Friends of Sparta Mountain Update
March 12th 2017
What's Happened Since the January 26th Town Hall Event? & Current Events (See Below)
Senator Lesniak came to our January 26th town hall and promised to help our cause. He promised to help stop private interests from monetizing our public open spaces and he has done just that! In Trenton, on February 27th, he announced two bills. The first bill S3043, removes the exemption of commercial logging in the Highlands and the Pinelands on public lands. The second bill S3044, would codify the DEP's Landscape Project for species that are of special concern (rare, threatened, or endangered) by incorporating it into the DEP's current Natural Heritage Program. The Landscape Project was originally started in 1994 by the DEP's Endangered and Nongame Species Program as a proactive, ecosystem-level approach for the long term protection of imperiled species and their habitats. We need your support. Please call and write your elected officials to support these two bills. Also, we need to thank Senators Lesniak and Bateman and Assemblyman John McKeon .
We need these bills. The current "Forest Stewardship Plans" proposed for Sparta Mountain and for other lands have been written by private foresters who are not NJDEP employees. The agenda of some of these foresters and private organizations promoting these logging plans, is to restart a timber industry on YOUR public lands by promoting "The Young Forest Initiative". NJ is the most densely populated state and we just can not lose our forests/watersheds which were protected "in perpetuity" and in the Public Trust.
Here are some other serious flaws of these logging plans:
-No environmental impact assessments were performed
-No baseline studies/surveys were performed
-The Natural Heritage Priority Sites and Data are being ignored
-No invasive plant monitoring is budgeted or taking place
-No remediation budget has been planned
-No enforcement of regulations-violations have already occurred!
Just to list a few... So you see why we need NEW legislation to protect NJ's natural resources and our drinking water in the Highlands and the Pinelands!
In the Senate the bills are S3043 and S3044 and are pending before the body's Environment and Energy Committee. In the Assembly, the two bills A4646 and A4647 have been referred to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Please Call Senator Lesniak at (908) 327-9119 Elizabeth office
Senator Bateman at (908) 526-3600
Assemblyman McKeon (973) 377-1606 Ext. 10
And THANK THEM for their support of NJ's natural resources and drinking water in the Highlands. 70% of the state gets their drinking water from the forests of the Highlands region (6.2 M residents)!
Please encourage Senator Steve Oroho, Assemblyman Parker Space, Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus and Senator Bob Smith to support these 2 two bills. Call them today and tell them we do not want further logging on Sparta Mountain and we want them to support bills S3043, S3044 and A4646, A4647. Thank you!
Oroho/Space office is (973) 300-0200
Gail Phoebus office is (973) 726-4266
Bob Smith's office is (732) 752-0770
Enter them and See them here: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillsByNumber.asp
Please Help Us to Raise Funds to do Spring Bird Studies on Sparta Mountain
With the springtime soon around the corner we need to raise funds for a comprehensive bird study of Sparta Mountain (not just NJ Audubon/NJDEP "drive by"). The bird study will be conducted by Eastern Conservation Associates. We are fortunate to have an anonymous donor that will help us donate half of the cost, or $1250 of the $2500 cost . Please consider a donation to this very important cause. In addition, we will need future funds to pay for more road signs, a billboard and other educational events.
We are able to accept donations thru the NJ Highlands Coalition at the below link or call them at (973) 588-7190. It is important to note that you must state your donation will be going to the "Friends of Sparta Mountain" or "FOSM". This donation is 100% tax deductible. As an extra bonus, you will become a member of the NJ Highlands Coalition. Thank you for your support!
Here's the link:
http://www.njhighlandscoalition.org/HTML/join_contribute.html
And in the Memo section please put FOSM or "Friends of Sparta Mountain"
Private logging continues locally in Sussex county and around us.
With all the press on logging of our public spaces, don't forget that there are several private property logging projects happening in areas near the Sparta Wildlife Management Area. Over by Lake Gerard there is a 14 acre clear cut, or as the foresters like to call it to soften the terminology, "modified- seed tree harvest" for the purported creation of Golden-Winged Warbler habitat. This is happening in an area right next to a marshland/wetland complex. Let's hope the soils can hold up and there are no issues with soil failure or increases in sedimentation for the residents of Lake Gerard.
The 2nd area is the Morris Lake timber harvest (23.5 total acres) over on Newton Water Commission's watershed property (11.5 acres are being clear cut) The other 12 acre "shelter-wood" cut involves taking most of the larger more valuable trees leaving just a few small ones. This is private property on the watershed. Our group went to both the Sparta and Newton towns to inform them of our concerns. This area is in the Natural Heritage Priority Site and there are present, federally listed endangered species, like the Indiana Bat. Yet, they are still able to clear cut the area as they are exempted from any regulations. Crazy, right?
This is why we need new legislation! We also need further protection for our drinking water in the Highlands as 6.2M NJ residents get their water from the Highlands region.
In February, there were several meetings held by NRCS and the NJ Audubon Society (Not a chapter of the National Audubon society) in our local area to encourage private landowners to participate in clear-cutting their land for the purported benefit of the GWW (a bird who winters in Central America and summers mainly in Minnesota)
With all this emphasis on logging private, public and watershed lands, what is the cumulative effect of fragmentation in the region? No one seems to be looking into this and we should be concerned...don't you think?
Below is the info on the Morris Lake Timber Harvest project that was started on March 6th 2017. Please note on page 38 the summary where the total number of trees harvested is calculated. Over 1400+ Trees - Quite astonishing isn't ?!
Here are the links to the meeting notes – the first is the “plan” start at page 29-43
http://newtontownhall.com/Archive/ViewFile/Item/1787
And the 2nd is the actual bid specs and the first item of business is the resolution to award the bid. ( bid starts at page 6)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4HoEhkulP5vSnZ5d3lLV0ZfbmM
For More Info
Did you miss the amazing January 26th townhall panel of experts?
You can watch it on our website at www.savespartamountain.org
and our FB page ( look for Jan 27th post)
Need to get contact us or you want to get involved?
Leave a message at (201) 651-1375
Need a road sign? Email us or call us.
Email us at info@friendsofspartamountain.org
For up to date daily updates and news...Follow us on FB at https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfSpartaMountain/
Email: friendsofspartamountain@gmail.com
Website: www.savespartamountain.org
Location: Sparta, New Jersey, United States
Phone: (201) 651-1375
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfSpartaMountain/
Twitter: @FSpartamtn
Listen and watch Senator Lesniak announce the 2 bills that were introduced on Feb 27th in Trenton
Feb 27th press conference in Trenton with Senator Lesniak
Please help us to raise funds to do a comprehensive bird survey.
Morris Lake private logging campaign started March 6th
or the Friends of Sparta Mountain. Thank You!