Public Hearing on Pinelands Pipeline July 28

On the Tuesday July 28th the BPU is holding a public hearing concerning NJNG’s proposal to put a pipeline in the Pinelands.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is considering a proposal by New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to put a pipeline through the Pinelands.

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, are convinced this pipeline will not only create an ugly scar through the Pinelands and open space in New Jersey, but it will destroy habitat, pollute high quality streams, rivers, and cut across important C1 waterways.

The proposed pipeline would be 28 miles and go through Burlington, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. The route would cross through the Joint Base area in the Preservation Area established by the Pinelands Protection Act, which is supposed to get the highest level of protection.

The Pinelands are a United Nations biosphere reserve and one of the largest sources of fresh drinking water on the east coast. The Pinelands is the largest wild place left in the most densely populated region of the country. There are plants and amphibious species that are found no other place in the world. Our drinking water would be impacted if NJNG pipeline is approved.

Many of us agree that there is a need to protect the Pinelands. The meeting is a chance to make your voice heard. The meetings will be held Tuesday July 28 at 3:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. at Manchester Township Municipal Building, One Colonial Drive, Manchester, NJ 08759.

More
sierraclub.org/new-jersey/pinelands-pipeline
pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic/environmental-activists-protest-gas-pipeline-at-stockton-forum/

Newly Discovered Insect Species in the NJ Pine Barrens May Already Be Threatened

A male F. whitcombi leafhopper. Credit: Andrew Hicks

A new grass-eating species of insect was discovered to be living in the Jersey Pine Barrens of New Jersey. This leafhopper (Flexamia whitcombi) had previously escaped notice. - and at least one scientist worried that it might not be around for very much longer.

Unfortunately, this leafhopper depends on a single species of New Jersey grass, the pine barren smokegrass, for its food. Smokegrass is on the state's threatened species list. There are over 800 endangered plants and species of special concern in NJ.

M. torreyana pinebarren smokegrass    Credit: Uri Lorimer

As of now, scientists don't know for sure if the insect lives in the other regions of the eastern U.S. where the smokegrass also grows ( Tennessee and North Carolina).

If the leafhopper is unique to the Pine Barrens, there's a particular reason for concern, even though its food source is still relatively abundant there. Andrew Hicks of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado writes:

 "The Pine Barrens are already suffering the effects of a warming climate, as evidenced by the recent irruption there of the Southern Pine Beetle. Should the effects of climate change or other anthropomorphic pressures cause the local extinction of the host (as has apparently already occurred elsewhere in its range), there will be little opportunity for the survival of this Flexamia. But that might be said of most species described today."

Sources:
washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/
www.nj.com

This Fossil Shark Is Safe

"Cretaceous Shark Teeth" by Wilson44691 Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

It is Discovery Channel's Shark Week once again and sharks will get a lot of good and bad attention. The Shark Research Institute in Princeton is offering a safe way to engage with sharks that will not be threatening at all. Hunt for fossilized shark teeth.

Kids and adults can join experts from the Shark Research Institute and the American Littoral Society this Saturday, July 11, and wade into the Big Brook in Middletown to sift for ancient shark teeth.

Sharks continually shed their teeth; some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime, as well as replace them by producing thousands of more. There are four basic types of shark teeth: dense flattened, needle-like, pointed lower with triangular upper, and non-functional. The type of tooth that a shark has depends on its diet and feeding habits.

In some geological formations, shark's teeth are a common fossil and  they are often the only part of the shark to be fossilized. The most ancient types of sharks date back to 450 million years ago, during the Late Ordovician period, and are mostly known by their fossilized teeth. However, the most commonly found fossil shark teeth are from the Cenozoic era (the last 66 million years).

The shallow water (about 18 inches deep) of the Big Brook sediments were deposited during the Late Cretaceous 100 to 66 million years ago when modern sharks began to appear on Earth.


INFO
9:30 a.m. to noon, July 11. $5 for adults, kids are free. Call 609-921-3522 to sign up.
Future shark teeth hunts at Big Brook are 5:30 p.m., July 30 and 9:30 a.m. to noon, August 15.

Women & Wildlife Awards 2015 Nominations Open Until July 24, 2015

For the 10th year, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey will present Women & Wildlife Awards to special individuals for their achievements, the advances they have made for women in their professions, their efforts to increase awareness of rare species and the habitats they depend on, and their contributions to New Jersey’s wildlife.

By acknowledging these special individuals, CWF hopes to encourage more young women to strive to make a positive impact on species and habitat protection, especially through the biological sciences. Conserve Wildlife Foundation encourages you to take this opportunity to nominate a woman who has distinguished herself in the service of New Jersey’s wildlife.

Nominations will be accepted in three categories:
    Leadership
    Inspiration
    Education

The nomination form will be accepted through Friday, July 24, 2015. Nominations submitted last year will automatically be reconsidered this year.

http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/getinvolved/event/women/