June 9, 2017

Berkley Township Turns Out for Barnegat Bay Blitz

by S-FX.com

blitz

By Mayor Carmen Amato, Berkeley Township

The annual Barnegat Bay Blitz was held this week, with two clean-up sites in Berkeley Township.

A very special “Thank you” to you Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin who joined Mayor Carmen Amato and Councilwoman Sophia Attanasio Papa Gingrich at our Holiday City location to help pick up debris and help beautify the area.

Over in the Good Luck Point section of town, corporate volunteers from Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC volunteered their time today to help clean up the lots that were still littered with debris, mainly left over from Superstorm Sandy.

According to Rachel Host, a Program Specialist with the NJDEP, the Barnegat Bay Blitz, “is a DEP initiative to get people out into the community. There is still garbage in the wetlands that needs to be picked up.”

Berkeley Township Sanitation Director, Mark Vannella stated, “These ongoing clean-up projects are important. In some areas of Good Luck Point, the weeds were overgrown, there are swampy areas, and you just couldn’t see the garbage that floated down the streets due to flooding from Sandy. The Township already pulled out a lot of garbage since Sandy, but the residents really helped out over the last three years and hopefully we’re seeing the last of the garbage.”

The volunteers from Bridgestone even managed to pull out an old Jet ski that sat idle.

The initial clean-up from residents was inspired by Caroline Essington, a friend of one of the Good Luck Point residents. The area and homes were badly damaged from the hurricane and it became an eyesore. The residents were motivated to start pitching in and help one another move wood, garbage and debris from neighbors’ homes.

For the Blitz, Berkeley Township donated garbage bags, gloves, grippers, a garbage truck and lots of man-power to help the Barnegat Bay Blitz volunteers.

Source: Shore News Network

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UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

Berkley Township Turns Out for Barnegat Bay Blitz

By Mayor Carmen Amato, Berkeley Township

The annual Barnegat Bay Blitz was held this week, with two clean-up sites in Berkeley Township.

A very special “Thank you” to you Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin who joined Mayor Carmen Amato and Councilwoman Sophia Attanasio Papa Gingrich at our Holiday City location to help pick up debris and help beautify the area.

Over in the Good Luck Point section of town, corporate volunteers from Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC volunteered their time today to help clean up the lots that were still littered with debris, mainly left over from Superstorm Sandy.

According to Rachel Host, a Program Specialist with the NJDEP, the Barnegat Bay Blitz, “is a DEP initiative to get people out into the community. There is still garbage in the wetlands that needs to be picked up.”

Berkeley Township Sanitation Director, Mark Vannella stated, “These ongoing clean-up projects are important. In some areas of Good Luck Point, the weeds were overgrown, there are swampy areas, and you just couldn’t see the garbage that floated down the streets due to flooding from Sandy. The Township already pulled out a lot of garbage since Sandy, but the residents really helped out over the last three years and hopefully we’re seeing the last of the garbage.”

The volunteers from Bridgestone even managed to pull out an old Jet ski that sat idle.

The initial clean-up from residents was inspired by Caroline Essington, a friend of one of the Good Luck Point residents. The area and homes were badly damaged from the hurricane and it became an eyesore. The residents were motivated to start pitching in and help one another move wood, garbage and debris from neighbors’ homes.

For the Blitz, Berkeley Township donated garbage bags, gloves, grippers, a garbage truck and lots of man-power to help the Barnegat Bay Blitz volunteers.

Source: Shore News Network

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