July 21, 2022

Enroll in a New Stewardship Program for a Healthy Bay

by S-FX.com

Phyllis-Ds-yard jfy jersey friendly yards

The Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) invites residents, schools, and municipalities in the Barnegat Bay watershed to enroll in a new environmental stewardship program. The Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program guides property owners in the best landscaping practices for a healthy environment and recognizes them as protectors of the bay.

Most of the water pollution in the Barnegat Bay is coming from its watershed — the land areas and rivers and creeks that drain into the bay. Participants in the Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program will learn how to use land stewardship practices to reduce sources of pollution, conserve water supplies, and create valuable habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife in their yards. The Jersey-Friendly Yards website provides comprehensive resources and online tools for participants to use to achieve certification.

The BBP received a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to develop this exciting new Certification Program in partnership with the Ocean County Soil Conservation District.

Residents, Schools, and Municipalities Can Get Certified

There are three separate certification tracks – one for Residents, one for Schools, and one for Municipalities – which are designed to complement each other from the individual to community level. Any resident, school, or municipality located within the Barnegat Bay watershed can enroll in a program. All 33 municipalities in Ocean County and portions of four Monmouth County municipalities (Millstone, Freehold, Howell, and Wall) lie within the watershed.

Feature Residents1

In the Resident Program, participants complete a checklist of environmentally-friendly landscaping practices that they use in their yards. Once they reach score of 30 on the checklist, they submit photos of their Jersey-Friendly practices to achieve certification.

Feature Landscaping Schools

In the School Program, students learn about the importance of a healthy watershed and clean water through lessons and activities based on the 8 Steps to a Jersey-Friendly Yard. Then, they apply what they have learned by installing a Jersey-Friendly school garden or landscape project.

Feature Landscaping Municipal

In the Municipal Program, participating towns complete a series of Actions and Projects on municipal property based on the 8 Steps to a Jersey-Friendly Yard. They also educate their community about how to landscape for a healthy environment and bay.

Certification Benefits

The many benefits to becoming certified include a healthy yard for people and wildlife, cost savings by using low-maintenance land care practices, cleaner water and a healthier environment for the entire community, the opportunity to be a local leader in environmental stewardship, and recognition for achieving certification.

Learn more and enroll in a program here. Your voluntary actions as a program participant and land steward will contribute to cleaner water and a healthier environment for everyone who lives, works, and plays in the Barnegat Bay watershed!

If you have questions, please email Karen Walzer, BBP Public Outreach Coordinator, at kwalzer@ocean.edu.

Explore More Insights from Barnegat Bay

Dive deeper into the ongoing efforts to protect and restore our environment with more updates and initiatives that you can take part in. Check out our latest blog posts for valuable tips and insights.

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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.

 

Enroll in a New Stewardship Program for a Healthy Bay

The Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) invites residents, schools, and municipalities in the Barnegat Bay watershed to enroll in a new environmental stewardship program. The Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program guides property owners in the best landscaping practices for a healthy environment and recognizes them as protectors of the bay.

Most of the water pollution in the Barnegat Bay is coming from its watershed — the land areas and rivers and creeks that drain into the bay. Participants in the Jersey-Friendly Yards Certification Program will learn how to use land stewardship practices to reduce sources of pollution, conserve water supplies, and create valuable habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife in their yards. The Jersey-Friendly Yards website provides comprehensive resources and online tools for participants to use to achieve certification.

The BBP received a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to develop this exciting new Certification Program in partnership with the Ocean County Soil Conservation District.

Residents, Schools, and Municipalities Can Get Certified

There are three separate certification tracks – one for Residents, one for Schools, and one for Municipalities – which are designed to complement each other from the individual to community level. Any resident, school, or municipality located within the Barnegat Bay watershed can enroll in a program. All 33 municipalities in Ocean County and portions of four Monmouth County municipalities (Millstone, Freehold, Howell, and Wall) lie within the watershed.

Feature Residents1

In the Resident Program, participants complete a checklist of environmentally-friendly landscaping practices that they use in their yards. Once they reach score of 30 on the checklist, they submit photos of their Jersey-Friendly practices to achieve certification.

Feature Landscaping Schools

In the School Program, students learn about the importance of a healthy watershed and clean water through lessons and activities based on the 8 Steps to a Jersey-Friendly Yard. Then, they apply what they have learned by installing a Jersey-Friendly school garden or landscape project.

Feature Landscaping Municipal

In the Municipal Program, participating towns complete a series of Actions and Projects on municipal property based on the 8 Steps to a Jersey-Friendly Yard. They also educate their community about how to landscape for a healthy environment and bay.

Certification Benefits

The many benefits to becoming certified include a healthy yard for people and wildlife, cost savings by using low-maintenance land care practices, cleaner water and a healthier environment for the entire community, the opportunity to be a local leader in environmental stewardship, and recognition for achieving certification.

Learn more and enroll in a program here. Your voluntary actions as a program participant and land steward will contribute to cleaner water and a healthier environment for everyone who lives, works, and plays in the Barnegat Bay watershed!

If you have questions, please email Karen Walzer, BBP Public Outreach Coordinator, at kwalzer@ocean.edu.

Contact Enroll in a New Stewardship Program for a Healthy BayContact Enroll in a New Stewardship Program for a Healthy Bay
Phyllis-Ds-yard jfy jersey friendly yards