June 5, 2023
On May 30, I had the privilege of beginning a 10-week coastal stewardship class that I will be taking throughout this summer. The class is located in Tom’s River, New Jersey, not far from my family’s home in Tuckerton and is run by Dr. Doug Zemeckis of Rutgers University as part of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County. Each week, I have the opportunity to hear from professors, organization representatives, and other experts who educate me on the environment and upkeep of the Barnegat Bay Watershed. In the first class I attended, I heard from Bill Walsh, President of the incredible nonprofit ReClam the Bay, which seeks to improve the bay’s ecosystem by maintaining its shellfish population and stabilizing its shorelines with strategically posited shell reefs. Dr. Jim Merritt, formerly of the NJDEP, also spoke to the class about the geography of the area, his own experiences working in and around the bay for 70 years, and the diverse wildlife around Island Beach State Park. Dr. Stan Hales, Director of the Barnegat Bay Partnership, then presented to the group on the National Estuary Program, the Clean Water Act, and the biological characteristics of an estuary. He also spoke about the threat of eutrophication, which, as I detailed in a previous post, is the process by which harmful algal blooms create aquatic “dead zones” as a result of excessive nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Dr. Hales introduced some ways that our community can take action against this, including improving storm water management and ensuring that our soil is healthy and permeable (so as to soak nutrient-dense runoff back into the ground). Even though the class was only two hours, it was packed with information, and I am learning so much about how to best serve the bay and its community. I can’t wait for my next class! I plan to post updates each week about the class, so stay tuned for those. I am also eager to build partnerships between Plastic Free Peninsula and the longer-standing organizations protecting and enriching the ecology of the Jersey shore.