The Raritan River Watershed Project

Schiff Nature Preserve is known mostly for its forests and meadows. When members and friends come here to hike, for educational programs, or to drop their children off for nature camp, they tend to think of trees. What the average person doesn’t realize about us is that this land sits in the Highlands, an essential part of New Jersey, in a place that feeds into the North Branch of the Raritan River, a river that provides the drinking water for millions of New Jersey residents all throughout the state, far from Schiff. What they may not realize is how Schiff contributes directly to the water supply in New Jersey. Because the quality and quantity of our drinking water is so important, and because of the vast amount of information that exists on that topic, we have developed a course that will begin on November 17th for teens to learn more about where their water comes from and the numerous issues that either threaten or support that supply.

We are fortunate to have a number of steadfast supporters in our local teens. Whether they know Schiff from our Summer Nature Program, a scout project, volunteering or painting our mural, it seems there are always a few teenagers around looking for ways to help. We’re lucky that way. We’re also very fortunate that kids of all ages in our area have such a sophisticated level of awareness about conservation issues. You can see it in our all our volunteers, but especially the younger ones. They’re engaged in what we do, whether they’re helping with younger children at a program, taking photographs, counting bluebirds, or helping us construct a new trail.

Regardless of their level of engagement, there’s one issue that’s hard to understand if we’re not directly involved with it: water. Throw out some terms and the average person doesn’t necessarily know what they mean or how they impact their lives. To tell a group of teenagers that they live in the Raritan River Watershed or that Schiff is located at the headwaters of that same river will receive a lot of blank looks. That’s why Schiff is launching the Raritan River Watershed Project, an eleven-month program for teens that will explore the river in its entirety, from its headwaters near Schiff all the way to where it spills into the Atlantic in Raritan Bay. Over the course of eleven months they will travel the entire length of the Raritan River, learning about its history,  ecology, and the various ways it is impacted by development, commerce and government. Students will take monthly field trips, and meet with experts in a number of fields. In the end, they will develop action plans that will evolve directly from what they have learned throughout the course of their time with us.

One of the phrases that comes up a lot around here is “community-based conservation.” The only way we can ensure that the community stays involved in caring for the land, the water, and the species that depend on a healthy ecosystem is to pass on as much information as we can to the people of this community. The other way we can ensure that is to make new connections and form partnerships with other organizations that share our concerns and pool resources. We have been very fortunate through this process to have partnered with the Edison Wetlands Association, a grassroots organization dedicated to conservation, education and cleanup of hazardous waste sites in New Jersey. Schiff also recently joined the Raritan River Collaborative whose members are working together to restore and preserve the River, and collectively we are changing the conversation about its future. We each have a lot to share with each other and can’t wait to get started on this project.

Teens aren’t the only people who have a hard time understanding where their water comes from and which issues they need to be aware of in order to protect their local water supply. It’s a huge issue that goes in a lot of different directions and touches many different areas. This one course, on this one river, will take us almost a year to complete. There’s a lot of information to take in. We could all learn from this project, and that’s exactly what we hope to do. We intend to ask the students themselves to share their experiences and what they learn right here on this blog (and on their own, if they have one), so we can all learn from this.

Today also happens to be Blog Action Day. This year’s topic is water. After you’ve checked out the resources above, we hope you’ll explore some of the other conversations that are happening all over the world today, because what happens here at Schiff has an impact that reaches far and wide and vice versa. Today, thousands of people all over the world are writing about water, to see what can happen if a whole lot of people are asked to think about this one topic for a day. How many ways can we spur people to take action toward protecting the earth’s most precious resource? This is Schiff’s small contribution to that effort.  We ask those of you reading this, in the spirit of our own efforts at community, to figure out what you can do to connect with someone new, share resources and information, and do your part to ensure your water is safe, clean and plentiful.

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