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GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 031110

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Nov 10, 2003, 3:14:01 AM11/10/03

031110

GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{*} OAKLAND: CAMP TODD ALERT - NOV 13
{*} MORRIS TOWNSHIP REZONING UPHELD
{*} PINELANDS COMMISSION RELEASES 2003 ECONOMIC DATA
{*} IN MORE NJ BACKYARDS, A FINE VIEW OF FAIRWAY
{*} AMID GROWING PRESSURES, DAIRY FARMERS FIND WAYS TO HANG ON
{*} HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: BUILDER'S SEWER REQUEST DENIED
{*} POHATCONG LAND DEAL MIFFS RESIDENTS
{*} GIRL SCOUTS' PLAN EARNS PRAISE FROM EARLY CRITICS
{*} FUNDING CHANGES THREATEN TOXIC CLEANUPS
{*} SIX NJ COLLEGES FINED FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE
{*} HUDSON SEDIMENTS ARE 17 PERCENT HAZARDOUS WASTE
{*} DON'T THROW IT OUT, REUSE IT WITH THE NET
{*} DEER-RELATED ACCIDENTS COST $1.1B
{*} MORRIS COUNTY INVITES INPUT ON FUTURE OF PARKS SYSTEM
{*} JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: PROGRAM ASSOCIATE
{*} PROGRAMS AT HACKETTSTOWN NATURAL RESOURCE EDUCATION CENTER

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Many thanks to our volunteers: Jerry Cullins, Jeff Hook,
Peter Montague, Paul Neuman, Phil Reynolds, and to all
you folks out there who contribute in so many ways.
If you have a couple hours a week, and would like to help out,
please email us at mai...@gsenet.org.

* * *

Our Fall Fundraising Campaign is under way!
To donate, please visit:
http://www.gsenet.org/support/donate.php

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OAKLAND: CAMP TODD ALERT - NOV 13

Date: 07 Nov 2003
From: Bets...@aol.com

ALERT

PLANNING BOARD TO VOTE ON CAMP TODD DEVELOPMENT - NOV 13!

PLEASE SPEAK OUT! PLEASE WRITE! PLEASE ATTEND!

Thursday, November 13, 8 PM
Planning Board Meeting
Senior Citizens Center
20 Lawlor Street (off Route 202)
Oakland, NJ (directions at end of alert)

Please urge the Planning Board and Mayor to turn down this
application! Your comments are crucial to put pressure on the Board
members and Mayor to persuade them to vote 'no.'

If you cannot attend on Nov 13, please mail, email or FAX your
comments to the Borough Clerk, asking that copies be distributed to
the Planning Board members, Council and Mayor. (If you mail or drop
off a letter, you might make extra copies to aid the Clerk in
distribution.) To ensure your comments are placed on the public
record, please address your letter as follows:

Borough Clerk
Borough of Oakland
1 Municipal Plaza
Oakland, NJ 07430
FAX 201-337-1520
Email: boro...@oakland-nj.org

To: Oakland Borough Clerk
cc: Oakland Planning Board Members
Mayor Robert Piccoli
Council Members

Dear Borough Clerk: Please distribute this letter to the Mayor,
Council and Planning Board members.

Dear Oakland Planning Board Members, Mayor PIccoli and Council
members:

The issue:

LMK Associates proposes to build 24 two-acre luxury homes on the 73
mountaintop acres of the former Camp Todd in Oakland. The property is
adjacent to the Ramapo Mountain State Forest and the former Camps Glen
Gray and Tamarack, both now County parkland. The heavily wooded site
has rock outcrops throughout and significant steep slopes.

Two streams traverse the site - one is a Category 1 Trout Production
waterway with wetlands of 'exceptional' quality. Todd Lake, which is
pristine (but not C1), is situated at the property's westernmost
corner.

In a 1991 consent agreement, LMK agreed to build in accordance with
Oakland's steep slope ordinance. When LMK first presented its plan to
the Planning B oard in 2002, 18 houses were found to require steep
slope variances. LMK then went back to the drawing board and, in
spring 2003, offered a revised plan with houses and driveways
repositioned. Six houses now require variances for steep slope
disturbances.

Some talking points:

- Camp Todd is environmentally sensitive property that should be
permanently protected; it contains steep slopes, at least two
vernal pools, two streams (one designated Category 1 Trout
Production), wetlands (with one area of exceptional quality), the
pristine Todd Lake, as well as wildlife and habitat.

- A Category 1 Trout Production stream traverses the site. When the
new stormwater rules take effect, C1 waterways will require 300-
foot buffers, which is likely to have an impact on this
development.

- The application should be denied on grounds of noncompliance with
Oakland's steep slope ordinance, as evidenced by LMK's request for
variances for six houses. Under a 1991 consent agreement, LMK
agreed to abide by the st eep slope ordinance.

- Camp Todd could be acquired for preservation using funds from the
County open space trust fund, NJ DEP Green Acres and private land
trusts.

- The application should be denied on grounds of noncompliance with
Oakland's steep slope ordinance, as evidenced by the need for
variances for six houses. In 1991, LMK agreed to abide by the steep
slope ordinance.

- Camp Todd is located in the Ramapo River watershed which, according
to the US EPA, is already under severe stress from existing
development. Its water quality barely meets EPA standards. Non-
point source pollution from the development will degrade the
streams, wetlands and Todd Lake and further degrade Ramapo River
and its tributaries.

- Developing Camp Todd will adversely affect regional water supplies;
replacing forest cover with impervious surfaces (houses, roads,
driveways, etc.) will block rainwater absorption, further deplete
our groundwater and increase the risk of area flooding from surface
runoff.

- Camp Todd is adjacent to County and State parkland. Developing Camp
Todd will fragment this forest and reduce its wilderness, habitat,
recreational and aesthetic values; it will also undermine the
efforts of the State and Bergen County to create an expanse of
undisturbed open space in the Ramapo Mountains.

- Camp Todd is in the NJ Highlands, which Gov. McGreevey, NJ's US
Senators and the entire NJ Congressional delegation all call to
protect to safeguard drinking water for over four million New
Jerseyans. The Governor recently established a Highlands Task Force
to devise a master plan to conserve the region's natural resources
and protect water supplies.

SPEAK OUT TO SAVE CAMP TODD!

Next Thursday (Nov 13), we must fill the meeting room - and flood
their mailboxes! Please spread the word!

DIRECTIONS. From Route 202 - Turn into the entrance to the Police
Station on Route 202 south of the Oakland Municipal Complex. Go to the
right and follow the road as it curves left around the back of the
Police Station. Stay on this road until it dead ends shortly at
Lawlor. Turn right onto Lawlor and go about 100 feet and turn right
into the senior citizens center parking area. Center is a one-story
whitish building.

For more information:
Sierra Club North Jersey Group
Bets...@aol.com
201-461-4534

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MORRIS TOWNSHIP REZONING UPHELD

Date: 031109
From: http://www.dailyrecord.com/

JUDGE: COMMITTEE'S RESEARCH WAS REASONABLE

By Peggy Wright, Daily Record, 11/07/03

A Superior Court judge Thursday threw out an environmental group's
claims of "spot zoning" and upheld the Morris Township Committee's
rezoning of 171 acres on which the monks of St. Mary's Abbey want to
build a 312-unit continuing-care retirement community.

Assignment Judge B. Theodore Bozonelis, in a two-hour decision from
the bench, found the township committee extensively researched its
decision to rezone the St. Mary's tract, considered its suitability
for a retirement community and its impact on the neighborhood, and
preserved open space in adopting an ordinance Sept. 4, 2002, that
rezoned the land.

"I cannot find that this ordinance should be vacated," Bozonelis
said.

"I cannot find, despite what my opinion may be, that they (the
township committee) exceeded the bounds of rational reasoning," the
judge said. By law, his role in reviewing municipal land use decisions
that are attacked through lawsuits is to decide whether governing
boards acted in an arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable manner.

The Great Swamp Watershed Association, a non-profit group that
strives to protect and preserve environmental, natural, historical and
cultural resources, had sued to overturn the rezoning ordinance that
its members believe will destroy the ecologically-sensitive Washington
Valley region of Morris Township.

"We're very disappointed. We felt we made a persuasive case," Great
Swamp Executive Director Julia Somers said.

Michael D. Henderson, superintendent of Morristown National
Historical Park and an opponent of the abbey's retirement community
proposal, noted the judge referred to township officials' reliance on
analyses from an attorney, planner and engineer in reviewing whether a
CCRC was appropriate for Morris Township.

"Where was the historian and the biologist? Is that due diligence?"
Henderson said.

Bozonelis' ruling eliminates a major obstacle the Benedictine monks
of St. Mary's Abbey faced in trying to develop a retirement village
that would generate income to support elderly, retired monks. The
ordinance rezoned 171 of 380 acres owned by the order, and the
retirement community is proposed for 41 acres, accessible by the old
Route 24 now known as Route 510. Before the rezoning that permits a
retirement community as a conditional use, the 171 acres could have
been developed with about 41 single-family homes on three-acre lots.

"We are pleased with the judge's decision and to have this major
legal hurdle behind us," said Father Lorenzo R. Elias, senior vice
president of external affairs at St. Mary's, in a written statement.

"This confirms what we knew all along: that the township public
officials were careful in their analysis of the need for this rezoning
and they were diligent in the review process," Elias said. "We still
have a great deal of work to do before Abbey Woods becomes a reality
and we will persevere to the end of this complex process."

The order's $100 million plan for the village currently is pending
site plan approval before the township planning board, which might
vote on the project Nov. 17. The plan - to consist of 200 independent
living apartments, 40 independent living cottages, 24 assisted-living
units and 48 nursing home beds - also requires wastewater treatment
and other environmental permits from the state.

The judge concluded the township committee sought to minimize the
impact of a retirement community by creating an overlay district of 41
acres for its location inside the monks' property. Bozonelis also
discounted claims the community would be open to only the wealthiest
senior citizens, saying that ,regardless of the cost, it still will
provide necessary housing for the aging.

The Great Swamp association's lawyer had argued the ordinance was not
consistent with the state Development and Re-development Plan's
designation of the Washington Valley as environmentally sensitive. But
Bozonelis found that the ordinance preserves open space on the abbey
tract by limiting development to the 41 acres and designating close to
100 acres as permanent open space.

Morris Township Mayor Jan Wotowicz said the ruling vindicates the
township from allegations of spot-zoning - or creating the ordinance
to exclusively benefit the monks.

"This (lawsuit) seemed rather frivolous to begin with," he said,
adding that he may propose a counter-suit to try to collect attorney
fees from the Great Swamp association.

* * *

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PINELANDS COMMISSION RELEASES 2003 ECONOMIC DATA

Date: November 7, 2003
From: http://www.state.nj.us/pinelands/

ANNUAL REPORT ON CD-ROM TRACKS ECONOMIC
HEALTH OF PINELANDS COMMUNITIES

New Lisbon - At the monthly meeting of the New Jersey Pinelands
Commission, Executive Director John C. Stokes today released the
Seventh Annual Report of the Pinelands Long-Term Economic Monitoring
Program. A cooperative project administered by the Pinelands
Commission and funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior National
Park Service , the program monitors, collects and analyzes data to
gauge the economic health of the Pinelands region over time. This
year's report is available free-of-charge to the public in CD-ROM
format and on the Commission's Internet website at
http://www.nj.gov/pinelands/reports.htm. An executive summary is
available in paper form.

- The Commission's long-term economic monitoring program is an
important component of the Commission's efforts to better
understand the effects of Pinelands programs on local communities
and the regional economy, Stokes said. "This report gives us the
data we need to monitor the economic health of the region and
develop tools to identify and address challenges and
opportunities." Data collected in 2003 reveals some key findings
about the Pinelands economy:*

- Following a decline in 2001, the average number of building permits
issued in Pinelands communities in 2002 increased by 17%;

- Regarding home sales, the inflation-adjusted median home price rose
by 8.4% in the Pinelands to $122,500, the first significant
increase in 14 years. This compares to an increase of 6.6% to
$129,200 for a non-Pinelands home. The Pinelands share of the
state's total real estate transactions increased steadily from 8.2%
in 1999 to 9.4% in 2002;

- An analysis of block-level census data revealed that approximately
276,890 people live inside of the Pinelands boundary, while 412,560
people live in areas of Pinelands municipalities that lie outside
of the Pinelands boundary;

- The population density of the Pinelands municipalities was 304
people per square mile, compared to 1,046 people for the non-
Pinelands region;

- The unemployment rate rose from 4.7% in 2001 to 5.3% in 2002, but
is still lower than areas outside of the Pinelands. Unemployment
rose from 4.5% to 6.0% in the non-Pinelands region and from 4.2% to
5.8% for the state as a whole;

- The average inflation-adjusted 2002 property tax bill in the
Pinelands was $3,010. This is $500 lower than the non-Pinelands
region and $1,740 lower than the state average.

The 2003 Economic Report includes an enhanced version of the
Municipal Fact Book, which was first introduced in the 2002 Report.
The Municipal Fact Book provides data on the unique economic
characteristics of 52 Pinelands Area municipalities. Additionally,
data for each Pinelands municipality is ranked and averages are
compared using data from 202 South Jersey municipalities. This year's
Municipal Fact Book features the addition of population graphs and
color maps showing aggregates of Pinelands Management Areas and State
Planning Areas outside of the Pinelands, as well as other new data.

Also new this year, the Commission added four supplemental variables,
including population density, Census of Housing data, place of
residence and work data as well as data on municipal services such as
police protection and garbage collection. These supplement data on
core variables in areas such as retail sales, income, real estate
sales, employment, property taxes, property values, and agricultural
production and sales.

- - -

* PLEASE NOTE: "Pinelands" is defined as the entirety of any
municipality that has at least 10 percent of its land area within the
boundary of the State-designated Pinelands Area. "Non-Pinelands" is
all other municipalities within the eight southernmost counties of New
Jersey.

Contact Francis Rapa
New Jersey Pinelands Commission
Phone: 609-894-7300
Email: in...@njpines.state.nj.us

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IN MORE NJ BACKYARDS, A FINE VIEW OF FAIRWAY

Date: 031110
From: http://www.philly.com/

By Suzette Parmley, Inquirer Staff Writer, Nov. 09, 2003

Pittsgrove - As construction workers laid the foundation of a home
behind him, Paul Bellinger teed off at Running Deer Golf Club in Salem
County.

Over the last year, the sound of hammers has become as common as the
crack of well-swung drivers, and Bellinger knows he will soon see
luxury houses along the fairways.

"There's not enough players to generate money," said Bellinger, 50,
of Mays Landing, as he and two friends played on an almost-deserted
course on a recent weekday. "We always knew it would happen."

Too many golf courses.

Too few golfers.

A glut of courses has created an imbalance between supply and demand,
especially in South Jersey, where links began covering the landscape
at a feverish pace 15 years ago.

To help pay the bills, golf courses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
are being developed with homes more than ever before. In some cases,
owners sell land to home builders.

For many, the business of golfing alone has turned into a sand trap.

Because of geography, golf courses in the region have a shorter
season anyway.

But adding to the woes have been the bad weather of recent years,
water restrictions, high property taxes and maintenance costs, and a
sagging national economy.

"The bad economy has slowed progress on clubs dependent on membership
dues with people being more cost-conscious," said Richard M. Kennedy,
membership services director at the New Jersey State Golf Association.
"Many of the newer ones are struggling."

The number of golf courses has more than doubled in South Jersey
since 1967, according to the South Jersey Golf Association, covering
eight counties.

They range from the highly exclusive, members-only Galloway National
Golf Club in Atlantic County (no comment on the dues because it is
invitation only) to the no-frills, anyone-can-play, municipal Pitman
Golf Club in Mantua. There, the daily 18-hole fee is $15 for county
residents, and $20 for others.

Across the country, the mid- to late-1990s were considered boom years
in golf course construction. Developers and Wall Street investors
jumped in.

South Jersey joined the trend.

"They built courses like there was no tomorrow," said Arlene
Cherwien, immediate past president of the South Jersey Golf
Association, based in Vineland. "That's why they're having problems.
They're all competing for the same dollar."

The private clubs have it especially tough, because they charge more
than public courses and have fancier courses that require more upkeep.

When the association started 55 years ago, there were nine golf clubs
- all private. Today, about 75 percent of the 78 member clubs are open
to the public or are owned by municipalities. The rest are private and
have a highly selective membership process.

But in the last 10 years, developers in this region started adding
the word community after golf courses. They have been a staple in
Florida since the 1960s.

Richard C. McCormick, a division vice president for Toll Brothers
Inc., said home builders love golf course communities because they
boost the values of the homes.

At the Estates at Tattersall in West Chester, an 18-hole public
course opened two years ago. Around the course, Toll Brothers is
building 55 luxury homes, averaging more than $500,000 each.

"People are willing to pay more for a golf course for the aesthetics
and open space," McCormick said. "They'd rather look at a fairway, as
opposed to a neighbor's backyard."

The list of such regional golf course communities is long.

In Pennsylvania, Toll Brothers is building a replica of Tattersall in
Upper Providence. Similar developments already are in Blue Bell and
Glen Mills.

In New Jersey, Toll Brothers and U.S. Home Corp. are building 1,420
homes in Jackson, Ocean County. Called the Westlake Golf and Country
Club, it will feature homes starting in the mid-$200,000 range. Add up
to $70,000 for a golf-course view.

K. Hovnanian Cos. is completing the last of 289 single-family houses
around an 18-hole championship course at Blue Heron Pines West, an
upscale public course in Galloway.

But the building pace may slow in some areas, such as at the Jersey
Shore, where there is little land left to develop.

For example, the Pinelands outside of Atlantic City is surrounded by
16 golf courses in a 10-mile radius. And more are in the works.

The Pinelands Commission, a regional land-use authority, wants to
make courses cut down on water use, reduce pollutants such as
fertilizers, and incorporate more of the natural landscape.

"If you put [another] golf course there, you're actually reducing
housing in areas targeted for housing development," said Larry
Liggett, director of land use at the commission.

For some golf course builders, the strategy is to sell land.

When brothers J.R. and Ted Carman, and their father, Ed, took out a
$650,000 loan to cover construction costs of Running Deer in
Pittsgrove, the mortgage required them to eventually sell house lots
to raise cash, Ted Carman said.

In August, Running Deer signed a contract with Mantua-based Headley
Homes to sell 10 two-acre lots for upscale Colonial-style homes. And
it recently signed with Great Northeastern Enterprises of Chesterfield
for 14 one-acre lots for age-restricted housing on the golf course.

"It's a debt-reduction source," Ted Carman said of selling the land.

Golf course communities also provide the links with a steady stream
of players.

David Goddard, executive vice president of Ole Hansen & Sons Inc.,
which owns Blue Heron Pines, said residents account for more than 40
percent of golf membership sales there.

"It's a ready-made customer base for the golf course," he said.

Bill and Sally Deutsch, both 58, moved from Connecticut to a home off
Blue Heron Pines West's 17th hole last year. "It's like being on
vacation every day," Bill Deutsch said, pulling his clubs off a cart.

Some courses are looking for unconventional sources of income. Blue
Heron Pines just got the nod to build a hotel and conference center.

"It's very difficult on a day-to-day basis," said William Holmes Jr.,
general manager of Town & Country Golf Links, a semi-private golf
course in Woodstown, Salem County, that is selling house lots off the
back nine. The club has dues-paying members but also allows public
use.

Holmes is discounting rates, offering specials and mailing out
coupons. Many courses, he said, are "giving golf away" to promote
themselves.

And even Donald Trump is building a golf course - a $50 million
project in Bedminster, Somerset County, where annual dues will run
$175,000.

"Welcome to Trump National Golf Club," said Trump on a recent
weekend, filming a commercial to tout the course, which will open next
summer.

Forget home building, though. Trump National sits on 280 acres of
rolling hills and lush grass - and Trump vows that it will never be
marred by houses.

But few courses have Trump's billions. By turning to home building
and land sales, many courses hope to avoid a fate like that of Laurel
Oak Golf and Country Club, a course in Voorhees from 1966 to the mid-
1980s. As the value of land skyrocketed in Voorhees in the '80s,
course owners decided that the land was more valuable for commercial
use than as a golf course.

All that remains of Laurel Oak is a driving range. The rest of the
land has been converted into offices, senior housing and assisted-
living units.

* * *

Contact staff writer Suzette Parmley at 856-779-3818 or
spar...@phillynews.com.
(c) 1995-2003 Knight Ridder Digital, Inc.

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AMID GROWING PRESSURES, DAIRY FARMERS FIND WAYS TO HANG ON

Date: 031109
From: http://www.nj.com/

By Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press, 11/9/03

Trenton - Encroaching development, financial pressures, labor
shortages and competition from huge farms out West are discouraging
more New Jersey dairy farmers than 4 a.m. milkings and shoveling,
well, you know what.

Loss of crucial support services, rising costs to adhere to
environmental rules, complaints about farm smells from neighbors, 90-
hour work weeks and milk prices that barely cover costs make it
tempting for dairy farmers to sell out to developers, usually when
they hit retirement age.

But some younger dairy farmers in New Jersey have been finding ways
to hang on. Most have been using better nutrition and other strategies
to increase milk production. Some also grow extra animal feed to sell,
add vegetable crops so they can set up a farmstand, or invite the
public over for educational tours or trips through haunted barns and
corn mazes at Halloween.

The latest twist is a fledgling effort in the state's northwest
corner to help dairy farmers boost income by pooling their milk to
produce more profitable products such as cheese and yogurt.

"If this thing can take off and fly, I see a longer-term future for
us," said Jeff Vander Groeff, who has 115 milk cows and nearly as many
calves on his 300 rented acres in Wantage Township, Sussex County.
"I'm hoping to stay farming until I retire."

Vander Groeff, whose grandfathers were farmers, is one of several
dairy farmers developing a business plan for the Sussex County Milk
Producers Cooperative under which members likely would pay a third
party to turn all of their milk into cheese and then sell it in New
Jersey and New York.

"One of the most frustrating things on our part is we see what milk
and milk products go for in the store," said Vander Groeff. "We get
one-third or less."

Several farmers in the milk cooperative, along with a consultant they
hired, have been working on the business plan for about eight months.
They raised $200,000 for the work: $65,000 from the state Department
of Agriculture, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
some funds from the cooperative, which stopped buying and processing
members' milk more than three decades ago.

The farmers hope to complete the plan in a few months, then seek
financing from a bank or investors, said Wantage dairy farmer Richard
Byma, a project organizer. Participating farmers likely would have to
contribute some money to get started. In turn, they would share in
proceeds based on how much milk they contribute.

The cooperative includes about two dozen farm families from Sussex
and a few from neighboring Warren County.

"Any farmer in New Jersey could benefit from this, could join us,"
once it gets going, Byma said.

The agriculture department is lending expertise and allowing use of
the popular "Jersey Fresh" brand name for marketing the cheese, he
said. That label should help attract consumers wanting to support area
farmers, given Rutgers University surveys showing New Jersey residents
want to keep farms in the state, Byma added.

Retiring dairy farmers used to rent their land to younger ones, said
David Lee, a Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service dairy agent based
in Salem County. Now, a lot more are selling to developers, even in
Salem County, which leads the state in number of dairy cows and milk
production.

Other counties with significant dairy operations are Warren, Sussex,
Burlington, Gloucester and Hunterdon.

New Jersey dairy farmers now supply only about 3 percent of milk
consumed here. That's because the number of dairy farms in the state
plunged from 2,500 in 1965 to 545 in 1983, then to 133 this year, USDA
and New Jersey Department of Agriculture records show. The number of
dairy cows fell from 103,000 to about 13,000 over that period.

"There's less young people going into dairy," Lee said. "Maybe we'll
end up with 50 or so dairies in the long haul."

The numbers don't tell the whole story, though.

Dairy farms have gotten bigger as some farmers bought or rented more
land to increase their herds to a few hundred cows - to compete with
3,000- to 10,000-cow operations in Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and
Idaho, Lee said. That improves profit margins by spreading fixed costs
and debt over more cows.

Also, many dairy farms have been switched to more profitable
commodities, said state Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus. Exact
numbers aren't available, but records show cash receipts rose
dramatically over the last four decades for the categories of fruit
crops, vegetables and sod or landscape materials.

Meanwhile, costs for everything from insurance and taxes to
equipment, repairs and labor have been rising, but the price farmers
get for milk, set by a USDA market administrator, was at a 30-year low
until recently: $13.44 per 100 pounds, the equivalent of 58 cents per
half-gallon. The price rose this month to $17.76 per 100 pounds.

Byma said selling cheese or yogurt could bring the farmers a little
more.

Kuperus, who grew up on a Sussex Borough dairy farm, thinks the
cooperative's project could be duplicated in southern New Jersey and
later broadened to yogurt, ice cream and flavored milks labeled
"Jersey Fresh."

"In many ways, all eyes are on the Sussex County milk producers," he
said.

Wantage Township dairy farmers Holly and William Sytsema, who have
250 cows and raise field crops such as oats and wheat, had been trying
to come up with such a value-added product on their own, but found
costs prohibitive. Instead, they diversified their 800-acre operation,
adding vegetables, a farmstand to sell the veggies and homemade jams,
and school agriculture tours, which altogether boosted income about 20
percent.

The couple are pinning their hopes on the cheese project, given
support for the idea from their farmstand customers.

"That's going to enable us to stay in the county as farmers," Holly
Sytsema said. "We're very, very optimistic."

- - -

On the Net:
State Department of Agriculture:
http://www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh

* * *

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HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: BUILDER'S SEWER REQUEST DENIED

Date: 8 Nov 2003
From: jockey hollow {jockey...@mac.com}

By Lisa Coryell, Staff Writer, November 08, 2003

Hopewell Township - The township committee has turned down a local
developer's request for sewer hookups that some feared could have
sparked rampant development in the town's southern tier.

In a 4-1 vote Thursday night, committee members told developer Todd
Leatherman they would not grant his, or any other, sewer application
until they finish revising the township's wastewater management plan.
The plan, a sweeping blueprint for addressing sewer needs in the town,
is slated to be completed this spring.

"I'm very uncomfortable with a piecemeal approach (to granting
sewers)," Mayor Fran Bartlett told Leatherman. "So many people (with
failing septic systems on their properties) have been so patient for
so many years. I can't in good conscience grant you sewers first. I
ask you to hang in just a little while longer. I think you'll get what
you need eventually."

Leatherman's attorney, Lawrence Wohl, said he's not convinced the
town will have the new plan done by the spring.

"If the plan were ready in six months it would be wonderful, but I
don't believe it will be," he said. "It looks as though they're
creating a moratorium on development."

Under a 2002 ruling by the township zoning board, Leatherman can
build two houses on his land, instead of one, only if he can get sewer
service.

Leatherman, who hired a court stenographer to record his meeting with
the committee, said he has not decided whether he will appeal the
committee's decision in court.

His sewer application has been a source of debate among committee
members since township attorney Edwin Schmierer recommended they
approve it in September.

But committee members Arlene Kemp and Vanessa Sandom argued that even
if Leatherman was only seeking two sewer hookups, granting them could
spark a deluge of development if other developers demanded sewers for
their projects as well.

The committee remanded the application to the township Wastewater
Advisory Committee for review and that committee recommended the
request be denied.

On Thursday, Schmierer told the committee he had been short-sighted
when he advised them to approve Leatherman's application.

"When I first viewed the application I viewed it in a very narrow
sense of one application from one developer," Schmierer said. "I
didn't appreciate the significance of it as it pertained to sewers in
this township. If I had seen the bigger picture I would have seen that
extending sewers to even two homes would have a significant impact on
this town."

Schmierer said he has since been made aware of several concerns
regarding the Leatherman application. Among them were that approval
could:

- have a "potential domino effect" on other developers seeking
sewers.

- be inconsistent with the township's current agreement with the
Ewing Lawrence Sewerage Authority, which calls for no sewer
extensions to lots currently not served by ELSA.

- be inconsistent with the town's attempt to address local sewer
demands in a comprehensive, not piecemeal fashion.

- be premature in that the town is close to finishing a newly revised
wastewater management plan that would address Leatherman's needs
along with everyone else's.

The committee voted 4-1 to deny the application without prejudice.

Committeewoman Marylou Ferrara voted against denying the application,
saying she did so in deference to the zoning board's earlier ruling.

Other committee members urged Leatherman to be patient.

"It's not that you've been denied forever," Bartlett said.

Wohl argued that his client's property lies within the sewer service
area of the township's current wastewater management plan.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

POHATCONG LAND DEAL MIFFS RESIDENTS

Date: 031109
From: http://www.nj.com/

CRITICS ACCUSE COUNCIL OF ACTING HASTILY
ON VICTORIA RIDGE, IGNORING THEIR INTERESTS

By Linda Lisanti, Express-Times, November 07, 2003

Pohatcong Twp. - In a deal struck with a high-profile developer,
township officials have squashed plans for a 122-single family home
development off Route 519 in exchange for a larger age-restricted
community on High Street.

Despite strong opposition from citizens and environmentalists,
council this week approved the settlement with Toll Brothers that
calls for only one single-family home to be built on the 84-acre
Victoria Ridge tract between Route 519 and Winters Road. The rest of
the land will be preserved as farmland.

In exchange, more units will be added to an age-restricted community
Toll Brothers plans to bring before the planning board. It will be
constructed on High Street across from where the 466-home EAI
development is slated.

Township officials are not sure how many additional age-restricted
units will be built. Before the settlement, Toll Brothers planned for
172 units. Now, the maximum will be 312.

It will be up to the developer to decide how many can fit
comfortably, officials said. No matter how many are built, township
officials said no more than one home can be built on the Victoria
Ridge parcel.

Mayor Stephen Babinsky, who voted yes, said the settlement was the
township's best option.

"It's going to be 122 houses with kids and higher taxes, or this," he
said. "We're trying to do what we can to preserve this township, and
we think we're doing the right thing."

The 50 opponents who came to the council meeting Tuesday night
disagreed. They raised a variety of concerns, the first being that
Babinsky owns property next to Victoria Ridge.

Some believed that posed a conflict of interest and said Babinsky
should not vote, but attorney Kevin Benbrook disputed the claims.

Under the law, Benbrook said Babinsky could vote on land planning
issues as both a council member and planning board member.

"There is no conflict," the attorney added.

Opponents continued with their laundry list of issues. Each one was
challenged by Pohatcong's professionals, sparking a heated debate.

Citizens were worried about the impact another 778 homes from the EAI
development and the age-restricted community will have on High Street
traffic.

Officials agreed the road will have to be addressed. They said the
planning board will have full ability to request traffic studies and
mandate infrastructure improvements.

Planner Richard Coppola added traffic is usually less of an issue in
an adult community because many residents are retired or will retire.
Driving declines as people age, he said.

Inge Sabo, who lives in the Alpha annex on High Street, said that
doesn't calm her fears.

"I resent the fact that I am supposed to live with the traffic and it
will go down in a couple years. I live there now," Sabo said. "We
cannot absorb the traffic nightmare that will take place once all
these homes are built there."

The opponents also questioned why township officials couldn't hold
off on making a decision when the Victoria Ridge project has been in
the works and tied up in litigation for more than 10 years.

In court, the debate centered on whether the Victoria Ridge
development should be subject to the township's current or prior
zoning laws.

In June 2000, Pohatcong amended its zoning regulations, changing the
minimum lot sizes for cluster housing developments from 10,800 square
feet to five acres. Officials argued Victoria Ridge should be subject
to the new zoning regulations.

The land owner, Martin Resnick, and Toll Brothers disagreed and filed
suit.

In June, an appellate judge sided with the plaintiffs and ordered the
township planning board to hold a final approval hearing. That
approval was grated in late July.

Opponents on Tuesday argued that a chance still exists that only 16to
17 homes could be built as part of Victoria Ridge under new zoning.

"You're giving it away before you have to," said Pohatcong resident
Maureen Conway. "We don't want to look like Greenwich."

Township officials said they had little choice in approving the
agreement with Toll Brothers. If the settlement was not approved, then
Victoria Ridge would be constructed as proposed, they said.

"If this could have been 16 houses on Victoria Ridge and 172 on High
Street, I would've said yes, but I don't think that's the way it'll
be," Babinsky said. "This is important for the town."

As many people are against the settlement, there are many who support
it, the mayor pointed out.

As a result of this deal and others like it, Betty Bullock said the
upper end of town - above the Route 78 overpass near the Alpha
border - is "being flushed down the toilet."

She urged council members to think of the other end of Pohatcong -
the part where they don't live - when casting their votes for
developments.

"You are paradise and we have been turned into a virtual hell,"
Bullock said. Reporter Linda Lisanti can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by email at llis...@express-times.com.

* * *

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GIRL SCOUTS' PLAN EARNS PRAISE FROM EARLY CRITICS

Date: 031110
From: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/morris/

GIRL SCOUTS' JOCKEY HOLLOW PLAN EARNS PRAISE FROM EARLY CRITICS

By Bill Swayze, Star-Ledger Staff, November 09, 2003

When the Morris Area Girl Scout Council first released expansion
plans two years ago for its 70-year-old campsite in historic Jockey
Hollow, environmentalists and the National Park Service were surprised
and worried.

Groundwater could be affected. A pristine part of the forest would be
clear-cut. The new buildings would be visible to visitors, they said.

The council went back to the drawing board, enlisted the help of a
big company and engineering firm, and came up with a project that
meets the council's needs, but keeps the peace with the park and
environmentalists.

Yesterday, those plans were unveiled at the camp in the Mendham
Township section of the park.

"What we have done is create a plan that is in keeping with the
history of the Girl Scouts and the environmental and historical
sensitivity of the property," said Helen Wrongski, chief executive
officer of the council. "Those original plans were a departure from
the intent of what we are trying to do out here."

The former critics are pleased.

"With the changes, the plans are much better. They have gone from
something huge and sprawling to a cluster-type development. This is a
good thing," said Michael Henderson, superintendent of the Morristown
National Historical Park.

Julia Somers, executive director of the Great Swamp Watershed
Association, an environmental group, added, "This is a vast
improvement. They were going to take the top off the mountain and
punch a hole in the forest to build."

With a $2.8 million budget, the council comprises some 1,400 troops
with 13,500 girls ages to 17 and 9,000 adults in Morris County.

Since 1940, the council has owned 212 acres in the 1,320-acre Jockey
Hollow National Park, where thousands of George Washington's soldiers
hunkered down during the harsh winter of 1779-80.

The property was donated to the council by Lloyd Smith, who also gave
700 acres to help establish the national park at Jockey Hollow.

The first structure on the property, a log cabin that sleeps 16, was
built in 1934. In the early 1960s, two other structures for overnight
stays and programs were built.

Two years ago, the original $8 million plans to modernize the site
were released. The plans called for the clearing 16 acres on top of a
hill for more than 25 structures. The plans also called for septic
systems.

Wrongski and Morris Township-based Honeywell International came
onboard and tapped a Warren-based environmental engineering firm. The
plans were scaled back and the camp site was relocated to spot down
the hillside where the first cabin was built.

The project site in now seven acres. No clear-cutting is involved.
The $4.7 million new construction plans call for five small troop
cabins that each sleep 16; a main troop house that sleeps 40; a new
pool to replace two old pools; a new shower house and cabin shelters
for rainy days. Instead of septic systems, composting toilets will be
used, Wrongski said.

So far, the council has raised $1.2 million for the project.

The council hopes to break ground in January or February. The Mendham
Township's board of adjustment has granted the site plan preliminary
approval. The board must give its final approval as must the state
Department of Environmental Protection are needed.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

FUNDING CHANGES THREATEN TOXIC CLEANUPS

Date: 8 Nov 2003
From: "Tony L." {railtra...@yahoo.com}

By Chris Gosier, Daily Record, 11/08/03

Morris County's newest Superfund site also is one of its largest -
186 acres of scrap metal, demolition debris, industrial waste, tires
and other trash, along with soil that holds elevated levels of PCBs
and other contaminants. In some spots, the garbage is 24 feet deep.

The Rolling Knolls landfill in Chatham Township joined the Superfund
list in late September, marking the end of an eight-year effort to
include it under the federal program that cleans up the nation's worst
toxic waste dumps.

The site joins the program at a time of change for Superfund,
however, as some environmentalists are decrying funding changes that
they say will delay cleanups and leave less money for sites like
Rolling Knolls.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency disputes that, and says it
remains committed to a central principle of Superfund: making
polluters pay for cleaning up their messes.

Meanwhile, local environmental officials say the cleanup of Rolling
Knolls is growing more urgent.

"The area is highly contaminated," said Dorothea Stillinger,
chairwoman of the Chatham Township environmental commission.

"There's very toxic substances in an area that's only going to become
more developed. It's a time bomb. You can't let that go un-dealt
with."

Part of the landfill lies within the Great Swamp National Wildlife
Refuge, an environmentally sensitive area that filters water entering
the Passaic River. The river is the main drinking water source for
Chatham Township, so action is needed before the swamp becomes
saturated, she said.

"The Great Swamp is currently functioning like a very efficient
septic system for the whole area. It's doing what it's supposed to do,
(which is) keeping the water clean."

But she added that "without vigilance, it's going to get overloaded
like any other septic system."

Since its founding in 1980, the federal Superfund program has gotten
money from a number of sources. Many cleanups - 70 percent, the EPA
says - are still funded by tracking down the responsible polluters and
making them pay.

Superfund also collected money from a tax on the sale of petroleum
and chemicals, and from an environmental tax on large corporations.
These taxes helped fund the cleanup of "orphan" sites, for which no
responsible party could be identified.

Those taxes expired in 1995, however, and Congress has not renewed
them. The built-up revenue from those taxes will run out this year, so
a growing share of that money will have to come from the general funds
appropriated by Congress.

The EPA sought $1.1 billion in general funds for fiscal 2004, a 73
percent increase over the year before, the U.S. General Accounting
Office reported in June. That would mean that, for the first time in
Superfund history, most of the program's funding - nearly 80 percent -
would come from taxpayers, the GAO said.

'ORPHAN' SITES

The report found that the number of "orphan" sites may grow in the
future, even as Superfund becomes more reliant on the general fund to
pay for cleanups.

"The Bush administration is letting polluting industries off the hook
again and leaving regular taxpayers to pay cleanup costs" because it
hasn't asked Congress to renew the taxes that lapsed in 1995, said
Doug O'Malley, campaign director for the New Jersey Public Interest
Research Group, or NJPIRG.

"The bankruptcy of the Superfund trust fund marks a dramatic shift in
toxic waste cleanup policy."

A Bush administration spokesman deferred questions the EPA, which
released a statement saying that the taxes don't truly fit the
"polluter pays" principle. The companies hit with the tax are not
necessarily hurt by it, because they spread the cost over the millions
of products they sell, the EPA said.

Still, environmentalists say the taxes provided a steady and reliable
source of money for Superfund. The program's funding could grow
precarious if it has to compete with the many urgent needs that come
before Congress, O'Malley said.

"The general fund is a grab bag," he said. "Instead of having a
source of money that's dependable, we're left with : kind of a toxic
Russian roulette. Will we get the funding, will we not?"

Morris County's congressman, Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Harding,
responded that "Congress has never failed to step up to the plate" on
Superfund.

TOP PRIORITY

"The top priority is to make polluters pay, and they do that for 70
percent of the sites across the nation," he said.

When asked if he supported re-imposing the taxes that lapsed in 1995,
he said "a lot of those companies and their predecessors are paying
the bulk of those cleanups right now."

"Should a new generation of chemical manufacturers take that
responsibility?" he said. "I'm not sure that is equitable."

New Jersey has 113 sites on Superfund's National Priorities List,
more than any other state. Morris County has 11, most of them added to
the list in 1983. Before Rolling Knolls, Picatinny Arsenal was the
last site added to the list, in 1990.

Picatinny is the largest Morris County site, with 54 potentially
hazardous sites spread across 6,500 acres. The Sharkey Landfill in
Parsippany is 200 acres.

The Pepe Field site in Boonton was deleted from the priority list in
July when federal cleanup work there was completed.

Rolling Knolls was added on Sept. 29, after years of environmental
testing stretching back to 1985.

WASTE DUMP

The site was used as a waste dump from the 1930s until about 1968,
according to a consultant's report.

Stillinger remembers: "It was an acceptable way to dispose of things.
You found an undeveloped area that was very remote from people, and
you dumped your stuff there."

Pharmaceuticals, hospital waste and household waste were dumped
there. The site received construction and demolition waste from 1978
to 1981.

The consultant, Apgar Associates of Far Hills, found in 1997 that
"the site is having a measurable impact on the surrounding
environment," because contaminants in its soil were found in off-site
surface water, ground water, sediment and fish.

The site's condition likely will worsen because much of the chemical
waste dumped there was sealed in drums, so it has yet to be released,
Apgar found. It also notes the history of fires at the site, including
a three-day fire in 1970 and a six-day fire in 1974, which may have
spurred the generation of more toxic compounds.

It still has not been determined who will be held responsible for the
cost of the cleanup of Rolling Knolls.

"This will not be an inexpensive site to clean up, because it's
huge," said Julia Somers, executive director of the Great Swamp
Watershed Association.

One local official said the Superfund funding changes could slow the
cleanup.

"It might take a little longer to get the funds together to do it,"
said Mike Horne, watershed biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Basking Ridge.

"There are quite a number of Superfund sites across the nation, and
they're all competing for funding to proceed, and this one will get
put in that pot."

But he also said, "I think it may be a force for increased
efficiency."

"It's emphasizing starting a site (and) completing it, rather than
starting a bunch and having them not completed in a really timely
fashion," he said.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

SIX NJ COLLEGES FINED FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE

Date: 7 Nov 2003
From: "Peter Montague" {Pe...@rachel.org}

FINES ISSUED FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE

By Miriam Bocarsly, Princetonian Staff Writer, Nov. 7, 2003

Princeton, along with five other New Jersey colleges and
universities, was recently issued hefty fines by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency for improperly disposing hazardous
waste. EPA spokeswoman Bonnie Bellow said wastewater, hazardous
chemicals used in laboratories, pesticides and various fuels are often
responsible for waste violations at schools.

Princeton was one of 10 schools in New York, New Jersey and Puerto
Rico fined for sub-par waste disposal. Originally, the EPA levied a
total fine of $2 million against all the schools, but the parties have
since settled for $1.3 million, according to an EPA press release.

University spokeswoman Patty Allen said Princeton has worked with the
EPA since the violation to fix the problem.

The EPA announced Wednesday that it is seeking $97,581 in fines from
an eleventh school - Vassar College in upstate New York - for
violating several requirements of federal and New York State hazardous
waste regulations.

Vassar was fined for violations such as improper disposal of waste
and chemicals and improperly marked containers.

Bellow said the University was fined because it elected not to take
part in a 1999 EPA program through which schools monitor their own
waste disposal and report problems or violations.

"The self-audit program gives university officials the chance to
inspect their own campuses and determine possible violations," she
said.

Assuming the violations are addressed and eliminated, Bellow said the
school is excused from a monetary fine.

If schools decide not to self-audit - as was the case with the 11
fined institutions - the EPA is allowed to inspect the campus, and
assign a fine that is proportionate to the violated rules, Bellow
said.

To date the EPA has signed self-audit agreements with five colleges
and universities in the region, the press release said.

"Universities are not the places you think of when you think of the
term toxic waste, you think of factories and power plants; industrial
settings," she said.

The EPA sent out 365 letters to schools in the region where Princeton
is located, to explain the self-audit program, and to warn schools of
possible EPA inspections and the risk of financial penalties.

The EPA also hosts free workshops to help universities follow the
laws.

In addition to the University, New Jersey City University, Raritan
Valley Community College, Kean College, the University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey, the Pratt Institute, Manhattan College,
Columbia University, Long Island University's Brooklyn and C.W. Post
campuses and Clarkson College were fined.

* * *

# # #

Rachel's Environment & Health News
Environmental Research Foundation
POB 160
New Brunswick NJ 08903-0160
T: 732-828-9995
F: 732-791-4603
E: e...@rachel.org
W: http://www.rachel.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

HUDSON SEDIMENTS ARE 17 PERCENT HAZARDOUS WASTE

Date: 031109
From: http://www.newsday.com/

EPA SAYS HUDSON SEDIMENT SAMPLES SHOW 17 PERCENT ARE `HAZARDOUS WASTE'

Associated Press, November 7, 2003

Fort Edward, NY - The first samples of PCB-contaminated sediment
taken from the upper Hudson River show 17 percent exceeded the legal
definition for hazardous waste, according to federal officials.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released initial
results from the sampling, which will be used to determine where PCB-
contaminated sediment will be dredged starting in 2006.

General Electric Co. discharged polychlorinated biphenyls into the
Hudson before the federal government banned them in 1977. The EPA
classifies PCBs as a probable carcinogen.

The highest concentrations were found in the so-called "hot spots" in
the Thompson Island pool that extends about six miles below Fort
Edward, The Daily Gazette reported in Friday's editions.

Any PCB level in sediment greater than 50 parts per million is
legally considered "hazardous waste," said N.G. Kaul, the EPA's Fort
Edward field office director.

Among the 5,105 samples that were taken last fall, 29 percent were
above 20 parts per million, and 17 percent, or 868, were above 50 ppm,
according to the EPA.

Also, 35 samples - less than 1 percent - showed PCB levels greater
than 1,000 ppm, and two samples showed levels greater than 10,000 ppm.

"There are no surprises here," Leo Rosales, an EPA spokesman, said.
"This is what we expected."

GE spent $15 million in fall 2002 and throughout this spring and
summer on a sampling program in which small, specially equipped barges
plied the upper Hudson between Fort Edward and Troy.

Mark Behan, a GE spokesman, told the newspaper that the results show
PCB levels that "are consistent with conditions in the upper Hudson
River for many years."

The project goal is to remove enough PCBs so that the residual
contaminant level in the river sediment is just 1 ppm after the
dredging, Kaul said.

The dredging project is expected to cost about $500 million.

* * *

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DON'T THROW IT OUT, REUSE IT WITH THE NET

Date: 8 Nov 2003
From: Scott Olson {sc...@scottolson.us}

By Aleksandrs Rozens, Reuters

New York - One man's garbage is another man's riches, so the old saw
goes.

Nowhere is that more evident than on New York City streets where
dishes, furniture and books are set out to be collected by sanitation
workers.

In fact, one need only drive through some suburban neighborhoods or
rural areas of the United States to find all manner of household
items, garden tools or children's toys in front yards with a sign that
says "Free." Even a freshly cut down tree could become mulch for your
garden or wood for the fireplace.

But junk on the Internet? Absolutely. Get some interesting stuff - or
reduce clutter - without venturing far from your easy chair.

"Everyone has junk in their garage. If they only knew someone who
needed it, they would give it to them," said Deron Beal, founder of
Freecycle.org and an employee of nonprofit organization RISE. This
site, at http://www.freecycle.org and started in Tucson, Arizona, has
expanded across the country and allows people to post goods on the
Internet for others to take - all free!

Web sites like http://www.nycwasteless.com offer tips on reducing
clutter for New Yorkers with cramped apartments. Books and magazines,
the site recommends, are perfect for hospitals and nursing homes while
sporting goods can be passed on to local after-school programs.

If you have leftover paint and building supplies, neighborhood
schools' theater programs can make use of them.

New York area businesses, schools and residents can post offers and
requests for all surplus goods and used equipment, ranging from office
equipment to construction materials at http://www.wastematch.org/.

Anyone who has walked city streets near construction sites, probably
has seen just how much raw construction material - large shards of
sheet rock, metal studs used to hang walls on, and wood - gets tossed
out in large steel containers.

Much of this sort of construction site debris, at least to this
reporter's eyes, seems like the ideal material for reuse by New
Yorkers in small patch-up projects around the home.

A program of the not-for-profit Industrial & Technology Assistance
Corp. and funded by the city's Department of Sanitation and Empire
State Development's Environment Services Unit,
http://www.wastematch.org has been operating since 1997 and has
diverted some 14,000 tons of material from landfills.

A comprehensive survey of recycling that includes not just New York,
http://www.earth911.org allows anyone with recyclable materials to
find out where they can donate their goods.

The site has a search engine that allows you to find recycling
centers near your town or city.

For example, if you have a bicycle no longer being used or the kids
have outgrown and it is still in good shape, why not pass it on to
someone else?

With earth911.org you can track down a taker for that bike. Using the
site, a search in Massachusetts found the Amherst Salvation Army,
Fitchburg's Catholic Charities and Goodwill Industries in Northampton.

I hate seeing books thrown out, so I checked to see who would take
donations of books in Connecticut around the state capital Hartford. I
found several Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries locations.

Checking what was being offered recently on freecycle.org's New York
chapter site, I found someone in New York City who was offering free
science fiction, history and travel books, while another New Yorker
offered up a small double mattress, a futon and a table.

The Internet's potential for commercial purposes have long been noted
and praised, but the possibilities of communities of individuals
helping one another - and freeing up their own space - are just being
realized.

"You really get the sense of a community developing locally in this
group," said Beal, who got the idea for Freecycle while studying in
Frankfurt, Germany.

"The extent of recycling I was exposed to in Germany made me realize
the potential of expanding recycling in the U.S.," said Beal, a self-
described "pack-ratty, don't waste stuff kind-of-a-guy."

* * *

The Livewire column appears weekly. Comments or questions can be
emailed to aleksandrs.rozens(at)reuters.com

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DEER-RELATED ACCIDENTS COST $1.1B

Date: 031110
From: http://story.news.yahoo.com/

By Adam Ashton, Associated Press Writer, Nov 4, 2003

Washington - Some 150 people die each year in more than 1.5 million
traffic accidents involving collisions with deer, according to an
insurance industry-funded report released Tuesday that puts the
economic damage at $1.1 billion.

The study relied on federal and state records as well as academic
studies on the issue to develop the national estimates. Researchers
hired by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to produce the
report said theirs was the first to look at the accidents nationwide.

"People ask what can motorists do. In a lot of cases, not very much,
because they just come flying out at you," said Allan Williams, an
institute researcher who worked with a representative of Highway
Safety North of Ithaca, N.Y., and two deer experts from Cornell
University.

The report focuses on steps by local governments to reduce accidents
and recommends fences and reducing deer herds as the most effective
ways of keeping the animals off the roads.

The study notes frequent public opposition to herd reduction plans
and says that fencing can be costly to maintain and disruptive to
natural deer behavior.

Highway reflectors, high-pitched whistles, signs and other methods to
prevent collisions show mixed results, the report says.

Wisconsin's Transportation Department relies heavily on driver
education to limit deer accidents, and last week, at the start of deer
mating season, announced a new program.

"The one thing we can try to influence is motorist behavior, to get
motorists to understand there is a hazard," agency spokesman Dennis
Hughes said. "That being said, people still hit them."

Already this year, seven people on motorcycles have died in
collisions with deer, he said.

The government's auto safety agency, which records the cause of death
in each vehicle accident, determined that about 154 people die each
year from crashes involving wildlife.

The insurance report relied on state studies from Michigan and
Minnesota to estimate that more than 90 percent of wildlife accidents
are caused by deer.

Researchers reviewed studies from 1995 and 1997 in a publication by
The Wildlife Society, a nonprofit scientific and education
association, to estimate the annual number and cost of deer-related
accidents.

The insurance group updated those figures by comparing them with a
University of Wisconsin study this year that accounted for deer
accidents in the upper Midwest.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

MORRIS COUNTY INVITES INPUT ON FUTURE OF PARKS SYSTEM

Date: 031110
From: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/morris/

SERIES OF PUBLIC HEARINGS IS PART OF AN EFFORT
TO PRODUCE A MASTER PLAN BY THE YEAR 2005

By Lawrence Ragonese, Star-Ledger Staff, November 09, 2003

Morris County residents can have their say about the future of the
more than 14,000-acre county park system next week at a series of
public hearings designed to help produce a strategic plan for the
system.

The hearings are part of a three-phase effort that also includes
telephone surveys of the public and focus groups, all with a goal of
developing a new master plan by 2005, according to county Park
Commission Director David Helmer.

"What are the community needs, our strengths and weaknesses?" Helmer
said. "The answers will help us put together a master plan to direct
the course of the park system for the next 5, 10, 15 years."

Helmer said the original master plan, developed in 1957 and amended
since to include new activities, such as horticulture, recreation and
historic sites, needs to be updated to deal with new demands. For
example, he said the commission previously declined to duplicate
municipal activities, but there has been demand in recent years for
the county parks to add athletic fields, tennis and basketball courts,
which must be considered.

Requests for venues such as a skate park and dog park also have
raised questions about the mission of the county park system, he said.

In addition to the public hearings, the commission also plans to
conduct a telephone survey of county residents next year, with a goal
of producing a master plan by mid-2005.

The public forums are scheduled for tomorrow through Thursday. They
will be run by a consulting firm with no park officials in attendance
"so it will allow the public to speak more freely and openly," Helmer
said.

The forums - all of which run 7 to 9 p.m. - will be held tomorrow at
the Haggerty Education Center of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris
Township; Tuesday at the Morris County Cultural Center adjacent to
Lewis Morris County Park, off county Route 510; Wednesday at the
Haggerty Education Center; and Thursday at The Lodge at Schooley's
Mountain Park on Camp Washington Road in Washington Township.

For more information, call (973) 326-7615 or go to
http://www.morrisparks.net.

* * *

Lawrence Ragonese works in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached
at lrag...@starledger.com or (973)539-7910.
Copyright 2003 The Star-Ledger

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JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: PROGRAM ASSOCIATE

Date: 07 Nov 2003
From: James Quigley {james....@bcc.cuny.edu}

Center for Sustainable Energy
Bronx Community College of
The City University of New York

The Center for Sustainable Energy was established at Bronx Community
College in August 2003 with a congressional appropriation intended to
advance energy conservation and renewable energy in the Bronx and the
region. The Center seeks to have a positive impact on the economy
through workforce development, education and training, and
subsequently, a positive impact on the environment as the negative
effects of energy use are moderated.

Duties: Duties include support of the programs, organization and
research of the Center. The Program Associate will assist in
organizing Center events and publicizing them through the Center
website and through other outreach tasks. The Program Associate will
also assist with research related to energy conservation and renewable
energy, helping to gather and manage data in support of Center
development efforts and toward making the Center a clearinghouse for
information on energy conservation and renewable energy.

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree required, Masters preferred. Superb
communications and research skills a must. Experience or background
related to the energy field, fluency with web page design software,
Power Point and other microcomputer software are all highly desired.
Spanish speaking ability is a plus.

Remuneration: mid-$30s plus benefits

Start Date: December 1

Send a cover letter stating relevant experience and qualifications, a
resume, and three references to:

James Quigley, Ph.D., Acting Director
Center for Sustainable Energy
Bronx Community College of
The City University of New York
181 St. & University Avenue, GML 104
Bronx, NY 10453

For information about the Center, see:
http://csebcc.org

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PROGRAMS AT HACKETTSTOWN NATURAL RESOURCE EDUCATION CENTER

Date: 07 Nov 2003
From: "Liz Jackson" {Liz.J...@dep.state.nj.us}

Free family programs at the NJ DEP Division of Fish & Wildlife
HACKETTSTOWN NATURAL RESOURCE EDUCATION CENTER
http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/hacktown.htm

- - -

BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS OF NEW JERSEY
November 13, 2003, 6:30 pm

Enter the fascinating world of the butterflies and moths of New
Jersey. Tony McBride, an amateur lepidopterist, presents a view into
the world of these winged insects. Learn about a selection of New
Jersey's fauna as well as their life cycles and habits, and the need
for habitat conservation. The presentation will showcase some common
New Jersey butterfly and moth species, and some of the threatened and
endangered species. Part of Tony's collection of butterflies and moths
will be on display as well. Information on butterfly gardening will be
provided.

- - -

RIZZO'S REPTILE DISCOVERY
November 24th, 6:30 pm

Come join us and discover the interesting world of reptiles. Enjoy a
live exciting presentation while learning through an informative talk
and hands on experience. Jumpstart your passion for reptiles and gain
a greater appreciation for nature.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. For more information, contact (908) 637-4125
or send an email to ejac...@dep.state.nj.us.

- - -

PROJECT WILD/WILD SCHOOL SITES
November 25 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm

At HACKETTSTOWN NATURAL RESOURCE EDUCATION CENTER
http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/hacktown.htm

Take a walk through this hands-on workshop to discover the process of
developing a schoolyard habitat on site. Geared for 4th - 12th grade
school teachers, the workshop is correlated to the NJ Curriculum
Content Standards and is intended to focus on participatory design by
students for the creation of an outdoor classroom. Participants will
receive both Homes for Wildlife and Project WILD Activity Guides. High
school teachers will receive PW's Science & Civics. The fee is $15.

Professional Development Credit: 5
Open to any interested individual. Breakfast is provided. Bring lunch.
To register, contact Liz Jackson at (908) 637-4125 or send an email to
ejac...@dep.state.nj.us

* * *

Liz Jackson
Public Information Assistant
NJ DEP Division of Fish & Wildlife
(908) 637-4125

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Phil Reynolds - Editor - reyn...@gsenet.org
Ivan Kossak - Executive Director - kos...@gsenet.org

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Back issues of the Garden State EnviroNews are available at
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/11gsn.php

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

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