Oh, I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused ~~~ Elvis Costello
In an Orwellian upside down world and a big FUCK YOU to forest preservation and Highlands and Delaware River activists who strongly opposed the project, today NJ Gov. Murphy issued an “Environmental Excellence Award” for logging forested lands along the Merrill Creek reservoir.
Incredibly – and you can’t make this stuff up – the award was for “Healthy Ecosystems and Habitats” (DEP Press release):
Healthy Ecosystems and Habitats: Merrill Creek Reservoir
Merrill Creek Reservoir uses a Forest Stewardship Plan to manage wildlife habitat and implement conservation projects to improve forest habitat, manage native grassland, and create and enhance demonstration pollinator gardens. In addition, reservoir staff create underwater structures and conduct monitoring to support fish populations and are working with NJ Audubon to test a deer barrier system as an alternative to conventional deer exclusion fencing options.
Recall that recently, the Murphy DEP has faced strong public criticism and press coverage for similar logging in forested wetland to create habitat in Wildlife Management Areas (Glassboro WMA, Sparta Mountain WMA, et al) and in the Highlands and the Pinelands.
And once again, corrupt NJ Audubon is involved to provide cover and tap into government funding (and just look at who is the “ecologist” at Merrill Creek).
The logging project that received the excellence award exploited loopholes in DEP regulations and was opposed by ecologists and forest preservation advocates: (Op-Ed)
Tree removal, particularly large trees, is a well-known contributor to flooding. For this reason, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection prohibits vegetation removal in riparian buffers within flood hazard areas. However, an exception exists for commercial logging. This means logging falls under “agricultural use” and bypasses flood hazard area regulation.
Recently, Merrill Creek implemented a plan to harvest timber around the reservoir. Logging poses numerous threats to water quality. Run-off from logged areas can cause erosion, washing mud and silt into sensitive trout production streams. This deprives fish and amphibians of oxygen and pollutes drinking water sources for the entire region.
The fact that DEP could recommend that the Gov. issue such an award is strong evidence of how out of touch the DEP and Governor are and demonstrates that they arrogantly ignore the concerns of the public.