The South Jersey RC&D area is a desirable place to live. It is our goal to provide clean water to each and every resident and visitor to our area.
We want agriculture to remain an integral part of this area. We will import, demonstrate or develop technology that will help our farmers.
New Jersey is the "Garden State." We want it to be the "Green State" also. We will continue our effort to develop home owner lawn care information that will not conflict with conservation of other resources. We see every home owner wisely using natural resources in a consistent and productive manner.
The South Jersey RC&D area is home to wildlife and people. We see both co-existing. This can happen by people caring for the environment. We will continue to import, demonstrate or develop methods that will allow people and wildlife to live together.
The South Jersey RC&D area is subjected to serious flooding problems. We see coalitions of federal, state, and local entities forming to address these issues.
Communications can help to solve issues quickly and easily. This Council will develop a communication model to help solve resource related issues.
R.I.S.E. network
The summer of 2001 saw a huge increase in the R.I.S.E. network of weather stations. It gained two new weather stations. One in Upper Deerfield Township, Cumberland County and one at Fort Monmouth in Monmouth County. The network also saw a divergence in activity as it gained four new water quality monitoring stations. These new stations are located in Cumberland and Salem Counties and are part of a NJ-DEP funded study of the water quality in the Upper Cohansey River. The two year study will look at water quality improvements associated with various Best Management Practices (BMP's) being installed in the watershed.
Wildlife Habitat project
The South Jersey RC&D Council joined forces with the Southern Jersey Chapter of Quail Unlimited to develop a plan to enhance a major southern NJ Wildlife Management Area owned by the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife. This unique plan called for major vegetative manipulation over a period of years thereby creating habitat much better suited for such wildlife as quail, wild turkey, rabbits, deer, and many species of non-game wildlife. Once this project is completed it will be an example of what a public/private partnership can do to enhance wildlife habitat and improve the quality of life within a watershed. The Buckshutem WMA project started in March 2002 with a 500-acre pilot cutting and revegetation.
Watershed Management Projects
The South Jersey RC&D Council is a sub-contractor to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) in its effort to develop a watershed management plan for the Crosswicks Creek WMA20 area in parts of Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties. The DVRPC has obtained funding from the NJ-DEP for this effort. The Council's main role will be to help develop the agricultural and open space component of the plan with the other involved partners.
The Council is also involved to a lesser extent with the DVRPC in the Lower Delaware River Tributaries WMA18 area.
Weather data acquisition
The Resource Information Serving Everyone (R.I.S.E.) computer bulletin board system (BBS) began in 1993 as the delivery tool for the network of Campbell Scientific, Inc., weather stations we own and operate for irrigation scheduling and other weather related applications. Since its beginning, R.I.S.E. has grown to over 360 registered users with over 100 active members. R.I.S.E. weather data and over 250 related conservation files can be found on this BBS. A new joint-venture with Weather Access, Inc., will find R.I.S.E. weather data appearing on their Internet homepage at http://www.wxaccess.com. This joint-venture gives this new weather data network over 44 individual reporting locations throughout New Jersey. THE R.I.S.E. BBS IS NO LONGER OPERATIONAL. ALL FILES ARE ON THE INTERNET.
R.I.S.E. Network of Weather Stations
This network of Campbell Scientific weather stations meets our goals in water quality and quantity, and in water conservation. These station play an invaluable role in irrigation scheduling for farmers and homeowners alike. They also play an extremely important role in providing real-time rainfall amounts to the USGS and NWS to help them with predicting urban stream flood warning. The joint-venture between this Council and Weather Access, Inc., will allow this critical weather data be placed in the hands of decision makers on an hourly basis, instead of on a daily basis. The joint-venture ended January 1, 1999. Look for the R.I.S.E. data at http://www.sjrcd.org.
Weather data use
The measured and calculated weather data can be used for a number of applications. The original function of the weather station was for irrigation scheduling. To that end, a version of the Penman-Montieth evapotranspiration (ET) formula became part of the station operating computer software. This formula uses temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, humidity (converted to saturation vapor pressure), and several fixed parameters - latitude, longitude, and elevation to calculate the amount of water consumed by turf (an indicator crop) on a daily basis. This reference ET can be converted to any number of crops using simple math.
The weather data can also be used to calculate the rate of erosion within a watershed. The stations capture rainfall in 6-minute increments required for the TR-20 computer program.
The weather data can be used to calculate when insect pests will reach a predetermined level before chemical sprays must be applied for maximum crop production.
The weather data can be used by the utility companies to determine utility loading – electric, gas, and water. This can prevent excess or insufficient utility production.
The weather stations can be a valuable teaching source for our schools. As stations are added, each county has a number of choices to visit as a field demonstration for those students who are studying weather in the classroom. With the joint-venture with WAI, we can offer a meteorologist to help. The joint-venture ended January 1, 1999, however we still offer similiar help.
Wildlife habitat restoration
The South Jersey RC&D Council has partnered with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to promote and implement the USDA Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP). The WHIP program will be used to restore quail habitat back to the South Jersey RC&D area. A further partnership has been formed with Quail Unlimited. We will work cooperatively together with local landowners to bring them the technical and financial assistance needed to develop this habitat.
The South Jersey RC&D Council is forming a partnership with the Bear Creek Conservancy/Stewardship Association to act as a land manager for the Council in its wildlife habitat restoration effort. This newly formed nonprofit organization already manages over 3200 acres of combined cropland, wetland, and upland areas. Most of this land is currently in Atlantic and Cape May counties.
Bear Creek "Partners for Wildlife"
This project is located on the Mullica River in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It is a partnership of: USDA NRCS, USDI F&W, Cape-Atlantic SCD, NJ Conservation Foundation, NJ DEP F,G,&W., and others. This partnership rebuilt a failed water control structure on a 40 acre impoundment. They chemically controlled the common weed Phragmites and then burned the site. New plant material was planted and resident plants encouraged through water controll. The Bear Creek site is now home to various ducks and Canada geese. This meets our goal to provide wildlife habitat. Eight wood duck houses were installed. Two families of wood ducks were seen during the spring and early summer months months of 1997.
Cedar Lake "Partners for Wildlife"
This project is similar to the Bear Creek Project. It is located in both Atlantic and Gloucester counties, New Jersey. It will restore a failed dam structure. Upon completion of construction, this project will then focus on restoring over 40 acres of wetlands within the 140+acres of woodlands. This meets our goals to prevent flooding and provide wildlife habitat. The Cedar Lake area is being purchased by New Jersey Green Acres for the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife. The title transfer should occur near the end of November 1997. At this time a series of grants will allow the reconstruction of the failed dam structure. Designs for one structure is currently being reviewed by the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife. The second, larger dam structure will begin design shortly.
SJRCD Internet Homepage
This Council created an Internet homepage to inform its customers and others of the work being done. With the advent of the joint-venture between the Council and Weather Access, the Council received free web housing. Council has edited most files on the R.I.S.E. BBS to conform to WWW requirements. Currently, over 160 files have been merged together and placed on this new WWW site at http://www.wxaccess.com/sjrcd. Council can be reached at either sjrcd@juno.com or spquesen@erols.com. Our new WWW address is http://www.sjrcd.org.
South Jersey Recycle Meeting
This Council held two area wide recycling meetings in the early 1990’s. Total attendance exceeded 180 people. Over 20 corporations presented their recycling efforts and how the corporation could benefit the local municipality. Corporations attending included steel and aluminum can, paper, glass, hauling entities, and others.
Lake Rehabilitation Guide
This Council, in response to many requests, developed a Lake Rehabilitation Guide for the local municipal leaders to use to improve the lakes within their jurisdictions. This guide combines technical information with a do-it-yourself process.
Water Conservation
This Council developed a homeowner lawn water management program in conjunction with its network of weather stations. The guide can use the data generated from the weather stations or can stand alone in those areas not covered by a weather station. The guide was purposely developed to be implemented by Boy and Girl Scout troops as a community service project. When implemented, the homeowner lawn water management program can reduce outdoor water use without jeopardizing valuable landscaping.
Projects by County
Atlantic County
This Council, working with the Cape-Atlantic Soil Conservation District and Rutgers University, established the first remote agricultural weather station in 1991. This weather station was part of an overall irrigation water management pilot project. Several technological advances were introduced at the same time. Those advances included the use of a Campbell Pacific neutron probe to measure soil moisture in the field; an infrared thermometer to measure crop canopy temperature; irrigation system evaluation hardware; and irrigation scheduling software. This pilot project led to expansion in Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties. It also led to the development of an Irrigation Water Management position within the USDA NRCS.
As a continuation of the R.I.S.E. network of weather stations, two stations exist in Atlantic County. The original site is in a blueberry field near Hammonton. The second site is at the ACUA facility. These sites were instrumental in helping declare southern New Jersey an agricultural disaster in 1996.
Six major wildlife habitat improvement projects are currently being considered or are underway in Atlantic County. They are:
Several years ago, this Council worked with the Burlington County Soil Conservation District, county government, and the City of Beverly to stabilize several hundred feet of eroding Delaware River bank in the City of Beverly. This eroding bank was threatening a road and city park. Special state legislation obtained the required funding. The USDA NRCS, working for this Council, developed the engineering solution and administered the construction project. The completed project is performing as expected.
This Council working with the Burlington County Soil Conservation District and county government, completed a recreation project on Smithville Lake. The project included digging fishing holes in the lake and construction of fishing piers.
A current proposal with Burlington County government - Open Space and Farmland Preservation - will give Burlington County three new weather stations. These stations will become part of the R.I.S.E. network. One station will be located in the Rancocas Creek Watershed. This station will play a major role in the development of a watershed management plan being developed by the NJDEP and Burlington County government.
Camden County
The South Jersey RC&D Council, working with the Camden County government - Parks Department - established two weather stations. One station is located at the Camden County Vocational and Technical School near Berlin. The second site is within the Maria Greenwald Park (AKA Penny Packer Park) in Cherry Hill.
Dudley Grange Park Picnic Shelter
The Dudley Grange Picnic Shelter was built in 1996 and is located in the Dudley Grange Park, Camden, New Jersey. This shelter is constructed entirely from recycled HDPE (plastic lumber). It was financed by the US Forest Service by an Urban Forestry grant. Phoenix Recycled Plastics of Philadelphia supplied the plastic lumber. Camden County Parks supplied the labor. This shelter has room for 8 full size picnic tables. The William Penn Foundation provided a grant to complete the new landscaping. Landscape design was by Design with Horticulture and labor provided by Camden County Parks. The shelter is on the corner of Federal and Dudley Streets in Camden. This shelter meets are goal of using new or old products in a new fashion. It provides outdoor enjoyment for the inner city area. A walk was begun using recycled roofing shingles.
Currently, this Council is working with the NJ Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife to repair a failed dam structure at the Rowands Pond Wildlife Management Area. Due to Camden County’s interest in recycling, we encouraged the USDA NRCS to design the replacement structure using the same plastic lumber used in the picnic structure at Dudley Grange Park. We expect this project to begin construction during the spring of 1998. This project finally started in September 0f 1998. We expect the new spillway to be completed during January 1999. Almost immediately, the Camden County Mosquito Commission will begin dredging. Look for fish this spring.
Cape May County
This Council partnered with the Cape May County Water Conservation Committee to establish three weather stations in the county. The stations are located in Dennis Township, near Cape May Court House, and in West Cape May. These stations can be an asset in the County’s struggle to provide water to its residents while slowing down the salt water intrusion it is experiencing. The stations have already played a role in determining bird migration patterns using the collected wind direction and speed data.
This Council, working with the Bear Creek Conservancy/Stewardship Association, Cape-Atlantic Soil Conservation District, Quail Unlimited, the USDA NRCS, and others are working to develop several hundred acres of wildlife habitat in Upper Township. This will include both waterfowl and upland wildlife.
Cumberland County
During the mid 1980’s, this Council, working with a host of groups, helped with the redevelopment of the downtown section of Bridgeton. This Council provided almost $900,000 towards the effort.
This Council, working with the Cumberland Soil Conservation District, obtained and installed a weather station in the Stow Creek area of the county. This station will provide needed weather data input for irrigation scheduling as well as for Rutgers Integrated Pest Management program.
This Council can develop forecasting tools for use in irrigation water management and insect control. Other forecasts are possible.
This Council, working with the Cumberland County Soil Conservation District, Quail Unlimited, the Bear Creek Conservancy/Stewardship Association, the USDA NRCS, and others could help develop wildlife habitat within the county.
Gloucester County
This Council, working with the Gloucester Soil Conservation District and Rutgers, established three weather stations within the county. These stations are located at Bethel Mill Park, GCSW Complex in South Harrison Township, and Ferrucci Nursery near Piney Hollow. These stations were instrumental in helping declare southern New Jersey an agricultural disaster in 1996.
This Council, working with Gloucester County Planning, the Gloucester County Soil Conservation District and Rowand College of New Jersey, completed a stream bank stabilization project through the center of the campus. This project was part of the overall cleanup to the LiPari Landfill Superfund Site.
Repaupo Creek PL-566
PL-566 is a program offered by the USDA NRCS to help communities solve flooding problems within small watersheds (under 250,000 acres). Repaupo Creek outlets into the Delaware River. A levve and tide gate separate the river from the town. The Repaupo Meadow Bank (former owners) was established in 1772 by order of King George of England. The levee and tidegate have been repaired and replaced since then. The last levee break occurred in December 1996. It took over 4 weeks for the water to retreat to normal levels. This project is a combination of NRCS and Army Corps of Engineers. It meets our goal to prevent flooding.
Logan Township has joined Greenwich Township (Gloucester Counties) as local sponsors. This local grass roots effort will help in obtaining the necessary funding to complete the project. The local sponsors are looking at new ways to provide funding to meet the basic federal requirements for local cost sharing.
This system and structure protects over 400 homes and businesses from Delaware River flooding. On going efforts include obtaining funding from FEMA to the USDA NRCS for design and construction administration.
During 1998, we joined Senator Torrecelli and Congressman Andrews in this effort. We provided enough information to them that we received $260,000 for project planning. $100,000 goes to the Army Corps of Engineers and $160,000 goes to the USDA NRCS. Surveying and other works are underway.
Middlesex County
No projects have occurred here.
Mercer County
Princeton Mountain Lakes
This project is located in Princeton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. This project will restore the dam and spillway of an old ice making pond. The USDA NRCS will be providing the technical leadership. Princeton Township will provide funding. This meets our goals to prevent flooding and provide wildlife habitat. This historic structure is part of an educational system within the Township.
Monmouth County
This Council. working with the Freehold Soil Conservation District, Monmouth County Parks, and the NJ American Water Supply, have purchased a weather station to be installed near the Monmouth County Environmental Education Center. This station will be an asset for the study of weather, but will also be used to help predict urban flood warnings, as well as irrigation scheduling.
Ocean County
This Council, working with Weather Access, bought a weather station with help from United Water Toms River. We are providing lawn waterind data to several local newspapers, TV and radio stations. In our first year, we have helped United Water reduce their daily peak pumping volumes by 1 million gallons per day. We look forward to a long, rewarding partnership.
This Council, working with the Ocean County Soil Conservation District and the Ocean County Freeholders, will be buying and installing a weather station at the county airport. This station will play a major role in a soil health project in the area. This project reached an unsuccessful end.
This Council, working with the Ocean SCD and the USDA NRCS, helped develop a dune management plan at Island Beach State Park. This plan centered around the construction of elevated board walks connecting the existing parking lots to the beaches by crossing the fragile dune system. It also included additional dune fencing, beach grass planting, and beach grass fertilization recommendations.
This Council, working with Central Regional School and the Ocean SCD, completed a major erosion control project on the school grounds. Grassed water ways, protected inlet and outlet structures, and pipelines were installed to control water runoff. A major outdoor stairway was built connecting the school with a lower athletic field.
Salem County
No reports are available.