Activity Report
April 2005

• A Great Day for Essex County:

  On Monday, May 2nd, Essex County Executive Joe DiVencenzo announced the opening of the new state-of-the-art Environmental Center. It is located on Eagle Rock Avenue in Roseland. The new Center will provide school children and their families with a unique opportunity to learn about the environment and gain an appreciation for nature in an interactive atmosphere. " For many of our children, coming to see the trees, river and wildlife is like entering a whole new world ", said County Executive DiVencenzo proudly. The New Jersey Audubon Society will provide classes and nature programming at the Center. The Essex County Group will also work closely with the Center in creating presentions related to the environment.

• Seton Hall Prep Property:

  Over 50 people attended the Bruce Kershner presentation on Ancient Forests at the West Orange Library, March 31st. Mayor John McKeon attended part of the slide show. We had press in the New York Times, New Jersey Network news did a piece on it, West Chronicle covered our press conference in front of Seton Hall Prep on Northfield Avenue. We have generated a lot of interest in the issue. What's at stake is the remaining 20+ acres of a forty-acre tract on Prospect Avenue where parts of an Ancient Forest exist and which contains ruins of a Gov. George McClellan's arboretum. The school plans to build on it expanded sports facilities and eventually destroy this valuable, historic and environmentally sensitive area forever.

• West Essex Highlands:

  Linda Stiles has been spearheading an effort to stop a high-density development on the Second Watchung Mountain Range in West Orange. The property is one of the last remaining privately owned large forested areas in Essex County. The development of this property would result in the loss of a rare ecologically sensitive and highly scenic tract of land in Essex County. The many streams that cross the land are headwaters for the Canoe Brook, tributary of the Passaic River and are classified as Priority Wetlands by the Environmental Protection Agency.