Tag: New Jersey Conservation Foundation
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Ballot question approval would lock in environmental funds
By Michele S. Byers If your community’s land and water were contaminated – and the polluter was fined for the damage – where do you think the money should go? Should the funds be dedicated to protecting or restoring natural resources in the impacted area or should they go into the general state budget, or…
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Sandy Millspaugh was a conservation trailblazer
By Michele S. Byers The year was 2002, and New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s board of trustees faced a tough decision. The owner of a nearly 10,000-acre cranberry farm in the Pine Barrens was getting out of the business. He wanted to know if NJ Conservation would buy his property for $12.5 million and turn it…
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‘Head start’ for corn snakes
By Michele S. Byers The beautifully colored corn snake is endangered in New Jersey. It is a southern species, living at the northern limit of its range in the sandy pine forests of New Jersey’s Outer Coastal Plain, deep in the Pine Barrens. This gorgeous snake, also called the red rat snake, established a population…
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Tiny insect will have a huge impact on New Jersey
By Michele S. Byers In 10 years, most of New Jersey’s 24 million ash trees in forests – and countless others in neighborhoods, parks and backyards – will be dead. “It’s dire,” says John Sacco, New Jersey’s state forester. New Jersey’s state forester oversees everything from forest fires, state forests, local tree programs, education programs…
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Protect New Jersey’s Pine Barrens
By Michele S. Byers From the highest point in the Pine Barrens – the fire tower on Apple Pie Hill in Wharton State Forest – the region stretches out like an unbroken sea of green. Pine-covered plains extend nearly as far as the eye can see, with the distant skylines of Philadelphia and Atlantic City…
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Maine-to-Florida urban trail celebrates 25 years
By Michele S. Byers The renowned Appalachian Trail, the world’s longest hiking-only footpath, stretches 2,200 miles from Maine to Georgia, including 72 miles through northern New Jersey. Did you know the Appalachian Trail has an urban equivalent for pedestrians and bicyclists? It is called the East Coast Greenway and it extends 3,000 miles from northern…
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Ban offshore drilling and seismic testing off N.J. coast
By Michele S. Byers Summer is in full swing at the Jersey shore. Over the next couple of months and into the fall, millions of visitors will head “down the shore” for the beaches, fishing, boating and ecotourism activities. It is hard to imagine New Jersey without its thriving shore tourism economy — dependent on…
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New Jersey water supply plan rings alarm bells
By Michele S. Byers New Jersey’s almost nine million residents make this state we’re in denser than India or Japan and the population is projected to grow to 10.2 million to 10.4 million by 2040. Will we have enough water for our residents, farmers, businesses, industries, and the environment, now and in the future? That…
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Socializing with nature
By Michele S. Byers Americans appear to have a mixed relationship with the outdoors. On one hand, most people say nature is one of their most enjoyable interests, but on the other, they don’t spend much time outdoors. The gap between interest in nature and the amount of time actually spent in natural settings is…
