50 Acre Protection Agreement

Hello park supporters!
It was great to see many of you at the cove on Saturday night for a night of celebration - and hopefully closure - of our effort to protect that wonderful place.

Commissioner Comegno's Promise to Protect
On Sat., Nov. 17, John Comegno, Chairman of the Burlington County Bridge Commission, updated me on progress concerning the agreement to protect the 50 acres. He said that by the end of the year, he expects to have the agreement written and signed.

Army Corps./DEP meeting on Nov. 20
Last week Fred Stine and I did a file review at the Army Corps. of Engineers offices in Philadelphia. We looked through all of the documents they have pertaining to Palmyra Cove Nature Park and found out some intestesting points, including:

-The Army Corps. knew as early as June that the emergency dredging of the Delaware would begin on August 14. Remember, they didn't tell the public when it would begin until Monday, August 13 at the public information session.

-Over and over again, Army Corp. documents point to the DEP's lack of maintenance on Burlington Island and Hawk Island as the reason the only available dredge cell in the region exists at Palmyra Cove.

-Charley Myers, the Army Corps' Project Manager, and the DEP are meeting on November 20 to discuss a long-term strategy for dumping dredge spoils. Hopefully they will identify and prepare alternative sites.

Check back in a few days to read more of these bullet points as I peruse through the files and add them.
Thanks!
Courtney

Can you be there?

Hello friends,
There are a couple of important meetings this week and your presence will send the message that many people are still focused on the Conservation Easement.

Burlington County Bridge Commission
Wed. Sep. 26 2 p.m.
@ the Bridge Commission
Please come to this monthly meeting to ask if the Bridge Commission has made progress in attaining the Conservation Easement. The Bridge Commission and even the DEP has both expressed their support for the protecting this 5o-acre parcel, so we just have to push it to the top of their agenda.

Wed, Sep. 26 9:30 a.m.
Tim Robinson, Burlington Cty. Soil Conservation District
@ Palmyra Cove Nature Park
I am meeting with Tim Robinson to see how his organization can help us. They have already served Lisa Jackson with a violation for the project because the DEP didn't get prior approval from Soil Conservation. They've also forced the DEP to correct the outflow pipes to decrease the amount of silt flowing back into the river. If you can make it to the meeting that would be great - the more supporters this park has the better, as you know. :)

Also, a couple of people have asked me what to do with yard signs. Clara feels the most effective strategy is for everyone to take the yard signs down until the issue over the conservation easement heats up - then they can put them up again. That would make a stronger statement than leaving them up, I think.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing many of you this week!

What's happening at Palmyra Cove?

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge's warning siren drowns out the screams of crickets; the bridge is about to open. It's 11:30 a.m. and I've just arrived at Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Standing on the beach, I'm hoping to see the McFarland, the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers dredging barge. I catch a glimpse of yellow at the bridge breaks apart and the two sides rise into the air. It's the McFarland, about to pass through the open bridge. I grab my video camera and zoom in on the monstrous water beast. Through the viewfinder I see the white block letters stamped onto the underbelly of the black behemoth: MCFARLAND.

Camera rolling, I watch the monster creep up on the bridge, chugging steadily, and slip through, heading south toward the mooring barge awaiting arrival of its master. A family, three generations of nature lovers, sits on the beach and watches the gliding machine, mesmerized. I hike down the River Trail still stalking my prey; the camera is my weapon of choice. After about 10 minutes the McFarland docks into the mooring barge, the ships seeming to kiss hello as they become one.

I pick my way through the sand, past tiny footprints that remind me of my own child, and arrive at the drainage pipes. Water gushes heavily - the color of beer or urine - from the pipes into the Delaware River. The air reeks of polluted earth; a concoction of contaminated sand, river water and diesel fuel. A long black pipe stretches into the river from the beach like the giant black tentacle of a kraken. It's marked by a giant round pink buoy. The family has left and the child's footprints washed away. A phrase springs to mind: post-modern dystopia. The juxtaposition of the man-made versus the natural leaves me feeling sick. This is all one messed-up band-aid, a temporary solution to the long-term problem of where to put dredge spoils.
Now I have a problem. The pipes have blocked my hike. This dredging project isn't supposed to stop people from using any of the trails, but I've only been here for 15 minutes and already I'm barred from hiking into the park. Minimal impact project is the phrase they keep throwing around, but I'm trapped. I feel like the great water beast is laughing at me. Then I spot another hiker walking towards me on the other side of the pipes. He hops onto and then over the great black pipe and I compliment his spryness. His name is Kevin and we find out we have a mutual friend: the indefatiguable Fred Stine of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. (The community of environmentalists is a closely-knit one in this region.) We talk together as we watch the barges and he explains that the McFarland dumps its sand into the great black hose of the mooring barge. The hose, reminiscent of the basilisk in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, snakes along the river floor and emerges about 150 feet from where we stand on the beach. Serpentine, its great body basks in the hot sun hundreds of feet into the park area formerly known as the desert. I give Kevin CAN's contact info and continue my monitoring mission to the tune of grumbling ships and insect symphonies.

As I follow the beast's tubular body into my beloved park, I am surprised to see vehicles driving on the trails and parked next to the work area. A mound of red gravel had been built on top of the black hose to allow these vehicles to drive to and from the work site over the hose. I turn my eyes to the ground and I see bulldozer tracks. It's churned up the grasslands area near the area where CAN's members have protested two weeks ago. Deep gashes, three inches deep and two inches wide, mark the bulldozer's course. Bushes are crushed beneath the basilisk's body. I straddle the hose to cross over it - it's like sitting on the back of an elephant. I approach the work site and wary workmen cautiously wave hello. The bulldozer dozes; it's the lunch hour. I say hello to the men.

"You were one of those protesters, weren't you? You had your kid with you. I was driving the bulldozers," one of the men ventures.

"Yes, I was and I remember you. I was yelling Save the Cove! at your bulldozer and you got out and told me you were 'just doing your job,'" I said. "Just so you know, we're not against the dredging, we just don't want it dumped here. This is the problem with Jersey - there are too many people and nowhere to put this stuff." Another man walked up and heard the last part of my comment.

He said, " There's nowhere to put it around here. But there are plenty of places farther south down the river, like Pedricktown. That site can hold 2400 acres. The government used to test Nike missiles there and it's owned by the U.S. government." [I have since found out this site is one of the most ecologically vibrant natural places in NJ and must be protected - the worker didn't know what he was talking about.]

I questioned him further. "Why hasn't it been used before?"

"It would take the barge 3 or 4 hours to get down there. It's too time consuming and expensive," he explained. Then he went on to talk about how he heard the the environmentalists really laid Charlie Myers, the Army Corps' project manager, at the Public Information Session on August 13. I smiled proudly and told him I was one of those people.

A minute later, I say good-bye to the workers and turn my eyes to the scene before me. What was the desert is now a cappuchino-colored mud pit. It's heartbreaking. I think I'm going to be sick. I remember my first meeting with CAN; walking across this trail with the three environmental teachers, Suzanne, Anjie and Bernie. They pointed out fox holes and footprints; the area was a rich and diverse ecosystem. Now it has been slathered with wet, contaminated mud. Picture a sandbox after a rainstorm. Trees are waist deep in water. Mud strangles their trunks. Will they survive? Where are the fox now? Elegant yellow leaves fall to the mud floor and get stuck here; the seasons march on, relentlessly.

Suddenly moving water rushes across the plain, giving the illusion of a stream. It flows into the fragmites, which acts as a natural filter and is one of the reasons this parcel makes such an effective dump site. Darn invasive species. Other workers are milling around and I ask them where the drain pipes are.

"The sluicebox? Follow the orange fence around the bend and it's on the right," one replies.

As I follow the orange fence, I'm struck once again by the almost gothic combination of sounds - insects chirping, the stream's song, and the barge's bass. The park trembles. The muddy desert has changed into a far-reaching field of fragmites. In the distance, I see the same orange fence marking the perimeter of the 20-acre work area. When I get to the sluicebox I see a wooden walkway streatching from the trail to the framed of the sluicebox, which reminds me of an unfinished shed. Two NO TRESPASSING SIGNS warn park users to stay away. The sluicebox structure is 12-foot by 12-foot by 12-foot cube, by my estimation. The floor is covered in mud and I hear water falling. I can't see the pipes but I envision their double gaping mouths, hungry to suck up the river water. I hear the bulldozer roar to life and I feel nauseous again. I see a delicate white butterfly and hear an animal scurrying in the underbrush inside the fence. It gives me a moment of hope that the fox are still around, but then I worry that they're stuck inside the work area.

To the right of this path, near the junction of the Saw Whet trail, lives a young forest. Peering under its canopy, I see birds and insects. This thriving ecosystem gives me hope - it, at least, remains untouched. This is part of the 50 acres CAN helped save.

I decide to walk back to the worksite; as I turn to go I hear a smaller bulldozer approaching from the young forest, driving out of the Saw Whet trail. A second bulldozer. I hike back to the worksite and see a John Deere tractor and I think that modes of transportation are one of the issues that divides "us" from "them." We travel via foot and golf cart; they choose SUVs, trucks, and tractors. There's something so natural and flowing about hiking books and even quiet golf carts. But the sight of these huge, roaring, polluting machines angers me; they don't belong in a nature park.

I hike up a little hill, the entrance to the work site, and stand on an overlook. The destruction spreads out before me, tall mounds of mud; flowing polluted water; a bulldozer pushing it toward the drainage pipes. I think about Freeholder Haines letter (See previous blog entry in red): The original vision of this park was for nature and technology (dredge spoils) to coexist peacefully, he wrote. But that was an impossible vision - the two are incompatible. The people who enjoy this park are disgusted by the dredge silt, the bulldozers, the destruction. We have to prevent this from ever happening in the park again. Like any growing, changing, entity, the park has risen above and beyond its original potential. It broke free of man-imposed restraints.

A third bulldozer disturbs my thoughts and I have to scurry to get out of its way as it rumbles toward my perch overlooking the desert. After the bulldozer parks, I pick my way down the trail toward the last checkpoint on my surveillance session, Dragonfly Pond. I want to see for myself if Commissioner Jackson's workmen are honoring her promise to protect the wetlands. This trail has been ripped up by the bulldozers. Have you ever seen the columns icon on MS Word? That's what this trail looks like - two columns of deep wounds on either side of the trail. It's scarred.

I walk down the little hill toward the pond and I'm not prepared for what I see. The pond has swollen - it's dark brown and some strange liquids that resemble diesel fuel are floating on its surface. The path to the right, which used to lead into the desert, is submerged with the same brown liquid. Again, I wonder what's happened to the fox. Last time I was here, at least half a dozen birds were playing and bathing in the pond. Now, there are no birds in sight and I can't even hear any singing. Another SUV drives down the trail above me.

As I descend to get a closer look at the damage on Dragonfly Pond, I heard three loud plops into the water. The frogs are still here. I see a few dragonflies as well. A huge truck drives by. I lean over to look at that strange liquid and more frogs jump into the water; they seem more skittish than usual. Their environment - their world - has been forever altered by humans. Only nature can repair it and I'm confident she'll regenerate, grow, rise again. That nature will recover isn't a possibility - it's a certainty. The park is in her hands now.

E-mail the author, Courtney McLaughlin at savethecove@gmail.com. Thanks to Bennett Landsman, Dan Homan and Jane Nogaki for taking these wonderful photos.

Eyewitness updates and Freeholder Haines' letter

Hello friends,
As August dims to a close, dredge dumping continues in Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Thanks to all of you who have been monitoring the progress of the DEP and Army Corps in the park. Your reports have been both positive and negative. Positive in that the DEP and Army Corps seem conscientious about leaving as minimal an impact as possible. But of course the impact from the work area is roaring and reverberating throughout the park, scaring away the dragonflies from Dragonfly Pond for example. Bulldozers, slicing deep wounds into the trails and desert, thunder loudly and belch great clouds of dirty diesel fuel. It's very, very sad to be in the park while this work is going on, but it's important for us to monitor these actions. Please keep up the good surveillance - photos are especially important.

Here are some eyewitness accounts and updates:

-Jane Nogaki of the NJ Environmental Confederation:
"I went to the Cove sunday afternoon after reading Dick Pearsall's story in the courier post. There was water running out of the discharge pipes to the river, but no active pumping into the basin at the time I was there - around 1 -2 p.m., but a bulldozer inside the 2 acre area moving soil around pushing it up to the edges and building up the bermed sides, under the pipe into the dredge spoil site. As I left, the two dredge boats/barges were pulling up to the site getting ready to drop another barge load. I took photos, attached, and one thing I notices was Dragonfly pond seems siltier than usual, and an absence of dragonflies. Have you noticed that? I do want to stay involved to help you whenever I can. Lisa Jackson told me last Sunday at the Clearwater Festival that she needs to find a more permanent dredging site pronto, and we need to hold her to that, so this doesn't go on and on."

-Bernie, Cinnaminson - a teacher at the cove:
"I took a walk through the park today (Sat) with a friend and took some pictures, most of which are already shown here. There were quite a few dragonflies at the pond along with about 8 turtles sunning themselves on two small logs. I was shocked to see how far up the water had come. Further into the park we even managed to see two deer. I do, however, know where the foxes (at least some of them) are. My friend who was with me lives in Riverfront (her place is right on the river) and she said that some of them are there. I guess the photographer from Channel 3 and I were probably the last ones in the desert. I took him to see the fox holes just before the bulldozers showed up."

-Marlene, Delanco:
"I am glad we had some impact...though it is so disappointing to lose any of that lovely site. Everytime the Macfarland goes past my house my stomach turns. It must make 20 trips through the day and night."

-We are continuing to press for a Conservation Easement to permanently protect the adjacent 50 acres, although we are no longer sure that's the right term. At the Bridge Commission meeting last week, Fred Stine of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Chris Jage of the NJ Conservation Foundation and myself asked the Bridge Commission how progress is coming on the agreement to preserve the 50 acres. Commissioner John Comegno thanked us - and asked me to share his gratitude with you - for all of the work we have done. Although we lost 20 acres, we managed to help save a large park of the park. So it's both a victory and a defeat. Comegno and JJ expressed their desire to permanently preserve the 50-acre-parcel, but said there's some "legal language" that has to be worked out first. This may have something to do with the 1998 agreement that created the nature park.

-Joann reached out to Burlington Freeholder Haines, imploring him to help save the 50 acres. He responded with this letter:

This is in response to your email requesting that the Board of Chosen Freeholders assist in preserving the Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

As you may know, the State of New Jersey is the owner of the majority of the land that makes up the Nature Park. This land was created through the deposition of dredge materials dating as far back as the 1930’s and is designated as tidelands because it is now or was flowed by the mean high tide. The State Constitution vests the authority to sell or lease state owned tidelands with the Tidelands Resource Council, known at one time as the Board of Navigational Commissioners. A Congressionally authorized pact exists between the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania whereby each state is required to make lands available for dredge material as may be required to maintain the Delaware for navigation. It is the policy of the Tidelands Resource Council that it will not sell or lease land that has been designated by the State for dredge disposition. As you can imagine, these sites are limited. Three sites exist in Burlington County – Palmyra Cove, Hawk Island and Burlington Island.

In the early 1990s, Palmyra area residents became interested in creating a nature park at Palmyra Cove and requested the Freeholders assistance in doing so. Understanding that the State would not consider sale of this land, an application was made to the Tidelands Resource Council to seek approval to use the cove area for a park through assignment of a management rights agreement. This type of agreement would allow a public entity to use of these State controlled lands, generally without charge, for an extended period of time. In 1996, the Tidelands Resource Council agreed to a management rights agreement for Palmyra Cove for a 30 year period subject to the continuing use of the site as a Dredge Management Area. The management rights agreement, executed in 1998, is a three party agreement between the State of New Jersey, the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Burlington County Bridge Commission. Although the agreement does not encompass the 70 acre dredge disposal site, the County and Bridge Commission agreed when they signed the agreement that they would not interfere with the dredge spoils operation within this designated area. Furthermore, the agreement recognizes that the primary use of the tidelands is for dredge disposal and if it becomes necessary to use additional land within the confines of the Management Rights Agreement, the assigned lands shall be vacated.

As I stated above, it was understood from the outset of this project that the State would continue to need this area for dredge disposition. In view of this, the 1994 Concept Plan for the nature park prepared by the Bridge Commission recommended that “information booklets should be prepared explaining the (dredge) processes and their importance” and informational signs be posted along the trail system. The unique partnership between the State, Bridge Commission and County was viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate that two diverse uses of the site could co-exist and to attract funding to construct the nature center. One such funding application states that “[T]his project should be viewed as a prototype for other areas along the Delaware River where a once perceived negative perception of a dredge material site can be shown to work in harmony with nature, be an asset to the community and provide an economic benefit to the area.”

Maintenance of the navigational channels of the Delaware is important to both commercial shipping and recreational boating. As you point out, the Nature Center is enjoyed by many and is home to numerous species of animals and migratory birds. I continue to believe that the Nature Park and the dredging operation can co-exist and that the Freeholders have taken the appropriate actions to balance the needs and wishes of all involved.

Sincerely yours,

William S. Haines, Jr.
Freeholder

Thank you

Thanks to all of the volunteers, environmental groups, businesses, reporters and other people who worked so hard over the last few weeks to protect Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Although we have lost 20 acres of the park, the damage could have been far worse and would have been if so many hundreds of people had not united to speak out to save the park. You are an amazing, driven group of people and I feel so lucky to know you.

Conservation Easement
To ensure that the remaining 50 acres will be permanently and eternally protected, we are now asking the Bridge Commission and DEP to sign a conservation easement agreement. Hopefully we'll be able to add the 20 acres after this emergency has passed.

Thank you

Thanks to all of the volunteers, environmental groups, businesses, and other people who worked so hard over the last few weeks to protect Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

Bulldozers tomorrow morning at sunrise

Tomorrow morning is a pivotal day for Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Bulldozers will roll in just after sunrise - and we'll be there to face them. We'll be asking questions - and hopefully getting some better answers than the NJ DEP and Army Corp. gave us today.

The press will also be there to publicize our efforts. Bring your yard signs and even if you can't get there at sunrise, please come out to the nature park to show your support for the park's protection.

Public Information Session
I am so proud of the park's supporters! Over a hundred people showed up to ask tough questions and voice their opposition to the "compromise," including local residents, the major of Palmyra, delagates from the Sierra Club, the NJ Audubon Society, NJ Environmental Federation and Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper. About a dozen reporters covered the event,
Unfortunately, the NJDEP and Army Corps talked around our questions.

Lisa Jackson - NJDEP Commissioner
During her 20 minute appearance at the meeting, Lisa Jackson said PCNP is held in trust by the state of NJ for the people of the state and that it belongs "to the people of New Jersey." Yet hundreds of NJ's people oppose the plan to dump on the park.

You might expect these agencies to use PowerPoint or Keynote to make their plans clear, but they chose instead to use printed maps, which were impossible for anyone to see. When Ms. Jackson pointed out the 20-acre area for dredge spoils, she said "it includes a pond...I think it has a name.." and the audience shouted out "Dragonfly Pond!" It was a proud moment for us.

She also clarified the nature of the project: EMERGENCY dredging. (Not deepening or maintenance dredging). This title basically gives them the right to do whatever they want, despite the public's concern or case law.

She also said "I support an amendment to the current management agreement taking 50 acres of land off the table." However, the next commissioner can amend it again and use the 50 acres. In order to save that 50 acres forever, a deed restriction/ conservation easement is necessary. Getting this needs to be our long term goal.

Other particulars:
-The project will remove 55,000 cubic yards of sand
-The project will take about 30 working days - starting tomorrow (with dredging to begin next week)
-The project will cost $2.3 million to remove 55,000 cubic yards

Charlie Myers - Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers
Myers claims to have "looked at" existing disposal sites from Allegheny Ave to Trenton and dismissed. He said Hawk Island and Burlington Island can't be used because of "lack of maintenance" and later accused the state of letting the island fall into this state. (There's no money in the budget for maintaining the sites).

He also said the Money Island site was out of commission due to last year's storms. However, we've learned that the site was used for dredge spoils just 6 months ago and that the PADEP could issue permits and prepare the site quickly to accommodate the "emergency" dredging.

Reaction to NJDEP's news

I am shocked and angered that the DEP has made the decision to clear-cut, dig, and dump in 20 acres of Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Everything in the park is interconnected and the destruction of the Dragonfly Pond ecosystem will negatively impact every acre.

I don't see the 20-acre plan as a compromise - rather, it compromises the entire park.

Here are some of the questions I want to get answers to on Monday morning:

-What kind of wildlife relocation plan does the DEP plan to pursue? Have they even thought about that or are they just going to dump sand all over our frogs?

-Why can't one of the other dredge sites take this mere 20-acre portion of spoils? The entire park is going to be damaged because of just 20 acres - that doesn't make sense at all.

-What is the timeline for this? When will bulldozers be in the park?

-Why is the DEP holding the Public Information Session on a Monday morning when most people are at work?

-Is the DEP going to promise, IN WRITING, that the other 50 acres are going to be protected and unused FOREVER?

I refuse to give up hope - bulldozers have't begun their work yet and that means the park is still intact right now. If there's a silver lining to the DEP's announcement, it's that it will galvanize all of the people who are against this action and spur them to come to the meeting. See you there, friends!

Public Info Session on Monday

Hello friends!
Thank you for all of your hard work over these last few days! Here are some updates:

Marketing
-We now have a flyer available to anyone who would like to advertise the Public Information Session on Monday. Email me at savethecove@gmail.com and I'll tell you how to get some color copies.
-We also have fresh new text for the petition ready to roll. If you'd like to start canvassing this weekend, call or email me and I'll send you that text. Make sure people write their email addresses clearly.

Thanks to all of our volunteers, especially:
-Bernie and Christine who together contacted over about 150 people to ask them to come to the meeting on Monday
-Victoria and Joann who are passing out dozens of flyers (and hopefully not passing out from the heat while doing so!) to people with yard signs and in Palmyra Harbour
-Steve who passionately rewrote text for our new petition
-Kristina who shared some very important information with me

Thanks to all of the business owners in Palmyra, Cinnaminson, and Riverton who were so supportive of our cause and let me cover their windows and bulletin boards with flyers, including:
Palmyra Pharmacy, Schwering's Hardware, AngelO's ice cream, WAWA, Bill's Bicycles, Grayson's Flower Shop, of course Palmyra Cove Nature Park, Cinnaminson Library, A New Leaf in Riverton, Riverton Post Office, Riverton Health and Fitness, Zena's Patisserie, Graphic Dimensions, Roger's News and more.
(I also hung flyers at the Palmyra and CinnaminsonTownship Buildings and some other locations).

Press
Courier Post talked to Lisa Jackson and here's what she had to say:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/
Don't let it get you down - the bulldozers haven't started cutting yet!

New email address

Please email me at savethecove@gmail.com

I am in angry mourning for savethecove@yahoo.com, which Yahoo! deleted a few minutes ago, along with all of the email addresses I had tediously entered over the past few days. The company must have thought I was sending spam.

There's no use getting mad, so I turned to google's GMail, which is much easier to use. Email me there please.

DEP Public Information Session: MONDAY 10am

Great news, folks, the NJDEP, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Burlington County Bridge Commission are sponsoring a PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSION on Monday, August 13 at 10 a.m. at the Burlington County Bridge Commission at 1300 route 73 North in Palmyra, NJ. These groups will present their information and then open the floor up to questions. Please be there early to sign in so you can ask your question.

Please let as many people as possible know about this meeting so we can pack the room.

This is a victory for the park and let's make the most of it! If you can help me TODAY please call or email me at savethecove@yahoo.com.

As always, thanks for your hard work and dedication!

Here's an excerpt from the DEP's press release:

"As you may know, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has been working on a compromise plan that would have as its goal adequately balancing the competing priorities of dredge material disposal and beneficial reuse with preservation of habitat and open space at the Palmyra Cove Nature Center. To discuss this plan, DEP has scheduled a public information session on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 10 a.m. at the Burlington County Bridge Commission offices to present this plan and answer questions."

(Thanks to Fred Stine from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network for forwarding!)

Press interview updates

Good morning friends!
Did everybody see the cove made the front page of the Burlington County Times yesterday? The theme was "no news is good news," in other words - no bulldozers spell good news for the nature park. Here's a link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/112-08072007-1389241.html

Yesterday I had conversations with two reporters, one from Moorestown's News-Weekly and another from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Both reporters seemed genuinely concerned about the fate of the park.

News-Weekly interview
Staff writer Rick Murray interviewed me over the phone yesterday morning. It was a quick interview - he wanted to know about the rally we had planned while we thought the bulldozers would be in the park. I told him that we decided to use the meeting as a brainstorming session instead of a rally and our goals are to get a public hearing and reach out to as many organizations as possible to protect the park. Rick was very polite and had some smart suggestions on some local politicians we should contact about the issue. He was also very well-informed about the issue. Look for his article this week!

Philadelphia Inquirer interview
This second interview took place at the park and was much longer. Sam Dangremond, a writing student from the University of Pennsylvania who is interning at the Inquirer this summer, came out to the park at 10:30 a.m. I requested he bring a photographer and he did, a nice guy (wearing hiking boots) named Ron. Both men were very, very curious about why the NJDEP would want to dump the dredge in the nature park. I gladly told the story from the beginning, starting with the 1998 signed agreement - our biggest obstacle. Although I gave a lot of background information, I made sure to state CAN's positions clearly and often. I told Sam we're working for this mission: Awareness. Activisim. Alternatives.

After slathering ourselves with bug spray, we walked down to Dragonfly Pond where thousands of the pond's namesake creatures mingled with geese, frogs and a great blue heron. I explained that this 22-acre site is at the very heart of the park and showed him a trail map outlining the threatened area. Interesting enough, Sam shared with me some information. He said he had called the NJDEP and the Army Corps and the only thing they would say is "No decision has been made." That's it. Just one line. I expressed my frustration at their reluctance to communicate further and talked about how CAN wants Senator Lautenberg to get a public hearing.

Sam asked the most important question of all "What exactly will happen to this place if the dredge gets dumped here?" That was the perfect lead-in to talk about how the last environmental impact study was done in 1977 and that we need a new one.

The photographer took some great images of Dragonfly Pond and the Discovery Center. The tour ended in the air-conditioning (a godsend) of the Discovery Center, where Sam and I used the interactive exhibits to learn about the dredging process. It was a poignant moment, since by this point Sam realized that trees would have to be cut down, frogs killed, geese displaced and an environmental classroom erased in order for it it all to happen.

I asked Sam when the article will run and he said "As soon as tomorrow" but he thinks his editor might want to wait until something happens at the NJDEP/Bridge Commission meetings. I'll keep you posted.

Meetings update

Meeting #1
NJDEP/Bridge Commission, Thursday Aug. 2
According to Clara, at this meeting Lisa Jackson called off the corps. bulldozers from entering the park Monday. Thanks Lisa!

Meeting #2
NJDEP/Bridge Commission, Tuesday, Aug. 7
Clara hasn't heard what progress has been made at this meeting, but she said both parties are trying to figure out how they can save the cove and honor the 1998 agreement.

My thoughts
I'm very happy these meetings have begun and I hope the dialogue can continue until the Bridge Commission and the NJDEP/Corps. agree to dump the dredge on an alternative site and remove PCNP from the list of possible dredge sites permanently.

First meeting: Cove Action Network (CAN)

It was a steamy, misty morning in Palmyra Cove Nature Park. Fifteen passionate volunteers from Cinnaminson, Delanco, Westmont, Palmyra and even Pennsylvania braved the weather to exchange ideas - thank you everyone! As the grey skies parted and the rain showered down upon us, the trees drinking in the overdue libation, the brainstorming began. Here are some things we talked about:

• Establishing partnerships with political, environmental and cultural organizations. We want communication, conversation and answers; one of the ways to get those is to reach out to as many community organizations as possible, including the Burlington County Board of Freeholders (can they make us a PROTECTED park?), the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and local gardening clubs, local schools and teachers, among others.

• Marketing materials: We need to educate and inform the public clearly and concisely. We will work to develop a simple summary of the whole story - how it stands today. The challenge with this is that it changes so frequently. As of this date, the Army Corps/NJDEP want to use 22 acres of the park, the area around Dragonfly Pond, for depositing dredge materials for a maintenance dredging project (This is a separate issue than the NJ v. PA dredge battle that ended with Gov. Rendell accepting responsibility for all dredge sludge). The Bridge Commission, which owns the nature park, signed an agreement in 1998 allowing the Corps. to use an area of the park for dredge deposits - it's a legally binding agreement and it's going to take a LOT of public support and many people's voices to overrule it. A map showing the approximate 22-acre site in question is available as part of the park's Trail Map; this site is just the beginning - the Corps. needs at least 70 acres of the site over the next few years, according to what we've heard.

• Public Hearing: We need a forum in which to ask the NJDEP, the Army Corps. of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife Commission and other parties involved a whole slew of important questions. Our ally Senator Lautenberg will have to be the one to arrange the public hearing - please call or email him and ask him for a public hearing! (856) 338-8922 or http://lautenberg.senate.gov/contact

• Committees: We also divided up into committees in the areas of (1) Marketing, (2) Recruiting, (3) Strategies and (4) Event planning. If you haven't already signed up for a committee and you would like to be involved, please email me at savethecove@yahoo.com

• Long term protection: We need to get Palmyra Cove Nature Park's name removed from the NJDEP's list of possible dredge sites to protect the park in the future.

Cove Action Network: Now recruiting!

Hello friends!
This project has officially become my full-time (unpaid) job! As I was driving to the beach last night with my 2-year-old son and my husband Nick, I got a phone call from our friend and ally Fred Stine of the Delaware Riverkeepers. (Find out more about the riverkeepers by clicking on the link to the right.) Fred and our other advocates had just finished up a conference call discussing the feasability of getting a restraining order to protect the park. Unfortunately, the lawyers he talked to said it wouldn't work, but this creative thinking sets an example for how we have to approach this problem. Fred is going to send out an alert to the Riverkeepers' support network as well as that of the NJ Audubon Society to get them involved in our efforts as well.

Fred also reported some news we both consider outrageous - the last time an environmental impact study was done on the park was back in 1977. Appalling. So how will the Army Corps. even know what it's tearing down if a recent study hasn't been done? Fred also said the Army Corps has not clearly stated where the dredging needs to be done - at first it was 6 miles north of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, and now it's right under the bridge. Fred also said the Army Corps. is now talking about taking a total of 90 acres for dredge waste. Once again, it all goes back to the need for a public hearing to get this information out in the open.

Other updates

-I've been contacting hundreds of volunteers who want to help us out. This morning I talked to a guy named Matt from Palmyra who has a lot of experience organizing rallies and protests, so I think we will be prepared in case we get word about bulldozers coming in the park sometime in the future.

-Marlene from Delanco and I discussed planning a benefit concert and art exhibit at PCNP to raise public awareness of the park's fate. What do you guys think?

-Faith sent out an e-mail to her contacts inviting them to join CAN. Welcome to the blog, friends!

-Philadelphia Greenfest: We should get a table at this event to recruit volunteers for C.A.N. It's September 9 on South Street. I'm going to be there anyway showing off my greasecar (it runs on veggie oil). Would anyone else like to volunteer to sit at the table and recruit? Email me at savethecove@yahoo.com if you're up for that.

Enjoy your weekends and I'll see you on Monday!

Save Palmyra Cove Nature Park - latest news

Thanks to everyone who called me today to get involved in saving Palmyra Cove Nature Park, including Steve from Palmyra and Marlene from Delanco. There have been so many tense moments this week, especially when we thought the bulldozers would be in the park on Monday, but there have also been so many hopeful conversations with people working hard to protect Palmyra Cove Nature Park. So thanks for the inspiration. I also want to thank Joann and June for their hard work on making flyers.

Here's the latest news:

-Bye, bye bulldozers! We received word from Senator Lautenberg's office , which was confirmed by NJDEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson that no DEP/Corps. bulldozers will be in the park on Monday morning! Since everybody worked so hard to create flyers and alert their phone/email trees, we are going to meet in the park as planned. (See blog entry entitled "Save the Cove Picnic" for details)

-The law(yer) is on our side: Today, the Bridge Commission sent a lawyer to meet with the DEP in Trenton to attempt to resolve the issue. We wish him luck and as soon as I hear (through my extremely long grapevine) what progress was made I will let you know.


*Disclaimer: This blog is not affiliated with Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

Save the Cove Picnic!

Monday, August 6
9 a.m.
Save the Cove picnic
Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Instead of a rally on Monday morning, we will have a revelry!
Call it a meet-and-greet, a BYOR (bring your own refreshments) picnic, or a brainstorming session.

Higher ups do not want us to hold a rally and we will respect their wishes - rumor has it that the bridge commission has sent a top attorney to Trenton to convince the DEP to change its plans to dump the dredge deposits on 22 acres of the park. Their meeting was today and now we'll wait to see what, if any, agreement has been reached.

In the meantime, people have been calling me all day to join our volunteer group, Cove Action Network (CAN). I hope everybody can make it to the park on Monday morning so we can exchange ideas in person and meet face-to-face. What would you like to see at the revelry on Monday morning? Here are some ideas:

1. A table to register new volunteers who wants to join Cove Action Network (CAN).

2. Refreshments - please bring your own bottles of water, snacks, etc.

3. LOTS AND LOTS of people! Bring your kids, their teachers, your friends, your neighbors, everybody you know!

In order to comply with our friends who work at PCNP, there will be no official rally (no yard signs, no protest chants (darn!), and no media). Although I was disappointed when I heard we weren't allowed to protest (especially because we had worked so hard to advertise it!), I think this is a great opportunity to turn a negative event into a positive one. All that positive energy is sure to work in our favor. Please let me know if you're coming!

Welcome to the Cove Action Network's blog

Hello friends, neighbors, environmentalists!

Welcome to our forum. This blog is a place for all of the people who care abotu protecting PCNP to participate in discussions, exchange ideas, and learn the latest updates about the fate of the park.

If you're new to the Cove Action Network, which is comprised of volunteers, feel free to get in touch with me with your input and ideas at savethecove@yahoo.com.