Hackensack RIVERKEEPER Captain Bill Sheehan Whatever naturalist or

Hackensack ® RIVERKEEPER Captain Bill Sheehan

“Whatever naturalist or conservationist is the director, I would like to see him out on the river the length of the year, nailing polluters on the spot, telling highwaymen they cannot build their road here but over there, talking to school children, telling anglers where the striped bass or sturgeon are running—in essence, giving a sense of time, place and purpose to people that live in or visit the valley. ” - Robert H. Boyle, The Hudson River, 1969

“Whatever naturalist or conservationist is the director, I would like to see him out on the river the length of the year, nailing polluters on the spot, telling highwaymen they cannot build From New City, New York to their road here but over there, talking to school Newark New Jersey children, Bay, telling anglers where the striped bass Hackensack is essence, giving a or sturgeon. Riverkeeper are running—in the sense leading environmental of time, place and purpose to people organization working on the valley. ” that live in or visit - Robert H. Boyle, The Hudson River, 1969 Hackensack River issues.

Hackensack 1997 Volunteer Riverkeeper Three person board Mailing list of 100 people No Infrastructure Total startup budget $600 ® RIVERKEEPER 2006 Five FTE’s, five seasonal staff 11 Trustees & six advisors 10, 000 person mailing list Own 2 buildings, 32 boats, 5 boat trailers & 2 vehicles Annual budget ~ $400 k

Pollution Hackensack RIVERKEEPER® Pollution Land Use Recreation

Pollution Challenges n Strategies Achievements Historic Abuse n Heavy Industry, Chemical Mfg. , Gas Mfg. n Chromium n PCB n DDT n Dioxin n Heavy Metals

Pollution Challenges Strategies Achievements Encourage local, state & federal gov’t to force the responsible parties to clean up the historic contamination Educate the public Litigate, Litigate

Pollution Challenges Strategies Achievements n Conducted numerous workshops regarding municipal stormwater and runoff n Phase 2 municipal stormwater regulations adopted n Honeywell n Standard Chlorine n New York Susquehanna & Western RR

Land Pollution Use Pollution Hackensack RIVERKEEPER® Land Use Recreation

Land Use Challenges n n n Strategies Achievements Improper zoning of river front property Filling wetlands Destruction of watershed forests for development Transportation infrastructure fragmenting wetlands and other important habitats Impervious Cover Combined Sewer Systems in older cities

Land Use Challenges Strategies Achievements Educate citizens regarding their rights under the public trust doctrine Work with local, county and state agencies to correct planning and zoning problems and proactively help to create new master plans Demand that the state applies the highest protection under the Clean Water Act to our drinking water supply Work with all parties to develop plans for elimination of all Combined Sewer Systems

Land Use Challenges Strategies Achievements n Conducted workshops for municipal officials regarding the benefits of open space acquisition n Worked with a coalition to establish open space trust funds in both Bergen and Hudson Counties n Worked with the state legislature to create the Meadowlands Conservation Trust n Convinced state administration to reclassify entire water supply watershed as category 1 n Initialized the revocation of Combined Sewer permits replaced by Combined Sewer elimination permits n New Meadowlands Master Plan rezoning 8, 400 acres of wetlands as open space

Land Use Recreation Land Use Hackensack RIVERKEEPER® Pollution Recreation

Recreation Challenges Strategies Achievements n Lack of public access to the river n Cultural disconnect of watershed residents n Contamination of aquatic food chain n Overcoming preconceived notions of pollution levels

Recreation Challenges n Strategies Achievements Eco-Programs n Eco-Cruises, Paddling Center, Eco-Walks, River Cleanups n Encourage the establishment of a pedestrian path and water trail n Advocate for the creation of riverfront parks, boat ramps and marinas

Recreation Challenges n n Strategies Achievements 17 Eco-Program miles of riverfront pedestrian walkways Statistics (since 2001) in place, under construction or in the planning Eco-Cruises 16, 800 Passengers stage Hackensack River Water Trail Action Plan Paddling Center 5, 250 Paddlers Sponsored NYNJERCKS 3 -day source to bay paddling event Eco-Walks 3, 460 Participants Laurel Hill Park, Mill Creek Point Park & River Barge Park and Marina 2, 000 River Cleanups Volunteers

Recreation Recreatio Hackensack RIVERKEEPER® Pollution Land Use

Hackensack RIVERKEEPER® Land Use vigilant. Recreation “We. Pollution have to remain constantly to prevent raids by those who would selfishly exploit our common heritage for their private gain. Such raids on our natural resources are not examples of enterprise and initiative. They are attempts to take from all the people for the benefit of a few. ” President Harry S Truman, December 1948