'No-growth area asked around watershed Environmentalists seek to protect Pequannock Thursday, October 20, 2005 BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE Star-Ledger Staff A coalition of environmental groups has asked the state Highlands Council to consider designating a 70-square-mile "no-growth area" for much of the Pequannock River watershed in Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties.
Ross Kushner, executive director of the Pequannock River Coalition, has presented the council with a petition signed by a host of groups, including the Sierra Club, New Jersey Audubon, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs and the Passaic River Coalition, among 18 signatories to the document.
The goal is to have the council consider the request when it creates a master plan for the entire Highlands region, a task that is supposed to be completed by next summer.
Environmental groups contend each new building, road and parking lot constructed in the watershed causes a steady reduction in groundwater recharge and a subsequent drop in river flows during critical summer months.
"The Pequannock is a category one waterway, important for water supply, fisheries, wildlife and recreation," said Kushner. "Continued degradation threatens the watershed and undermines the very purpose of the Highlands Act."
The Pequannock River, a category one, or highest-quality waterway, has its headwaters on Hamburg Mountain in Sussex County and its drainage covers parts of Vernon, Hardyston, West Milford, Jefferson, Rockaway Township, Kinnelon, Pequannock and Bloomingdale.
The watershed provides water supplies to more than a half-million people and serves as a refuge for a host of wildlife from otters and eagles to bears and bobcats.
Proponents of a no-growth designation say the river has been harmed by insufficient water flows and the watershed has been threatened by development.
In addition to limits on development, the environmental contingent also want limits placed on Newark's water withdrawals from the Pequannock River. The city and the Pequannock River Coalition have been battling over an alleged lack of water released from Newark's reservoirs into the Pequannock, which flows through the city's watershed.
Kushner has documented the low flows and resultant increase in water temperatures that threaten the health of the river.
"Protection of a category one waterway will not mean much if the river is allowed to go dry," said William O'Hearn, executive director of the Highlands Coalition, which signed the petition to the Highlands Council.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has been negotiating with Newark to find a solution to the problem. Newark officials have declined to discuss the matter.
Lawrence Ragonese can be reached at lragonese@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.
Perhaps a silly question on the above but is 140 GPR within the portion of Rockaway Twp that would be considered to be a "no growth area" under this proposal?
Not a silly question, and it is covered. Now they are probably asking for a bit here, but it does keep the seriousness of environmental impacts on our region in the spotlight.
Thanks for the clarification. I noticed that the article appeared in the Star Ledger. I assume that the story was not deemed to be sufficiently newsworthy to get some ink in the Daily Record.
