Eric Stiles
Vice President for Conservation & Stewardship

March, 2003

Shorebird/Horseshoe Crab Conservation Campaign Update

New Jersey Audubon Society continues to work aggressively with its partners to halt the harvest of horseshoe crabs from the Delaware Bay population as bait.  As reported in previous issues, the harvest of crabs threatens to topple the food supply for nearly one million shorebirds using the Delaware Bay as a spring stopover.  Underscoring this point, world-leading ornithologists from four continents have written the Governors of Delaware and New Jersey calling for a moratorium on the bait harvest of horseshoe crabs.

The conservation campaign has taken our coalition to both sides of the Delaware Bay for numerous press conferences, hearings and meetings.  Letters, phone calls and e-mails from our members and the public have been critical to the campaign.  The tenor of the policy debate has shifted noticeably as the result of our collective efforts.  The regulatory agencies are now asking “What should be done?” instead of “Do we have enough information to act?”.  We must continue to hold the Governors of New Jersey and Delaware accountable on this issue.

Our coalition has been steadfast in its call for a bay-wide moratorium on horseshoe crab harvest and a reasonable economic displacement package for the impacted fisheries.  Government failure to take appropriate measures could result in litigation from the conservation community.  Any horseshoe crab management proposal must guarantee an adequate food supply for the shorebirds and a viable horseshoe crab population.

Our coalition has also launched an effort to list the Red Knot as a federal endangered species.  Recent research indicates that the Red Knot rufa subspecies, which migrates through the Delaware Bay, may become extinct by 2010.  This alarming finding mandates more robust protection afforded through the federal Endangered Species Act.

Stone Harbor Point –Piping Plovers Protected

New Jersey Audubon Society and American Littoral Society have been working with state and federal agencies to protect Piping Plover (federally threatened) habitat at Stone Harbor Point.  In 2002, six pairs of this beautiful shorebird nested on the Point.  Their habitat was threatened by Stone Harbor’s alleged failure to adhere to an Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) permit regarding silt deposition onsite.  The permit called for the dredge materials to be tested for contaminants and consist of sand, upon which Piping Plovers nest.

The town of Stone Harbor instead created a huge impoundment of primarily muck on the Point which is not viable habitat for nesting plovers.  On January 8, the United States Attorney’s Office filed suit against Stone Harbor for failing to comply with its ACOE permit which threatened the critical Piping Plover habitat.  A settlement was reached on February 11 calling for the town to relocate the silt by March 31 and create 4.4 additional acres of plover nesting habitat. 

The settlement, if adhered to, is a home run for this endangered beach-nesting bird species.  More information on Piping Plovers can be found at http://endangered.fws.gov/i/B69.html. 

Cerulean Warbler

NJ Audubon Society is supporting a petition to list the Cerulean Warbler as a federally threatened species.  This brilliant blue wood warbler has declined by over 60% in the northeast United States from 1966-2000.  In 2000, only 157 pairs remained in New Jersey.

The decline in Cerulean Warbler populations is due to the loss or fragmentation of forested habitat in the warbler's summer breeding areas (forests of the Eastern United States).   The warbler's forested wintering areas in the Andes Mountains of South America have also been destroyed and severely fragmented.  Numerous studies have shown that Cerulean Warblers are an area-sensitive species, requiring large, contiguous forests that are thousands of acres in size.

Federal endangered species listing, unlike New Jersey state listing, protects a species’ critical habitat which will be essential to the Cerulean Warbler’s survival.

Surface Water Quality Standards Regulations to Help Protect Endangered Species

Commissioner Brad Campbell of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection has proposed new rules under Surface Water Quality Standards Act.  The regulations will help protect human health and endangered species through creating new contaminants standards and protecting habitat associated with waterways. 

Under the new rules, the Commissioner has proposed adding 15 waterways as “C1 waterways”, which would be protected from any future degradation in water quality.  The waterways including 9 reservoirs and 6 streams provide critical habitat to many state threatened and endangered species, including the Bald Eagle (state endangered).  These regulations demonstrate that water supply protection and wildlife conservation are integrally linked.

Proposed State Stormwater Regulations Helps Protect Habitat and Water

Under Commissioner Brad Campbell, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has proposed new regulations for stormwater management.  These proposals appear to be courageous and necessary steps in the defense of the state’s threatened aquatic resources and habitat.  Developers are quickly consuming the remaining open space lands in New Jersey, and the previous rules enacted in 1983 did little to enforce smart growth.

The new rules require developers to improve the quality and reduce the quantity of stormwater runoff resulting from new structures and landscaping.  Forms of “impervious cover,” like asphalt and concrete, will be limited.  Likewise, developers will be discouraged from creating large lawns at the cost of important forest and wetland habitats.  The state will promote a manual of best management practices that demonstrates environmentally conscious ways of designing new properties which will better protect our natural resources.

Recent construction encroaches on waterways that supply the drinking water for many, if not the majority, of people in the state.  The new regulations will create a 300-foot buffer along C1 water bodies that protects the purity of these necessary water sources.  This buffer will also shelter many rare, threatened and endangered species for which these waterways represent the last available habitat.

NJ Audubon Defends Freshwater Wetlands Rules

Through litigation, the New Jersey Builders Association (NJBA) is challenging new rules adopted by the state which utilize the Landscape Project to better delineate wetlands containing state threatened and endangered species.  We have reported extensively about the Landscape Project in previous magazine issues.  It represents a new, revolutionary tool to identify critical habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species.  NJ Audubon is being represented by the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic in defense of these innovative regulations.

The rules are being touted by the environmental community as a huge stride forward in safeguarding our natural resources.  NJBA’s effort is simply another veiled attempt to derail Smart Growth and resource conservation.  NJ Audubon refuses to allow this theft of our natural heritage! 

Cats Indoors! Campaign Launched in New Jersey

American Bird Conservancy (http://www.abcbirds.org) has asked New Jersey Audubon Society to launch a Cats Indoors! Campaign in New Jersey.  Each year domestic and feral cats kill hundreds of millions of birds and billions of small mammals in the U.S. 

Cats Indoors! - The Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats - was initiated by ABC to end the unnecessary suffering and death of birds and other wildlife caused by free-roaming domestic cats. Cats Indoors! seeks to educate cat owners, decision makers and the general public that free-roaming cats pose a significant risk to birds and other wildlife, suffer themselves, and pose a threat to human health.

Cats Indoors! encourages cat owners to keep their cats indoors and advocates laws, regulations, and policies to protect cats and birds, including the humane removal of free-roaming cats from areas important to wildlife. The campaign promotes grassroots efforts to address the issue at state and local levels. 

Federal Wildlife Funding

NJ Audubon has long advocated for federal wildlife funding.  While our New Jersey delegation, including Congressman Jim Saxton, have taken strong leadership roles in support of this, the funding program stands poised to be gutted in the 2003 budget.  Through the federal State Wildlife Grants (SWG), $85 million was distributed to states in 2002 to help protect the Noah’s Arc of wildlife.

Congress is threatening to cut SWG funds to $75 million in 2003.  New Jersey stands to lose over $400,000 earmarked for wildlife conservation.  These funds help prevent wildlife from becoming extinct through funding proactive efforts.  President Bush in his proposed 2004 budget has only earmarked $60 million for SWG, which is far short of the $350 million goal.  Please visit http://www.teaming.com for information on how you can help!