Enhancing Our Estuary

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Advocates Brainstorm Ways to Improve the NY-NJ Harbor Waters

By Joseph Sapia

Kicking off a forum on the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, Atlantic Highlands Mayor Rhonda C. Le Grice talked about its waters, a short distance away from where she stood.
“These waters are essential,” Le Grice said. “I consider them our front yard.”
The estuary’s 250 square miles of open water, along with its 1,600 miles of shoreline, basically runs from the Tappan Zee Bridge on the Hudson River to the north to Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay in the south, west to east from Perth Amboy to Sandy Hook. Associated with it are the various waterways that drain into it, including the Navesink River and Shrewsbury River.
The New York-New Jersey Harbor and Estuary Program (HEP) is now developing an “action agenda” for 2017 for its five goal areas: water quality, habitat restoration, public access, a viable and sustainable port, and public education. So, it is reaching out to the public, groups interested in the estuary and government officials to develop the agenda.
“We’re traveling around the estuary essentially to create a to-do list,” said Rob Pirani, program director for HEP, which is part of the Hudson River Foundation, a science and research group based in New York City.

: Fishing on Sandy Hook Bay with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the Manhattan skyline in the background haze.
: Fishing on Sandy Hook Bay with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the Manhattan skyline in the background haze.

As HEP travels around, one of the stops was at the Atlantic Highlands Senior Center along Sandy Hook Bay, where Le Grice and others took part. The Monmouth County Environmental Council, which advises the county Planning Board, hosted the event on Thursday, May 26.
About 20 or so people – a combination of Environmental Council members, government officials, representatives from environmental groups and the public – attended the Atlantic Highlands forum, asking questions and offering suggestions for the action list.
Responses at the meeting included:
— Cleaner water benefits swimming areas and shellfisheries.
— Challenges to improving water quality are easy drainage to waters via impervious surfaces, lawn fertilizer pollutants and plastic litter finding its way into the water.
— Key habitats are coastal wetlands, now threatened by such things as an invasion of phragmites grass; those for shellfish; and the lower end of the food chain.
Another point that came up was public access to shorelines.
“On the Navesink River, you can access the river, but you can’t park your car,” said Joe Reynolds, co-chair of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council. “(Or)you can park your car, but you can’t access the river.”
Regarding non-point source pollution entering the waterways via drainage, it was suggested perhaps people should be educated not to swim a day or two after it rains.
Challenges to moving forward HEP’s goals, according to Pirani, are the dense development around the estuary, the area being home to 14 million people, and limited monies and political attention.
“My personal sense is there’s many more people enjoying the water than before,” Pirani said.
In Monmouth County, there are 26 miles of bayshore, said Kyle R. Clonan, an environmental specialist for the county Division of Planning and the division’s staff advisor to the Environmental Council.
About 25 municipalities and 312,000 residents, or just under half the population of the county, are part of the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay watershed, Clonan said. The area is important for recreation, the environment and the economy, according to Clonan.
Also, according the Michael Fedosh, chair of the Environmental Council, “The health of Raritan Bay impacts the health of the ocean in Monmouth County.”
One of the attendees was Ebru Altinsoy, a member of the Environmental Council from Asbury Park.
“I just want to learn and get involved as much as I can,” said Altinsoy, an environmental scientist.
Another attendee – Ralph Wyndrum, chair of the Fair Haven Environmental Commission – said forums such as this one are good because they can educate people who would not know about these issues or specifics related to them.
The HEP survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/HWZR9FQ.
Upcoming Central Jersey forums on compiling HEP’s 2017 agenda are scheduled for:
June 9, Thursday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at Keyport Borough Hall, 70 W. Front St. Sponsored by the New York-New Jersey Baykeeper.
June 14, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Middlesex County Administration Building, Lower Level Tax Court, 75 Bayard St., New Brunswick. Sponsored by the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership.
The Hudson River Foundation is at 17 Battery Place, Suite 915, New York, N.Y. 10004; 212-483-7667; hudsonriver.org.