http://www.njtu.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/EBTJV_MA_5-10.pdf

Congratulations to all charter members in what promises to be a very effective chapter located in prime NJ trout country! With rivers like the Musconetcong, Pohatcong, Pequest, Paulinskill and many other smaller streams, there will not be a lack of conservation projects for the newest TU chapter. This chapter also inherits two TIC programs, both in Warren County, with the possibility of additional programs during the next school year in September. If you are looking for a new TU chapter and live in western New Jersey, please come out on May 20th to the Pequest Hatchery.

The Beattys have been wonderful stewards of this property and have long been working on conservation of their land.

Several individuals have expressed interest in helping to form and run the new chapter which will be named at a later date. TU already has conservation projects under the Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative as well as new TIC programs in the area slated to begin in September. The new chapter would certainly have an excellent head start on many new chapters that form around the country! Please consider attending our initial meeting on April the 15th.

· What? TU and the Musconetcong Watershed Association are spearheading our annual river clean up around Earth Day celebrations.

· Who? TU volunteers, friends, neighbors, Scouts, church groups, all are welcome to help out! We had more than 400 volunteers last year and aim for 500 this year.

· When? Saturday, April 17th 9am – noon

· Where? 1) North/upper watershed: San Bar Park/Alumni Field in Hackettstown which is off Willow Ave. about 250 yards north on Willow from main street/route 46. Turn off rt. 46 onto Willow just before the intersection of routes 46 and 182 (if traveling East) and just after that intersection if traveling West. 2) Middle river: Hampton Boro Park and please contact either Brian Cowden (brianmag@optonline.net) or our Central Jersey TU chapter which oversees efforts in this section of the watershed along with the MWA. 3) Lower River: Warren Glen Paper Mill at junction of routes 519 and 627/639. TU volunteers work down to the main Delaware River from this meeting location. Contact Brian Cowden as above and you will be coordinated with members of our E. Schwiebert chapter.

· What do I need to do to get involved? Just show up with old clothes and waders (if you have them) along with a pair of gloves and we will supply the garbage bags. Email Brian Cowden (brianmag@optonline.net) or sign up at the March chapter meeting. Or just show up on the 17th of April.

Thanks – Brian Cowden

Brian Cowden – Trout Unlimited

Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative Coordinator
www.tu.org
www.njtu.org
201-230-3383
bcowden@njtu.org

F. Greek Development withdrawing proposal for Franklin Township, Warren County, truck transfer station
By Stephen J. Novak
March 01, 2010, 3:14PM
Truck DepotView full sizeExpress-Times File Photo | BRUCE WINTERSome Franklin Township residents have voiced their objections since October to a proposed truck depot. The developer said today it is withdrawing its application for economic reasons.The developer is withdrawing an application for a controversial truck transfer station that was proposed near Interstate 78 in Franklin Township, Warren County, according to a letter received today by the township.

“Unfortunately, given the current economic climate, the uncertainty of the pace of the economic recovery and the factors discussed (in the letter), the project simply does not make financial sense at the present time,” said the correspondence from F. Greek Development, based in East Brunswick, N.J.

The request to withdraw comes just two days before the second scheduled hearing before the Franklin Township Land Use Board. The first hearing took place in the township elementary school to try to accommodate the 300-plus residents and interested parties who attended.

Individuals and the opposition group Skylands Preservation Alliance began attending land use board meetings in October to voice displeasure with the proposal, before the application was even complete. The developer said in the letter the opposition did not play a role in its decision to withdraw.

“We are confident that the project would be a substantial asset to the township and would have warranted the grant of an approval by the land use board,” the letter said. “We are equally confident that we would have been successful in any litigation brought by objectors challenging an approval.”

The letter listed several costs associated with the project, including an “unanticipated” $1 million cost to upgrade electrical services to the site, and an additional cost for extending a gas pipeline to serve the property, as well as other various uncertainties.

The project would have put 1.4 million square feet of warehouse and office space on a 191-acre site off Bloomsbury Road, near I-78, if it had been approved. It also was anticipated to create more than 600 jobs.

“It never got to go through the whole process,” said Franklin Township Mayor Mark Blaszka. “This would have been a nice application to see what’s viable and what’s not.”

We need volunteers to attend regularly scheduled Land Use Board meetings at Franklin township (Warren County) currently held at the Franklin Twp. Elementary School a short distance off rt. 57 west, just past Washington Township on the 1st Wednesday of each month to help fight a proposed truck depot to be built near the banks of the Musconetcong River, sandwiched between two C-1 tributaries to the Musky. The project, formerly known as the Bloomsbury Industrial Park, would allow for the building of more than 33 acres under roof with an additional 44 acres of asphalt which would cause warming of the river, increased runoff of sediment into the river, create urban sprawl, and destroy one of New Jersey’s last remaining rural, farming valleys in the Highlands region. TU has invested heavily into the river and its associated watershed over the years culminating in the current Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative, a watershed based protection and restoration effort spearheaded by a national staff person in our Coordinator, Brian Cowden, and involving the NJTU state council and volunteers from all 9 current NJ chapters.

It is critical that our members show each month and be seen as opposing this project.

The goal of the school is to foster a knowledge and appreciation of coldwater habitats using a variety of hands-on activities and interactive learning methods that teach the benefit of coldwater habitats. The Coldwater Conservation School will give students the hands-on knowledge about how to care for the coldwater habitat that the trout need for survival.

The inaugural session of the school will be held at the NJ School of Conservation in Stokes State Forest, June 24-27, 2010. Check-in is at 12:00 noon on June 24, with student pick-up at 12:00 noon on June 27. Cost is $150.00 per student and includes food, lodging and equipment.

Students must be 11 – 15 years old in order to participate.

For more information contact:

Jessica Griglak
NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife
605 Pequest Rd.
Oxford, NJ 07863
908-637-6239 or
908-637-4125
Jessica.Griglak@dep.state.nj.us

This proposed truck depot and transfer station will provide precious few jobs while imperiling the river with a total impervious surface under roof and asphalt to exceed 1.77 million square feet. This site is a short distance from where route 78 crosses over the Musky above Bloomsbury. We are asking TU members to attend the Feb. 3rd mtg. at the Franklin Township Elementary School which is located at 52 Asbury Broadway Rd (county rd. 643) which is a short distance off rt. 57 west of the rt. 57 and rt. 31 interchange in Washington (Warren County). Please were clothing that identifies you as a concerned angler that spends time and money fishing in the watershed!

Imagine a local farmer driving his John Deer tractor down the local road while hundreds of loaded tractor trailers each day are speeding past him on once quiet country roads….

Franklin township’s slogan is “a clean, agricultural community”. Let’s fight to keep it that way and to protect the Musconetcong river valley from becoming the last river to be fully developed!

Brian