New Fund to Support Delaware Watershed Conservation

The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund will accelerate restoration and conservation of wildlife habitat across the Delaware River watershed while supporting local communities

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced the launch of the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund (DWCF), a competitive grant and technical assistance program of $4.3 million that will provide new support for the protection, restoration and conservation of fish and wildlife habitats in the Delaware River Watershed, which provides drinking water for more than 15 million people.

Congress provided funds to the FWS in fiscal year 2018 to leverage public and private funding to support the environmental and economic health of the Delaware River Watershed for boots-on-the-ground conservation projects — as outlined in the Delaware River Basin Restoration Partnership and Program Framework.

Covering 13,539 square miles of land and water, the Delaware River Watershed is home to native brook trout, red knots, river herring, freshwater mussels, oysters and other wildlife. Headwaters and streams located in rural, forested and agricultural areas play a major role in the entire ecosystem, as do urban and suburban waterways such as those in Trenton, Philadelphia, and Wilmington. 

“We are pleased to be partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to launch this conservation grant program in the Delaware River Basin that will improve the natural environment, economic health and quality of life for all citizens in the watershed,” said Wendi Weber, northeast regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Work supported by the DWCF will take place in a variety of landscapes and habitats across the Delaware River Watershed, from the beaches and tidal salt marshes of the Delaware Bay to the farms, cities, and towns of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, to the cold-water rivers and streams of New York.

The DWCF will expand and further facilitate restoration and conservation efforts in the basin to:
  • Restore and conserve fish and wildlife habitat
  • Improve and maintain water quality for fish, wildlife, and people
  • Manage water volume and improve flood damage mitigation for fish and wildlife habitat
  • Improve recreational opportunities consistent with ecological needs



New Fund to Support Delaware Watershed Conservation Read More »

How to make sense of Trump tweets on California wildfire

 0:52
This California wildfire is almost the size of L.A.
The Mendocino Complex Fire has burned 454 square miles of Northern California as of Aug. 6.(Patrick Martin /The Washington Post)


Dino Grandoni reports for The Energy 202 blog:

Between tweets about immigration and the economy, President Trump finally weighed in on the devastating forest fires ravaging California this summer.
But Trump did not have a word for the residents who lost their homes or firefighters who lost their lives. Instead, he wanted to talk about water politics in California, launching a series of tweets that baffled water experts and ignored the role climate change has played in exacerbating wildfires in the arid American West.
On Sunday, Trump blamed unnamed laws for worsening the wildfires. He reasoned “California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!”
He followed up with a Twitter message Monday faulting the state’s Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, for not providing enough water to fight the fires. That tweet came just a day after the president fulfilled the governor’s request to declare the Carr Fire near Redding a “major disaster,” allowing federal disaster dollars for housing and food aid to flow to the region.

Donald J. Trump


✔@realDonaldTrump


Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water – Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.
1:43 PM – Aug 6, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The tweets are perplexing in a number of ways. Indeed, years of drought have dried out California’s woodlands, making forests there more susceptible to wildfires. But the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says it has more than enough water to fight the blazes. “We’re having no issues with water supplies,” said Scott McLean, a deputy chief with the agency said.
In fact, some of the largest of the 17 wildfires in the state are burning near some of its largest lakes. Reservoirs like Trinity and Shasta lakes supply water for fighting the Carr Fire. And the Mendocino Complex Fire, now the largest wildfire on record in California, to the south is right on Clear Lake.
And dousing flames with water is only one way state and federal governments extinguish forest fires. Firefighters also deploy chemical fire retardants and clear lines of vegetation to contain blazes.
“I don’t understand it,” McLean added when asked about Trump’s tweets. “I was surprised like everybody else.”

Trump’s tweets demonstrate a misunderstanding about not only how fires are fought but about how rivers flow. California does divert water from its rivers, as Trump suggests — but not into the Pacific. As the state’s population has grown, its residents have redirected water to cities for drinking and to farmlands for irrigating. The water that remains in California’s rivers still does what it had always done — flow from their headwaters at higher elevations down into the ocean.
And Trump does not mention how a change actually occurring in California — high temperatures due to man-made warming worldwide in the atmosphere — are drying out forests and, as the Interior Department put it in a 2016 report, creating “a longer wildfire season with more intense wildfires.”

How to make sense of Trump tweets on California wildfire Read More »

Here’s some good news for all you lighthouse fans















Chris Franklin reports for NJ.com

The second oldest lighthouse in the state — dangerously exposed to elements along the Delaware Bay —  received some help by way of a nonprofit organization. And it was just in time for National Lighthouse Day.

The New Jersey Conservation Foundation recently sold 8.8 acres of land to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to provide additional access and protection for the lighthouse, which is more than 150 years old.

The land will become part of the Heislerville Wildlife Management Area, which is where the lighthouse is located, adjacent to the Delaware Bay in Maurice River. The sale price was a “bargain” price of $8,668, according to the foundation.

“East Point Lighthouse is a valuable cultural resource, and we are grateful to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation for partnering with the NJDEP as we explore long-term solutions that will protect the structure,” NJDEP Assistant Commissioner for Natural and Historic Resources Ray Bukowski said in a statement.

The lighthouse, built in 1849, has survived a fire, but weather-related issues from a number of storms in recent years have caused a significant amount of erosion. State, county, township and lighthouse officials are looking at ways to protect the lighthouse from damage and to keep the lighthouse open for years to come.

Here’s some good news for all you lighthouse fans Read More »

Will third roll pay off for wind energy off Atlantic City?

Turned down twice for being too costly, small clean-energy project is proposed once again for three miles off Jersey Shore

Wind power worker

Tom Johnson reports
for NJ Spotlight:


Once again, the state is being asked to approve a small offshore-wind pilot project a few miles from Atlantic City.
In an application submitted last week, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is being asked to authorize a 25-megawatt demonstration project about three miles offshore of the resort town, a version of the project the state agency rejected as too costly on two previous occasions.
The latest proposal, submitted by EDF Renewables North America and Fishermen’s Energy, is vying to become the first offshore-wind farm in New Jersey, a project that would provide insight to the state as it moves to develop the nation’s largest offshore-wind industry.
The Murphy administration has committed to building 3,500 megawatts of offshore-wind capacity, the most aggressive goal of any state, and the proposal, dubbed the Nautilus Offshore Wind Project, could give a jump start to those efforts.
The application shows substantial net benefits to the state at low cost to New Jersey electric consumers — who will bear the costs — according to a press release issued by the developers, EDF Renewables North America and Fishermen’s Energy.

Cost of ‘a small cup of coffee’ for ratepayers

But Doug Copeland, regional development manager for EDF, declined to say what the project will cost overall nor its specific impact on ratepayers. “We are estimating it will cost a small cup of coffee,’’ he said.
Under legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law earlier this spring, the BPU has 90 days to review the project. If it’s approved within that time, the developer will qualify for a more lucrative investment tax credit of 18 percent, according to Copeland. Offshore-wind developers hoping to build farther offshore hope to qualify for a 12 percent investment tax credit if they win approval next year.
The pilot proposal has long been pushed by lawmakers and some environmentalists as a demonstration of the benefits to the state of local investment, job opportunities, and offshore-wind development.
But with other large new offshore-wind projects vying to build off the coast, some clean-energy advocates argue a pilot is no longer necessary given the offshore-wind farms long operating off the coasts of Europe and elsewhere, as well as the first project in the U.S. near Block Island.

Will third roll pay off for wind energy off Atlantic City? Read More »

Which NJ counties have preserved the most farmland?

Bill Gallo reports for NJ.com:

There’s one sure-fire way to slow development in New Jersey — saving the land we have left.

A few counties in New Jersey figured that out early on and have made a mission out of preserving farmland. Between July 1,2017 and June 30, 2018, our state saw more than 5,800 acres of farmland saved from future development.

According to the New Jersey State Agriculture Development Committee, the state’s total of preserved farmland had risen to 232,500 acres by June 30, 2018. 

Through its program, the state buys the development rights for the farmland from the owner.

Five counties saw no additional acres go into the preservation program in the last fiscal year. Those counties were Passaic, Bergen, Camden, Ocean, and Atlantic.

Three counties in New Jersey have no preserved farmland
at all. They are Essex, Hudson, and Union counties.
Click here to read which are the counties with the most
preserved farmland.
Like this? Click to receive free updates

Which NJ counties have preserved the most farmland? Read More »