17th Annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2012

Contact:
Geoff Welch
(845) 712-5220
geoffwelch@gmail.com

Ramapo River Watershed Conference at Ramapo College

Mahwah, NJ – The 17th annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference will be held Friday, April 27th, at Ramapo College of New Jersey from 10 am – 4:30 pm in the Trustees Pavilion, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, also known as Route 202. The event, presented by the Ramapo River Committee and the Institute for Environmental Studies at Ramapo College, will feature a variety of speakers on environmental topics pertaining to the Ramapo Valley in New York and New Jersey.

The event is free but registration is requested at geoffwelch@gmail.com.

This year’s conference will include presentations on watershed events since the last conference; the Warwick Brook Fish Kill and the Tuxedo Mulch Site; the Hudson Estuary Program and the Ramapo River; Blandina Bayard’s Indian Trading Post on the Ramapo River (est. 1700); the Asian Tiger Mosquito in Rockland County; Weather Oil Spills and Response; the Recovery of the Ramapo Valley Well Field, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Project; the People, Places and Cultural Traditions of the Ramapough Mountain Indians; the DuPont Acid Brook Cleanup, and the Impacts of the Proposed International Crossroads Development.

There will be coffee and bagels at 9:30 am before the event starts.

10:00 - Opening Remarks: Ramapo College President Peter Mercer, Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, SSHS Dean Sam Rosenberg

10:15 - What a Year! (A quick review of watershed events since the last conference)

10:30 – Doc Bayne, Friends of Sterling Forest: The Warwick Brook Fish Kill and the Tuxedo Mulch Site

11:00 – Scott Cuppet, NYDEC: The Hudson River Estuary Program and the Ramapo River

11:30 – Nancy L. Gibbs, Sheffield Archaeological Consultants: Considering Blandina Bayard’s Indian Trading Post on the Ramapo River Established in 1700

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm - LUNCH

1:15 – Brian Hunderfund, Senior Environmental Health Specialist, Rockland County Health Department: The Asian Tiger Mosquito in Rockland County

1:30 – John K. O’Mara P.E., NYDEC: Weather Oil Spills and Response

2:00 - Chuck Stead, Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator / Adjunct Professor, Ramapo College: Recovery of the Ramapo Valley Well Field

2:30 – Erica VanAuken and Kate Millsaps, N.J Sierra Club; Chief Dwaine Perry, Ramapough Lenape Nation: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Project

3:00 – Edward J. Lenik, Sheffield Archaeological Consultants: Ramapough Mountain Indians: People, Places, and Cultural Traditions

3:30 – E. Durring Merril, Environmental Officer Pompton Lakes: 1) The DuPont Acid Brook Cleanup (2) Flooding Issues

4:00 – Ramapo College Environmental Assessment Class Panel: Impacts of the Proposed International Crossroads Development

4:30 - Wine and Cheese Reception

--Joseph Pianese