Partners
With the collective intelligence and resources of its
Partners, the RRWIC is poised to address its watershed management
work plan at a level of expertise that is seldom assembled. Its
partner organizations share local, state, regional and nationally
significant reputations, and their collective memberships number
over one million individuals – with constituent service
delivery to over 14 million people through community based planning,
recreational opportunities, water delivery, infrastucture design
and maintenance, job provision, research, outreach and education. Taken
as a group, the partners’ concerted efforts on behalf of
the natural environment total an historic record of more
than 400 collective years of continuous institutional success.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission
Phone:
(845) 786-2701
The
Palisades Interstate Park Commission is among the oldest and
most successful public/private partnerships in the nation.
A federally chartered bi-state system with jurisdiction over
24 state parks and eight historic sites, the Commission is
comprised of five commissioners from New York and five commissioners
from New Jersey, each appointed by that state's governor to
staggered five-year terms. Preservation, education, and recreation
form the core of the Commission's services. Since its inception
in 1900, more than 100,000 acres of forest, wildlife habitats, and cultural
resources in New York and New Jersey have been entrusted to us. We greet more
than nine million visitors each year.
Located in
northeastern Bergen County, New Jersey, the New Jersey Section
of the Palisades Interstate Park is part of the more than 100 thousand acres
of parklands and historic sites maintained by the Palisades Interstate
Park Commission. The
land in the New Jersey Section was the first that the Commission
acquired after its creation in 1900 by the states of New York and New Jersey.
The Commission had been formed to prevent the defacement of the famous Palisades
of the Hudson by a handful of large stone quarries then in operation. In
New York, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission operates
the following State Parks and Historic Sites in the Palisades Region for the New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.
North Jersey District Water Supply Commission
www.njdwsc.com
The
North Jersey District Water Supply Commission (NJDWSC) was
established in 1916 by the New Jersey State Legislature to
develop, acquire, and operate water supply resources for municipalities
in the “North Jersey
District” defined as the 12 northernmost counties of
the state. Today,
the Commission oversees the operation of the larges water supply
operation in the State of New Jersey, including more than 95-square-miles
of watershed area, two major reservoirs, two river-diversion
pumping stations, and a 210-million gallon/day (MGC) water
filtration plant. At peak capacity, the NJDWSC’s
facilities can supply over 200-MGD of water to its contraction
municipalities, thereby serving the water needs of more than
2 million people in Northern New Jersey.
(NY-NJ-CT) Regional Plan Association
Phone:
(212) 253-2727
www.rpa.org
Regional
Plan Association (RPA) is an independent, not for profit regional
planning organization that improves the quality of life and
economic competitiveness of the 31-county New York-New Jersey-Connecticut
region through research, planning, and advocacy. For more than 80 years,
RPA has been shaping transportation systems, protecting open spaces, and promoting
better community design for the region’s continued growth.
The Metropolitan
Greensward is RPA’s vision of a system
of protected landscape and water bodies that distinguish the
NY/NJ/Ct metropolitan region. These region shaping open
spaces harbor the Region’s most
critical natural resource systems, its recreational opportunities
and its working landscapes of farms and forests. Together
these protected open lands will help shape future patterns
of growth in the Tri-State Region by limiting growth at its
periphery and enhancing the quality of life in its cities and
suburbs.
The RPA has been working with a variety of public and
private partners such as the USDA Forest Service and the Highlands
Coalition to establish a greenbelt in the two million acre Highlands landscape.
The Highlands encompass more than 235,000 acres of public open space hosting
more than 14 million recreation visits yearly, clean drinking water for 12
million people, and much of the region’s
biological heritage including the few remaining unfragmented
forests critical to the survival of migratory songbirds.
The
Highlands Coalition, established in 1988, seeks to protect
and enhance the sustainability of natural and human communities
in the Highlands Region of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. AT
a regional level, the Coalition works to secure federal and state funding
for land protection in the Highlands and to foster more regional approaches
to planning for and managing growth. At the local level, members of
the Highlands Coalition contribute to efforts to fend off inappropriate development
project that threaten important Highlands resources and work with planning
boards and community groups to understand the values of the Highlands and
incorporate them into their decision making. The
Coalition is comprised of more than 150 local, state, regional
and national conservation organizations.
Highlands Environmental Research Institute (HEnRI),
Phone: (973) 353-5034
Alec Gates - Chair, Dept.
of Earth and Environmental Sciences Rutgers University
www.andromeda.rutgers.edu
The
Highlands Region of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania
constitute a critically important region that has been recognized
by the US Congress as an area of national significance. The
Highlands Environmental Research Institute (HEnRI) was
established as a clearinghouse to coordinate environmental
research, disseminate environmental knowledge, and promote
its application in the work of conserving the Highlands natural
resources. HEnRI provides
unbiased, scientifically base information and technical assistance
about condition in the Highlands, current trends, and probable
outcomes. Information and technical
assistance from the Highlands Environmental Research Institute
aids private landowners, citizens groups, and government agencies
in their efforts to conserve the Highlands and build a sustainable
future for the region.
Environmental
Defense (ED) is a leading national organization representing
more than 400,000 members with a 40-year history of notable
environmental defense victories. Environmental Defense
also maintains a 750,000-member Action Network, which joins
environmental and social groups around the globe. Since
1967, ED has linked science, economics, and law to create
innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society’s
most urgent environmental problems.
Environmental Defense
is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all
people, including future generations. Among
these rights are clean air, clean water, healthy food and flourishing
ecosystems. In
this pursuit, ED is guided by scientific evaluation of environmental
problems, and the solutions it advocates are based on science. ED
works to create solutions that win lasting economic and social
support because they are nonpartisan, cost-effective and fair. Further,
ED recognizes that low-income communities and communities of
color have been disproportionately exposed to many environmental
threats, and seeks answers that are equitable and fair to all.
As
an organization based in the United States, ED pays special
attention to U.S. Environmental problems and to America’s
role in causing and solving global problems, and aims to share
its approaches internationally.
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Phone: (201) 512-9348
www.nynjtc.org
The
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference is a federation of more
than 95 hiking and environmental organizations and 10,000 individuals
dedicated to building and maintaining marked hiking trails
and protection related open space in the bi-state region. The
constituent clubs have a combined membership of over 100,000.
Orange County Planning, David Church, Orange County
Commissioner of Planning
Phone: (845) 291-2318
www.co.orange.ny.us
The Orange County Department of Planning
is engaged in issues of land use planning, transportation, agriculture,
training, resource management, open space and economic issues
that face the County.
The Departments focus on water and water
quality through the former Orange County Water Authority produced
a national award winning program based on land conservation
for water-rich lands and the preservation of critical water
supply areas of open space. Through County outreach
and education, local municipalities comprise the greatest number
of Groundwater Guardian Communities in any one County in America.
Kirk Babcock, Representative, Village of Montebello
Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council
Phone 845 651 4141
www.geovation.com
Mr.
Babcock has a strong professional background in watershed management,
stream monitoring, map-making and research on the Ramapo River
Watershed, the River and its tributaries. He
represents the Village of Montebello, NY as its
resident member in the RRWIC.
Geoff Welch, RRWIC Ramapo River Watershed
Keeper and Ramapo River Committee
Chairphone: (845) 712-5220
Cell phone: (845) 536-4145
gwelch@gmail.com
The
Ramapo River Committee has been funded
with an annual grant for five years through the Passaic River
Coalition to produce the annual day-long Ramapo River Watershed
Conference at
Ramapo College. 2006 was the 12th successful, consecutive annual
conference. Up to 200 people attend each conference, which is presented
to the public for free admission to attract students and other
interested members of the public. The conference format has served
as a model for other watershed conferences.
The Ramapo River Committee produced
a video documentary, Protecting
the Streams of Rockland County. The video was successfully completed
in 2001 and has been shown at many meetings and on cable television.
Geoffrey
Welch completed a The Mahwah
River Watershed –A Non-Point
Source Pollution Study, 1998
for the Rockland County Water Quality Committee funded by
a grant the New York Soil and Water Conservation Committee.
The
Ramapo River Committee co-sponsored and did the initial research
for the Ramapo River Greenway Trail Project
given a New York State Department of Transportation T-21 grant
that the Town of Ramapo is currently administering. We
are currently helping to plan and research further trail segments
for more funding through the Town of Ramapo.
RRWIC Executive Director, Janet Burnet
Phone: (845) 323-7962
janetburnet@aol.com
Established
in 2005, the RRWIC has already created an impressive network
of partners and gathered 28 municipalities as well as numerous
associated organizations and partners in a focused effort toward
watershed management based on science and municipal law, and
bound by a structure supported by municipal board resolutions
to participate in the organization and its By-Laws which clearly
delineate its purpose.
The RRWIC is the recipient of the
2006 NYS Governor’s
Quality Communities Award for Excellence, and its members comprise an official Groundwater
Guardian Community.
The Executive Director, Janet Burnet, has been
a strong participant in municipal and community initiatives,
grants-writing and consensus building on behalf of water quality
and quantity, land conservation and historic preservation. She
has a background in original historical research, archives
and records management, cultural preservation, arts management & conservation,
and in historic preservation. A member of the NYS Highlands
Committee of the Highlands Coalition, and a member of the Board
of the Sterling Forest Partnership, she is a past Board member
of Keep Rockland Beautiful, the Edward Hopper House and the
Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, among others.
Technical Advisory Committee
Rob Pirani
Director, Environmental Programs
Regional Plan Association
4 Irving Place, 7th floor
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-253-2727, ext. 305
Email: rpirani@rpa.org
Janet Burnet
Executive Director
Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council
PO Box 1095
60 Torne Valley Road
Hillburn, NY 10931
Phone: 845-323-7962
Email: janetburnet@aol.com
Dag Madara
GIS/Data Management Specialist/ Water Resource Management
and Planning
North Jersey District Water Supply Commission
Wanaque, NJ 07465
Phone: 973-835-3600
Email: dmadara@njdwsc.com
Ron Farr
Environmental Scientist/Forester
North Jersey District Water Supply Commission
Wanaque, NJ 07465
Phone: 973-831-3358
Email: rfarr@njdwsc.com
Theodore Eisenman
NYS Highlands Coordinator
Highlands Coalition
Phone: 212-616-1209
Email: teisenman@highlandscoalition.org
Alec Gates
Professor and Chairman
Rutgers University
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
101 Warren Street, Rm. 137
Newark, NJ 07102
Highlands Environmental Research Institute
Phone: 973-353-5034
Email: agates@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Bill O’Hearn
Director of Conservation and Advocacy
NY-NJ Trail Conference
156 Ramapo Valley Road
Mahwah, NJ 07430
Phone: 201-512-9348
Email: ohearn@nynjtc.org
David Church
Commissioner of Planning
Orange County, NY
Chair
County Planning Commissioners/Directors Group
County of Oragne/Department of Planning
124 Main Street (1887 Building)
Goshen, NY 10924
Phone: 845-291-2318
Email: dchurch@co.orange.ny.us
Kirk Babcock
RRWIC Representative
Village of Montebello, NY
Phone: 845- 651-4141
Email: kbabcock@geovation.com
Matthew Shook
Assistant Director
Highlands Environmental Research Institute
115 Old Forge Road
Tuxedo, NY 10987
Phone: 845-351-2106
Emai: matthews525@aol.com
Geoff Welch
Watershed Keeper
Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council
President , Ramapo River Committee
C/o Harmony Hall
15 Liberty Rock Road
Sloatsburg, NY
Phone: 845-536-4145c / 845-712-5220h
Email: geoffwelch@gmail.com
Don Steinmetz
GIS Director
Highlands Environmental Research Institute
115 Old Forge Road
Tuxedo, NY 10987
Phone: 845-351-2106
steinmet@ldeo.columbia.edu
Jennifer Cox
Manager: GIS
Regional Plan Association
Phone: 212-253-2727 ext.341
Email: Jennifer@rpa.org
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