Trails of the Ramapo Reservation

View from Ramapo Reservation     (photo: Melissa Edrelyi)

By Melissa Erdelyi    

The Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah, New Jersey is a Bergen County park of over 4,000 acres of forest on the edge of the New Jersey Highlands Region. The park features hiking trails for all levels of experience, tent campsites from April to November, cross-country skiing during the winter, canoe and kayak access to the Ramapo River, and fishing with a NJ state fishing license.

The reservation offers several marked trails, ranging in distances from 0.3 to 3.5 miles. Hikers can choose to take a short, but steep, hike up to picturesque Hawk Rock. Once completing the hike, hikers will be open to a panoramic view of such sites as Ramapo College and Lake Henry.

Another longer, yet less strenuous trail brings hikers up to MacMillan Reservoir. The hike to MacMillan Reservoir is popular among visitors who bring adventurous dogs on leashes.

For those who do not wish to take such a strenuous trek, the park also offers leisurely strolls. Upon entering the park, strollers can take a walk around Scarlet Oak Pond. Around the pond, there are also several open areas and tables where visitors are welcome to enjoy a meal with the pond in view, so long as they clean up after themselves using one of the many trash receptacles offered.

If you’re interested in taking a hike at the Ramapo Reservation, visit www.co.bergen.nj.us/DocumentCenter/View/1135 for a map of the trails. Maps are also available for pick up in the parking lot of the reservation.

A short walk from the entrance to the park is the Darlington Schoolhouse, now the headquarters for the New York New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC).

The NYNJTC has been working since 1920 in partnership with parks in order to create, protect, and promote a network of over 2,100 miles of public trails in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region. It is because of the NYNJTC that the Ramapo Reservation has so many safe and open trails for the public to enjoy.

The NYNJTC is a nonprofit organization that has 10,000 individual active members and 100 clubs that have a combined total of 100,000 members.

Becoming a member of the NYNJTC not only gives one the opportunity to volunteer and enjoy the outdoors, it also offers benefits such as a free subscription to the Trail Walker and access to the Hoeferlin Library. To become a member of the NYNJTC or get more information on the trail conference, visit www.nynjtc.org/panel/aboutnynjtc .

Hybrid Vehicles: A Sustainable Mode of Transportation

www.greencarreports.com

By Daniel Mercurio


Hybrid cars are much better for the environment than traditional vehicles since they burn much less gasoline. In fact, the term hybrid originated from the idea of designing a vehicle that can run on two different sources of fuel. Like a traditional car, hybrids can also run on gasoline. However, the hybrid car burns much less gasoline than traditional cars since they can tap into energy generated from a secondary fuel source such as electricity or hydrogen once the gasoline runs out. The significant decrease in the amount of gasoline burned by hybrid vehicles can have major benefits for the surrounding environment. However, this will only occur if the vehicle is largely integrated into the fabric of society.       

A large enough adoption of hybrid vehicles by society can significantly decrease the large amounts of gasoline burned by traditional vehicles and help preserve the environment. One reason is that hybrid cars achieve better miles per gallon of gasoline burned when compared to traditional vehicles. Another is due to a hybrid vehicle’s use of alternative sources of fuel. The combination of these two factors will result in travelers having to refill their gas tanks much less frequently.

This would have an impact on the amount of crude oil that gets brought up to the earth’s surface via hydraulic fracking practices, which can harm plant and animal species. Moreover, this would also prevent vast amounts of fossil fuel emissions from entering into and contaminating the atmosphere from solely gasoline powered vehicles that emit tremendous amounts of toxins. In fact, survey information acquired from www.bcairquality.ca states, “Cars emit nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and smaller amounts of other pollutants such as Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ammonia (NH3).”

There will be much less atmospheric pollution as energy efficient cars such as hybrids become more integrated into society. In fact, five U.S. states along with several overseas countries plan to pass regulations that ban the creation of traditional gasoline powered vehicles in the near to mid future. According to Business Insider’s Bryan Logan’s article titled "Eight US states want to ban cars that run on gasoline only by 2050," “In 35 years, California, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Massachusetts — plus Oregon and Vermont — will prohibit automakers from selling new gas or diesel-powered vehicles in their states. In addition to those eight states, Quebec, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom are vowing to implement similar bans.”

On Assignment with Scott Fallon

By Larissa Ledo

We had the great opportunity to meet Scott Fallon, an environmental reporter for The Record, as he visited our class. Although he writes and reports about the environment he is not interested in saving the planet, he said, but in bringing awareness about what is going on in our planet. He spoke about many topics, one of them being the chromium issue in Garfield, New Jersey, which many people are not aware of. 

According to Scott Fallon’s reporting in The Record and on NorthJersey.com, in 1993 on Clark Street three tons of cancer causing chromium leaked from a tank at the E.C. Electroplating plant. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection showed poor judgment and stopped the clean up after only 30 percent of it had been recovered, despite the evidence that it was migrating throughout the neighborhood.
      
At the time it was declared no significant threat to the public health, however today is said otherwise. A few months after the spill high levels of chromium were found in E.C.’s basement, and years later in a firehouse a mile away. And now it has progressed in the groundwater to many homes, apartment buildings, and stores. The owner of those homes not only have their health threated but also are unable to sell their homes.       

The same problem has occurred with the Superfund site in Ringwood that was declared clean when it was still polluted. The only difference in Garfield is that there is an entire city neighborhood on top of the pollution, which makes it a lot more dangerous and difficult. 
    
Scott Fallon’s visit was very interesting and gave us all an idea of how it is to be an environmental writer. Even though he is not someone who wants to save the planet he still is concerned with what is going on and wants to help his reader know the facts about threats to public health.

         

Wind Energy Can Help Power the Future

By Marcus Miles

                                                       
Watching a YouTube video about wind power, I noticed how much the United States can benefit from wind energy financially and for the environment. The video demonstrates how important wind energy is by limiting fossil fuels, creating electricity, available 24/7 and finally the most important reason wind is free. Also in the video, it shows that wind turbines are the future of wind energy and providing a healthy environment. A wind turbine is like an opposite of a fan that doesn’t require electricity to run and convert kinetic energy into mechanical energy. The video provides different kinds of wind turbine such as vertical and horizontal axis turbines and as well shares where the best places to place these turbines are.

 It is a good choice to place these turbines on land because of large fields that provide enough space to support the turbines and near highways because some wind turbines will create lots of noise. Wind turbines are also effective built off shore because ocean winds at times can be strong and will provide a ton of energy. Although it costs money to put up wind turbines, once they’re up that energy is free. It is one of the cheapest renewable energy resources made. Wind turbines emit no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the air, meaning there is no carbon footprint. Advances have been made in wind energy, where wind turbines can be used in developed countries and third world countries. According to boem.gov “Wind resource potential is typically given in gigawatts (GW), and 1 GW of wind power will supply between 225,000 to 300,000 average U.S. homes with power annually”

A few negatives about wind turbines: although there is not an exact number, scientists believe that high numbers of birds are killed by wind turbines annually. They can be inconsistent at times since wind is not constant, if there is no wind, there is no energy being produced. Wind turbines are generally noisy because of the rotor blades; which is unappealing to many people. In order to provide electricity to entire communities, many turbines must be built which will cost a lot of money. 

Even though they have negative side effects, wind turbines will provide a bright and long future. With wind, this type of energy can be used as a source of energy to in areas. Wind energy costs are lower than the costs of most other sources of energy since it is almost free to run. The country should take advantage of this source of energy, especially the government which likes to save money when dealing with environmental issues.


For more information
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiSWe3_GEUA
www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-wind-power.html#.VxlF2qPmpMt
http://energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work
www.boem.gov/renewable-energy-program/renewable-energy-guide/offshore-wind-energy.aspx

Silent Spring: Intriguing Spring Break Read

By Larissa Ledo


In Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, read over spring break, the chapter that caught my attention the most was chapter nine, “Rivers of Death.”  Silent Spring is an environmental science book that documents the detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds.

As I read the book, when I reached chapter nine the name of the chapter itself caught my attention, which made the read easier and more interesting. In that chapter Rachel Carson paints a complete picture of the salmon cycle of the Miramichi River of New Brunswick. In 1954 the Canadian government sprayed the forests with DDT for the spruce budworm to save the trees. The spray fallout included dead salmon in the river within two days, and dead birds as well. This solution is only temporary so respraying is always needed. 

Nature intervened to save the salmon and Miramichi River with Hurricane Edna. It all turned out well because there was only spraying affecting that part of the river for only a year. In late 1950’s the US Forest Service allowed spraying in Yellowstone Park. There were dead salmon all along the shore with DDT in their tissues. Sometimes they did not die immediately which meant fishermen were exposed to the poison. 

Throughout the chapter she goes on about alternative methods of forest management, including natural parasitism and microorganisms. Carson explains disasters many fish suffer such as agricultural run off and salt marsh spraying.

The big fish kill on the Colorado River in Texas in 1961 was also a topic. Hundreds of miles downstream from a chemical plant leak in Austin, 27 species of fish died and the fish population was altered for years.

The whole book was fascinating, filled with so much information and written in a way making it so interesting to read. However, for me, “Rivers of Death” was the most interesting and with a title that can catch anyone’s attention, which makes the reader a lot more intrigued to read.

Cattus Island County Park Nature Center Reconstruction Underway

News Release

Contact: Cassandra Bernyk

TOMS RIVER, NJ--The reconstruction of the well known and loved Cattus Island nature center in Ocean County has begun and will open in summer 2016. Ever since the devastation brought by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the popular nature center has been closed due to the flooding. The doors were finally opened again to begin the road to recovery for the Cooper Environmental Center known for fun educational programs about the environment and home for various kinds of native animals. The $905,000 reconstruction will keep most of the original design while now meeting Americans with Disability Act standards and having the ability to withstand a super storm like Hurricane Sandy, say officials.

As of April 1, the demolition of the building’s interior is complete and the interior framing, all rough mechanical installations (which include HVAC, electric, and plumbing), are all about 90 percent complete. As Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr previously said, the hold up on reconstruction was due to permit complications that were essential to the project. Other reconstruction options were available to the county, however it was decided that the best option was to use storm-resistant materials. Seeing the reconstruction of the Cooper Environmental Center really being kicked off has residents and visitors anxious--as reflected in comments in the Cattus guestbook-- for the re-opening of their favorite place to learn about the environment surrounding them.

New York City Earth Day Events

For Immediate Release

Contact: Larissa Ledo


New York City, NY-- Earth Day 2016 events in New York City will be happening Sunday, April 17 from 12 to 7 pm. The annual Earth Day New York events are a fantastic way to connect to environmental campaigns, green products, and interesting organizations doing great green work. There will be dozens of exhibitors, interactive displays, live performances, and kids’ activities.

It will be happening at Union Square, North Plaza – E. 17th St. and Park Ave., New York, NY.

If interested in exhibitor and sponsor opportunities, get in touch at info@earthdayny.org or 212-922-0048.

They will be presenting their annual Earth Day Initiative / NRDC-NY Awards to chef Tom Colicchio, DSNY Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, and urban farmer and food justice advocate Karen Washington at 12 noon. The presentation will be followed by brief speeches and life music. The annual event is a great way to connect to thousands of green-minded New Yorkers and visitors.

Also the annual Earth Day 5K Green Tour will be held Friday, April 22, from 9:30 am to noon. It will be the second time the 5K will be happening. It is a way to raise money for all year around environmental education programs and visit great places such as the underground park Lowline, the eco-friendly 1 Hotel Central Park, and a natural food cooking school.

For details and to register to participate: info@earthdayny.org or 212-922-0048.