State of NJ craps on Great Meadows again!
Many of you may not know this but the state of NJ is going to create vernal pools in the muck lands of Great Meadows near Alphano Rd and close to Allamuchy.
The township has been totally against this. The town master plan has this area remaining agriculture as I understand it. As residents of the area we don't get a vote on this. Aside from the agriculture end there is the Zika virus that the township is very concerned about. The state tells us to not have standing water around and then they turn around and are going to create these pools. The Warren County Mosquito Control has even had people at our township meetings who have said that this is a very bad idea from what I also understand. I have attended one meeting to listen to this topic but haven't attended the planning board meetings.
It's bad enough that the state has put a large portion of our land in the Highlands that we can't build and get ratables. CVS was to go in our town but Hackettstown got it because of this. The state says we have to build COAH units but we can't build where we need to because of the Highlands. Now vernal pools!
You might be asking yourself why they need to do this. Well, the reason is that when wetlands are removed some place, they have to be created to make up for the loss. I say why not create them in the same town they lost them in.
No wonder our residents are leaving the state. Thanks for letting me vent.
Magpie The state? Isn't this a PSE&G mitigation project? From what I've read this is a great project and I'm happy to see it proceeding.
gadfly I do think it does have something to do with PSE&G. I keep hearing the state though so I'm not sure who exactly. Maybe it's the state that has the law that wetlands need to be created when we lose wetlands. In that respect it would be the state even though it's because of PSE&G. Either way many don't think it's a great idea.
With all the sports fields at the end of town that this will be created in, I can't see how having additional insects with Zika being a concern, this would be a great idea. But, we are all entitled to our own opinions.
I live right in front of one of the sections they are going to do this to. I heard there is going to be some type of meeting in May regarding this.
Lynn What is there a frog shortage in Jersey?
UN Agenda 21:
"UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is the action plan implemented worldwide to inventory and control all land, all water, all minerals, all plants, all animals, all construction, all means of production, all energy, all education, all information, and all human beings in the world. INVENTORY AND CONTROL. "
http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21
RU Where along Alphano will this project be taking place? How can I find out more information? I've combed the internet the best I can but have come up empty.
Thank you!
Concerned resident UN Agenda 21 is highly dangerous, and NOT a good thing, in any way. I've been researching it since it came out.
GET THE US OUT OF THE UN, AND KICK THE UN OUT OF THE US.
You can do your own digging if you're interested, but the link RU posted is a great place to start:
http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com
JeffersonRepub Previously posted thread on this:
http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/689304#t690288
OnTheEdge So, back to vernal pools....
http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2014/10/dep_describes_planned_wetlands_project_in_independence_and_liberty_townships.html
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/vpoolart.htm
pmnsk Isn't this the other half of the project that Liberty voted down? I remember reading that Allamuchy had approved their half of it when Liberty was voting on it. If that's the case, then you all did have a vote on it, and it was approved (or not argued against strongly enough to keep the council from approving it).
Does anybody with actual facts know if this is the same project? If so, it's PSE&G creating wetlands to mitigate the removal of wetlands elsewhere, and all the arguments from the other thread apply. Although it's probably too late...
Brendan "Agenda 21? ! You've got to be kidding me. You people are just insane."
Well either you have your head up your ass or in denial cause this is their published UN Document...
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf
Happy Friday everyone! Let's hope something can be done so this doesn't go through. Would take away the business at Island Dragway I'm sure
Hank ArthurRU, OK, please connect the dots for us. Show us how agenda 21 is responsible for this project. Agenda 21 was created in 1993. If this is a mitigation project, it's being done pursuant to a law that was written in 1987, Six years earlier.
You agenda 21 truthers are crazy because you think everything has to do with agenda 21.
RU and JR, please cite in the report where it states anything close to your tin foil thoughts? I've reviewed the document and nothing at all comes close to your statements.
btownguy So in the late 1800's one of the largest and most impressive wetlands on the east coast was ditched, drained and diverted to create some really rich and profitable farmland (Essentially all of great meadows was a swamp for several thousand years prior to thoe railroads and ditch diggers came in.) . Since there were no environmental laws to speak of, and wetlands were just a waste of farmland it all occurred without any objections. Now a 150 years later a plan to restore a few acres of the thousands lost in the 1800's is getting folks stirred up. I wonder how many folks have wells that will benefit from recharge areas, I wonder how many folks smile when they hear spring peepers are objecting to an effort to keep the song of spring alive, I wonder if the folks complaining feed birds but are now objecting to natural places for them to nest.
As to the highlands act which everyone loves to complain about. If you are a homeowner in the Highlands, it was one of the best things that could have happened to you. You own a home in an area where people want to live and more homes are not going to sprout up very quickly. Eco 101 limited supply+ increased demand == profit.
Agust I live very near the Mountain Lake bog, and have no more problem with mosquitos than living in a town setting. There is already standing water in all the irrigation canals (driving into Godlewsky's these can be seen), so now this will be better water quality than fertilizer and runoff in those ditches.
Drainage and wetlands are very important, well said Agust.
Mosquitoes do not do very well in active wetlands and bogs because everything in there eats the larva. In old tires and kids swimming pools and unnatural standing water they explode. Vernal pools, and wetlands are only an issue if you do not actually understand them. Ignorance of how natural systems work and tossing out Zika or West Nile as some kind of boogie man is just fear mongering. It is an effective strategy because ignorance of natural systems and fear of bugs is rampant, but that does not make it any less wrong.
Malaria was said to be a scourge of early settlers, and possible reason for the Shades of Death name, but we are talking wetlands covering the entire Great Meadows at the time...much like the Great Swamp still looks. Interestingly, no complaints about the Swamp by local residents that I am aware of.
Agust I was not happy about this but after reading your comments I might just change my mind. Thanks for the input.
Baa Gadfly - shove those dots up your ass...Old man Bush signed the damned thing and Clinton created a Presidential Council based on the document but sure its a conspiracy theory. The Elites bank on useful idiots like yourself to push this BS through...but whatever = you deserve to be owned!
"Agenda 21 policies date back to the 70's but it got its real start in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro when President Bush signed onto it. Click here to see a list of the countries that signed UN Agenda 21. President Clinton took office the following year and created the President's Council on Sustainable Development to implement it in the United States. Made up of federal agencies, corporations, and non-profit groups, the President's Council on Sustainable Development moved quickly to ensure that all federal agencies would change their policies to comply with UN Agenda 21. A non-governmental organization called the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives, ICLEI, is tasked with carrying out the goals of Agenda 21 worldwide. Remember: UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development is a global plan that is implemented locally. Over 600 cities in the U.S. are members; our town joined in 2007. The costs are paid by taxpayers. "-
See more at: http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/#sthash.QhQqco4f.dpuf
All of those angry words, RU, but all I hear is Patsy Cline crooning away...."I'm Craaaazy.....crazy for bee-lieving in conspiracies." I think your tinfoil hat is on a little to tight.
Of course you're you won't explain how exactly the Agenda 21 lead to the 1987 New Jersey Freshwater Protection Act or to this project in particular, because you have no reason to believe it did. Ya just got crazy conspiracy theories that your willing to apply indiscriminately and without evidence.
As Jack Nicholson's character said in As Good As It Gets, "sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."
Sorry - I forgot the UN Agenda 21 map.
1 US President signed the document = thus agreeing to it and another US President created a US Presidential Commission to install this plan...dunno I take the Government at their word - they are going to do this!
RU seems to be angry that the state and the feds own land, without actually realizing that means we all own the land. Anyone that hikes, hunts, fishes or wants to be able to roam around in the land of the free should be thankful for those radical government monsters like Teddy Roosevelt (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon.) or Dick Nixon (Clean Water Act, EPA) or Reagan (Water Resources Development Act.)
RU must not drink water or breath air, which might explain quite a bit of the rhetoric. Similarly the obvious cutting and pasting from similar conspiracy websites. (Much easier to cut and paste than actually string together cogent arguments yourself.)
Using mitigation funds to actually repair/recover wetlands is not a conspiracy, its just good old fashioned common sense. but then again that idea seems elusive to quite a few folks lately, maybe it has to do with the election results..
RU is spot on and well informed. UN Agenda 21 is real and is being implemented, believe it or not. You forgot to mention "Common Sense Solutions" for a catch phrase. Progressives (right and left) use it all the time.
Agust, for so many people wanting to live in this area of the Highlands. I have lived here most of my life and have never seen so many houses that are empty, bank owned and have been empty for years....years!
History shows us how the more property government owns, the better off the people are. E.G. China, North Korea, Venezuela.
Enlightened Agust
The professionals with the Warren County mosquito commission strongly disagree with you on your assessment of no mosquito problem being created . In fact , this new swamp will cost the tax payers of warren county plenty of money (50 grand a year) to control this new swamp problem. The State of NJ is going to build this disaster no matter what the township planning board does.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf/2016/05/why_does_nj_want_to_build_a_sw.html#incart_2box_lvl-homepage-featured
Is the land currently being farmed?
If it was acquired in 2011, I'm assuming it hasn't been used for 5 years.
State owned lands lets us hike, hunt and fish, retain healthy ecosystems, and preserve our landscape. If you'd rather move to unmitigated urban sprawl, please be my guest.
Wetlands are necessary for healthy watersheds and I disagree with the doom and gloom of the Commission on this. If it's in the area of Alphano in between Meadow and Nykun Lane there are no adjacent homes, preserved land on the hill behind (Audobon), so little local risk of mosquito nuisance.
Empty houses are due to bad lending practices and the economy downturn and high cost of living in NJ
I don't think we can blame foreclosures on Illuminati land grabs.
In this day of sustainable farming, localavor eating practices, farm to table agriculture it seem a shame to take some of the best farmland in N.J. out of production just to cheaply address some government regulation. I do agree with Agust about the Highlands act and open space being outstanding plus for living in this area. But I do think this is just a cheap alternative for pse&g to take care of their obligations. There are many swamp areas that were used as town dumps and junk yards in the 30s, 40s & 50s. Why not remediate these areas?
Indie Enlightened, while there are certainly a few empty and bank owned houses in Warren county, compared to say Camden, Newark, almost very town south of 195 we fared much better than most of the state and most of the country. In my opinion the Highlands act is one of the reasons for that, but your mileage may vary. Another reason is we still live in a pretty nice part of the state and open space is part of what makes it nice.
I know I moved out here because of the abundance of open space. My kids grew up wandering the Pequest WMA and hiked and camped in Jenny Jump in addition to fishing in the Pequest, Musky and a host of smaller streams. In the 17 years I lived in Liberty and the 11 I have lived in Hackettstown, the county has changed quite a bit. Much of it not for the better and it was getting worse until the Highlands act slowed things down.
As to mosquito Commission opinions, I have no doubt they are concerned but quite frankly they have a vested interest and by definition a myopic view of the world. I prefer to get my advice on healthy ecosystems from biologists not political appointees, even well intentioned ones.
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