WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004

• YEAR-END
• ANNUAL
• REPORT

Chair Gina Carola
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004MAP
BURLINGTON
CAMDEN
GLOUCESTER
Wayne Zanni, Vice Chair
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004CONTENTS

• Membership
• Account
• Fundraising
• Politics
• Conservation
• Presentations
• Events
• Inner City Outings
• Refreshments

Secretary Becky Payne
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Account

• December 2003 4,665
• December 2004 3,450
• Deficit 1,215

Treasurer Trish Clements
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Membership

• Membership Chair Mike Brown
• December 2003 2,271
• December 2004 2,659
• Gain 388
• 17

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Fundraising

• Fundraising Chair Reiss Tiffany
• Purchase
• Projector 1,000
• Sales
• Onions 1,257
• Calendars 518

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Conservation

• Conservation Chair Stacey Ayala
• Camden Greenways
• Petty Island
• Pinelands
• Fast Track Bill
• Highlands
• Other

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Conservation

• Lower Delaware River
• Delaware Deepening- The Army Corp of Engineers
  was denied its permits that it has been after
  for over 5 years. The request was denied citing
  too many environmental issues.
• Delaware Oil Spill - On November 26, an oil
  tanker, damaged while attempting to dock at a
  Citgo Petroleum Corp. terminal in West Deptford
  Township, spilled a still-undetermined amount of
  crude oil into the Delaware River. Since that
  time, the DEP has been on the scene daily,
  working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and
  other federal and state agencies to contain and
  clean up the oil.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Conservation

• VX Nerve Gas
• The DuPont Corporation has submitted a bid to
• treat the VX nerve gas at their Deepwater
  facility
  
• in Salem County, NJ. This process would include
• releasing the effluent into the Delaware River.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Camden Greenways

• Greenways Chairs Frank and Ellen Zinni
• Mission of Camden Greenways
• To create new parks and link existing parks along
  the Delaware River,
  
• Cooper, and Newton Creek in Camden, NJ. This park
  system will link
  
• the City with surrounding County Parks and the
  Camden and
  
• Philadelphia waterfronts. It will provide
  recreational and educational
  
• opportunities for young and old alike.
• About Camden Greenways Inc (CGI)
• CGI is a partnership of neighborhood
  organizations, both local and
  
• regional organizations as well as governments
  including, local, county,
  
• State and federal government. CGI is a 501 C 3
  not-for-profit
  
• organization organized to help promote greenways
  within the City of
  
• Camden and the region.

http//sierraactivist.org/CGI-brochure2.21.03.doc
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Pinelands

• Pinelands Chair Lee Snyder
• Atlantic City Airport Expansion - The airport is
  planning an expansion of its facility which is
  all within Pinelands jurisdiction.
  
• Batsto Fish Ladder This took several years of
  lobbying but DEP is finally going to build the
  fish ladder.
  
• Conectiv Tract - A 1,500 acre tract of land in
  Millville is possibly going to be sold to a
  developer who plans to build 800-900 new homes
  and a golf course. Most of Millville does not
  fall under Pinelands jurisdiction but this area
  could be and the state offered 2,000,000 to
  purchase it for conservation. As the city is for
  the development, it looks as though the developer
  will be winning the bid on the land. In a cost
  analysis, it was determined that it would
  actually cost more to develop the land than to
  preserve it.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Petty Island
Another view of Petty's Island from Pyne Point
Park, Camden, NJ. Here we see the southern tip of
the island contrasting with the industrial
development on the Pennsylvania bank of the
Delaware River.
View of Petty's Island from Pyne Point Park,
Camden, NJ.
Petty's Island View facing south with 36th Street
Bridge lower left.
Petty's Island today. Oil tanks in upper right no
longer used. Marine terminal in middle. Eagle
nest in between.
Petty's Island detail showing wetlands and
protective radius about nest. Source Pennsauken
Waterfront Master Plan
Petty's Island North Camden - Shows wetlands
eagle buffers nest. Source Pennsauken
Waterfront Master Plan
Petty's Island wetlands and environmental
sensitive areas. NJDEP staff overlay.
NJDEP Staff Overlay - Petty's Island buildable
acres with minimum environmental protection
buffers.
http//sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys
Photographs by Dennis Schvejda
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Petty Island
Petty's Island has several freshwater ponds
surrounded by emergent grasses and wetlands. They
provide habitat for waterfowl and wading birds.
Elmer Clegg, NJ bald eagle monitoring volunteer,
posted these signs around the perimiter of the
bald eagle nesting site.
Here's the nest of the bald eagle pair that have
captivated newspaper headlines. The nest may look
small, but it's about six feet across.
A closer view of the opposite pond shore.
A view of what had been a dirt road, now
overgrown with grasses and shrubs, on our way to
the freshwater ponds on southern Petty's Island.
A view looking west from the old dirt road, into
what are essentially early successional trees.
The most common on Petty's Island are
cottonwoods, birches, paulownia, and a smattering
of sweet gum and sycamore.
Our guide, Don Griffin of Citgo, showing Dennis
Schvejda, Sierra Club's Conservation Director,
the heron rookery.
Yellow-crowned and black-crowned night herons
also nest on the island. We are looking at a
heron rookery. The dark "splotches" in the tree
are heron nests.
http//sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys
Photographs by Dennis Schvejda
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Petty Island
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Petty Island
THE CHEROKEE PLAN
Cherokee Building Plan - Petty's Island. Shows
golf hotel, Club Crescent, and Gateway Villages.
751 homes, 250 room hotel.
Cherokee Plan with 18 hole golf course covers
Petty's Island. Eagle nest forest thinned for
paths.
Plan for Petty's Island Detail. Note development
on both sides of treed area with paths where
eagle nest had been.
http//sierraactivist.org/gallery/pettys
Photographs by Dennis Schvejda
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Politics

• Sierra
• A record number of members voted in the election
  and good
  
• has triumphed over evil.  The winners were all
  nominating
  
• committee members and the outsiders were
  vanquished. 
  
• National Group
• Lisa Renstrom 141,407 Gina Carola
  (enough)
  
• Jan O'Connell 132,262 Wayne Zanni (enough)
• Nick Aumen 123,332 Rebecca Payne (enough)
• Sanjay Ranchod 123,332 Trish Clements (enough)
• David Karpf 110,756
• Political Chair Marie Hageman

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Politics

• National
• President George W. Bush
• NJ 1st Camden / Gloucester Andrews endorsed
• NJ 2nd Atlantic / Cumberland /
• Cape May / Salem /
• Gloucester LoBiondo endorsed
• NJ 3rd Burlington / Camden Saxton endorsed
• Political Chair Marie Hageman

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Legislation

• CLEAN CAR LAW - state
• The first win of the year was the Clean Car
  Bill.
  
• This new law encourages car manufactures to
  produce the cleanest cars possible for New Jersey
  as early as this year and in increasing numbers
  over time. Although the bill would not mandate
  manufacturers produce clean cars for New Jersey
  before 2009, it is believed that the state would
  immediately see the impact of the bill because
  automakers would want to start banking credits
  for the 2009 requirement by placing cleaner
  advanced technology cars in New Jersey right now.
  It is expected that the results will be that air
  toxins will be reduced by an additional 23
  percent more than the federal emission standards
  and smog precursors by 19 percent by 2020 through
  stricter car emissions standards and the
  promotion of cleaner, advanced technology
  vehicles across the state.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Legislation

• THE FAST TRACK LAW - state
• This bill will enable builders to pay an extra
  fee to have their applications for developing
  reviewed quickly. If the DEP has not responded
  within 45 days, the application is immediately
  approved. If the DEP rejects the application,
  they must defend their reasons in court if the
  developer decides to sue. Also, the developers
  can have the application review done by the
  reviewers of their choice from a list of
  pre-approved reviewers.
• However, all is not lost. On November 6, 2004
  Gov. McGreevey, just before leaving office,
  signed an executive order delaying the
  implementation of the law.
• There is still hope.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Legislation

• HIGHLANDS LAW-state
• Next very significant win Highlands Bill
• On June 10, 2004, both houses of the New Jersey
  Legislature passed the Highlands Water Protection
  and Planning Act. This bill--signed by the
  governor on August 10--is the most significant
  piece of state land use legislation since the
  State Planning Act of 1985, and is among the most
  significant environmental bills ever passed by
  the State of New Jersey. Protection of fresh
  water was a primary motivation.
• The Highlands Region supplies drinking water for
  more than 11 million people and is home to more
  than 200 plant and 50 animal species. It also
  serves as a recreational area for nearly 25
  million people who live within one hour's drive
  of the region that stretches from Pennsylvania
  and New Jersey through New York and Connecticut.
• Hovnanian Builders - Agreed to donate 6,000 acres
  to conservation efforts and plans to build 2,450
  homes on the 1,000 acres.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Legislation

• HIGHLANDS LAW-federal
• Surprisingly, on a Federal level, Bush signed the
  Highlands Conservation Act on Tuesday, November
  30, authorizing 110 million to preserve open
  space in northern New Jersey and neighboring
  states.
• The act was supported by New Jersey's Democrats
  and Republicans in Congress -- the chief author
  was Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, who
  said he was thrilled that Bush had signed it.
  Democratic Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg
  worked on the bill with Frelinghuysen.
• "This is a historic achievement and major victory
  for the preservation of the New Jersey Highlands,
  one of the last open space treasures in the most
  densely populated area of the country,"
  Frelinghuysen said.
• Corzine said the Highlands region is a national
  treasure that must be preserved, and that the
  measure would keep the area from being developed.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Legislation

• SNOWMOBILES-federal
• We lost the Holt amendment to ban snowmobiles
  from Yellowstone by a vote of 198-224.
  Congressman Rush Holt tried hard to get this
  amendment passed, but the snowmobile manufactures
  lobbied very hard too. Snowmobilers like to tear
  through the wilderness areas of the parks in
  large numbers. This frightens herds of deer, elk
  and buffalo along with other wildlife. They
  start running and often run until they collapse
  from exhaustion.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 Legislation

• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• ANWR-federal
• Looks like President Bush took drilling in
  ANWR out of the energy bill and hid it in the
  House omnibus bill.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Presentations

• January - Delaware River Bayshores Discovery
  Project Kristoffer Whitney
  
• February - Water Testing Volunteerism
  AmeriCorp. Mike Gross Josh Melissari
  
• March - Fish Kill - Roxanne Shinn
  RiverKeepers.
  
• April - Organic Gardening Rutgers Co-Op Tom
  Polinski, Master Gardener
  
• May - Smart Growth Rowan Prof. Dr. John Hasse.
• June - Solar Power Tim Fostik.
• September - Population Control Bonnie Tillery.
• October - Heritage Trail Celeste Tracy.
• November TerraCycle Bob Chioppa.

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Events

• Habitat for Humanity
• Earth Fairs
• April 24 - Wash Twp
• June 13 - Burl County
• June 13 - Glouco Waterfest
•    

Publicity Chair Bud Kaliss
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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Outings

• Inner City Outings
• Thanks to
• Jennifer Grenier
• Maxine Vogt

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004Refreshments

• Thanks
• to
• Ellen Zinni

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004 COMING UP FOR 2005

• Fast Track Legislation repeal
• Petty Island preservation
• Politics
• State Gubernatorial
• State Assembly
• Delaware Oil Spill Clean-up
• Liquid Natural Gas port in Logan Twp.
• VX Nerve Gas
• Programs
• January Jessica Grudowski N.J. Watersheds  
• February Mike Hogan - Rebirth of Big Timber
  Creek
  
• And of course---
• BUSHWORLD MONITORING!

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

• Chair Gina Carola
• Vice Chair Wayne Zanni
• Secretary Becky Payne
• Treasurer Trish Clements
• Political Chair Marie Hageman
• Publicity Chair Bud Kaliss
• Conservation Chair Stacey Ayala
• Membership Chair Mike Brown
• Fundraising Chair Reiss Tiffany
• Pinelands Rep Lee Snyder
• Greenways Chairs Frank and Ellen Zinni
• Outings Chair Jennifer Grenier
• Maxine Vogt
• Program Chair Open

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WEST JERSEY SIERRA 2004

• YEAR-END
• ANNUAL
• REPORT

Prepared by Wayne Zanni, Vice Chair