climate.
The first pathogen monitoring session of the month took place on Thursday, September 5th. Each week during the summer, from May to October, the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County run a volunteer-based monitoring program along the Raritan River. We collect water quality samples at six non-bathing public access beach sites, provide our samples to the Interstate Environmental Commission for analysis in their laboratory, and report the results to the public. Our mission is to share this data with the community and partners to ensure the safe use of the Raritan river for all.
Our lab results for water quality samples taken on Thursday, September 5th, 2025 show Enterococcus bacteria levels exceeding the EPA federal water quality standard of 104 cfu/100mL at two of our monitoring sites this week. Problem sites would be indicated by red frowns on the map and chart which includes: Riverside Park (Piscataway) and Edison Boat Basin(Edison Township). Green smiles on the chart and map indicate the sites with bacteria levels safe for recreation, and include the following: Rutgers Boat House (New Brunswick), Ken Buchanan Waterfront Park (Sayreville), Raritan Bay Waterfront Park (South Amboy), and 2nd Street Park (Perth Amboy).
Pathogens/Enterococci levels are used as indicators of the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria in recreational waters. Such pathogens may pose health risks to people coming in primary contact with the water (touching) through recreational activities like fishing, kayaking or swimming in a water body. Possible sources of bacteria include Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), improperly functioning wastewater treatment plants, stormwater runoff, leaking septic systems, animal carcasses, pet waste, wildlife waste, and runoff from manure storage areas.
Our goal in reporting these results is to give residents a better understanding of the potential health risks related to primary contact during water-based recreation. If you are planning on recreating on the Raritan this weekend, make sure to stay safe and wash up after any activities!
The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership welcomes Margaret, a new science communications intern! Margaret accompanied the volunteers to the first two monitoring sites to record observations for her upcoming project on accessible waterfront recreation. Photo credit: Danielle Bongiovanni.
Ken Buchanan Waterfront Park and its miniature lighthouse are dedicated to a former Sayreville councilman who dedicated 18 years of his life to public service before his passing in 1991. Photo credit: Danielle Bongiovanni.
Repeated exposure to human visitors at Ken Buchanan Waterfront Park emboldens wildlife such as this double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) to hold their ground when people approach. Photo credit: Danielle Bongiovanni.
Unofficial artistic efforts have added urban flair to the outlet pipe in 2nd Street Park, Perth Amboy. Photo credit: Art Allgauer.
This hidden cat village in Perth Amboy provides shelter for cats that have gone through the city’s trap-neuter-release program. Photo credit: Art Allgauer.
