Water-dependent uses along the New Jersey coast rely on access to the water that increasingly threatens to damage their facilities and support infrastructure in the surrounding community. Mal-adaptive planning strategies to enhance resilience could fail to recognize the interrelated systems of benefits and risks that face water-dependent uses, including the spatial constraints that limit the […]
Bloustein, Campo, Flood, mini-grant, resilience
The R/V Rutgers is back in the water! We are now taking reservations for spring and summer excursions. The Rutgers is capable of supporting a wide range of educational and scientific needs. This fully equipped 20 passenger vessel can navigate through the lower river and estuary, providing passengers with the opportunity to experience the Raritan ecosystem firsthand and participate […]
An “Restoring the Manalapan Brook Watershed”, a series of videos produced by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex County, examines restoration efforts within the Manalapan Brook watershed. The Manalapan Brook is part of the Lower Raritan watershed management area (WMA09) in central New Jersey. This video series was developed for New Jersey municipalities, residents, and […]
The study of microplastics and their negative effects as water pollutants has led to multiple opportunities for research and partnership. Through the Rutgers Raritan River Consortium minigrant program, Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld led a study with the Raritan Headwaters Association (RHA) over this past summer. The goal of the study was to better understand microplastic transport […]
Seven graduate students participated in this Fall 2017 studio through the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy to analyze two key elements for public access to the Raritan River as proposed in the Rutgers University Physical Master Plan – the RU 2030 Master Plan. The key elements explored were a new riverside […]
Be it drought, flood, excessive heat or cold, climate variability and change, or simply the more “normal” day-to-day conditions in the basin, it is exceedingly beneficial to have adequate and accurate environmental data at hand to assist the research community, decision/policy makers within diverse stakeholder communities and the general public. Rutgers Raritan River Consortium (R3C) […]
climate, minigrant, Robinson, weather station CoCoRaHS
Summer flounder (Paralichtys dentatus) is a key species for New Jersey’s fisheries, including being the most commonly captured species by recreational anglers and the most valuable finfish species for the commercial fishing industry (NMFS, 2017). Increasingly strict fisheries management measures have been implemented in recent years partially due to the results from the most recent […]
fisheries, founder, minigrant, Zemeckis
With the surge of urbanization and industrialization, the Raritan River, and particularly its 15-mile long lower portion, has experienced profound contamination over the last 100 years. More than 15 EPA designated Superfund Sites are present in the Raritan watershed, and exceptionally high concentrations of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury have […]
Bu, Lower Raritan, metals, Roccanova, RV Rutgers, Schaefer, Sontag, zooplankton
The shoreline of Raritan Bay is developed with homes and recreation sites that are vulnerable to erosion and flooding exacerbated by increased rates of sea level rise. The US Army Corps of Engineers has implemented coastal storm-risk management projects or feasibility studies for several communities on Raritan Bay, but not all locations are included. Municipalities […]
Cliffwood, Miller, minigrant, Nordstrom, Raritan Bay, resilience
The Reinfelder lab and high school students from Malcolm X Shabazz High School (MXSHS) in Newark, NJ were awarded a Rutgers Raritan River Consortium Mini-grant to conduct field studies of ecoenzymes along the Raritan River Bay. Uptake experiments of the neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg) into a freshwater phytoplankton using natural river water were conducted to evaluate […]
methylmercury, minigrant, Reinfelder, RV Rutges, Saba, Schaefer, SEBS, Sontag