To the editor:
Residents of New Jersey need to be aware that in the process of dredging the D & R canal, thousands of wildlife, including some endangered species, will be destroyed. The state Department ofEnvironmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service was said to be issuing guidelines to minimize impact and protect fish and wildlife. There are no guidelines, and the method planned absolutely will not minimize the loss of wildlife!
There is no plan to protect, save, or relocate any of the wildlife during the dredging process. Why not? The state has preservation methods to save the wildlife — it’s been done before, at other sites in New Jersey. The state should not be allowed to just destroy any wildlife species without at least a plan to minimize this loss.
Right now, the state’s plan is to suck up all the species along with the silt, in piping, like a vacuum. Among the wildlife in this canal you can find the following turtles: Northern Red Belly, painted turtle, spotted turtle and the endangered North American wood turtle.
This vacuum piping, with all the debris, will crush and suffocate all the water life before they even get to the planned “staging area.” Most of the wildlife will die, and it could take hundreds of years for the ecosystem to return to its current state.
This was authorized by the Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Division of Land Use Regulation? New Jersey’s Endangered and Non-game Species Conservation Act states: “It is the policy of the State to manage all forms of wildlife to insure their continued participation in the ecosystem.” A great amount of the wildlife can be picked up by nets and traps, brought to a preservation area, and then brought back to their natural habitat after the project is completed. As stated, this type of plan has been implemented at other sites in New Jersey, why not here? No dredging should be done during the winter hibernating months.
Also, please be aware that the site planned as the “staging area” is an environmentally sensitive area. The site is in a residential community surrounded by preserved acreage — not ideal for a treatment plant.
The people of New Jersey need to act and get the NJDEP and New Jersey Fish & Game to stop the project until a better staging area is established and a plan to save as much as the wildlife as possible is set in place. We need an amendment to the Division of Land Use Regulation permit to dredge to include conservation measures toprotect the unique natural resources in the canal, including the turtles mentioned.
Please visit the “Save the Wildlife of the D&R Canal” Facebook page to find a link to an online petition, updates, and the contact information of local officials. The web address iswww.facebook.com/saveNJwildlife. Please like/share this page if you have an account to spread the word and gain supporters of this cause!
Gregory Stelnick
Princeton
