2013 Ramapo River Watershed Conference

By Alexa Rivera

An extensive cleanup of contamination from Ford Motor Company’s former manufacturing plant in Mahwah will be a highlight of discussions at the 18th annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference on Friday.

The Ramapo River Committee and the Environmental Studies Program at Ramapo College are hosting the conference in the Trustees Pavilion on April 26 from 10 am-5 pm.

The purpose of the conference is to present important updates on watershed events including the Ford paint sludge remediation currently underway in Torne Valley in Ramapo, NY, news from the Ramapo River headwaters in Orange County, NY and an environmental impact assessment by Ramapo College students of the expanded natural gas pipelines under construction in the Highlands region.

At 2 pm, a report on "Assessing Cumulative Impacts of Gas Pipelines in the Highlands Region" will be provided by Ramapo College students in Professor Michael Edelstein's Environmental Assessment capstone course.

President Peter Mercer will be giving the opening remarks at the event, followed by the School of Social Science and Human Services (SSHS) dean, Sam Rosenberg.

Members of the Ramapo River committee including Chairman Geoff Welch will be speaking to update the community on what is happening across the region in New York and New Jersey.

The supervisor of the Town of Ramapo, Christopher St. Lawrence, will also be speaking about Ford’s remediation work, along with Chuck Stead, Cornell Cooperative Exentision Educator and Adjunct Professor at Ramapo College.

Another important topic that has been affecting residents in Pompton Lakes, NJ is pollution in much of the town from DuPont’s former explosives manufacturing plant. The event will also feature an exceptional variety of speakers on several other environmental and cultural topics pertaining to the Ramapo Valley in New Jersey and New York.

This conference is important to go to so the Ramapo College community and residents in surrounding towns know what is happening in our environment.

The event is free to attend, but registration is requested at: geoffwelch@gmail.com

For more information on the conference schedule:
http://ramapolookout.blogspot.com/2013/04/past-present-and-future-of-ramapo-river.html

This article also appeared in The Ramapo News