State of the Raritan
Status and trends from across the region, where do we go from here?
Friday, June 9, 2017
Douglass Student Center, New Brunswick, NJ
9th Annual Sustainable Raritan Conference and Awards Ceremony
Our 2017 conference showcased a series of status and trends reports by Raritan stakeholders from across the region. Presentations described several decades of change in key indicators of watershed health for the Raritan River, basin and bay. And during lunch, keynote speaker, Andrew Johnson of the William Penn Foundation reflected on the strategic approach developed and applied through the Delaware River Watershed Initiative to address the same types of issues we face in the Raritan. What do these reports say about the health of the Raritan and what are the key concerns that still need to be addressed? How do we best leverage existing resources to tackle them? These are a few of the questions panelists and participants considered during this day long conference.
We also presented the 2017 Sustainable Raritan River Awards to recognize outstanding achievements in efforts to revitalize, restore and protect Raritan River resources and to make the Raritan region a premiere place to live, work and raise a family. Eight recipients were recognized. You can follow the link below to learn more about them and their good works for a more sustainable Raritan.
New at this year’s conference was a Data Blitz. The Data Blitz — a series of eleven five-minute long lightning talks — covered a broad range of topics highlighting current academic research, community actions, policy and planning efforts by stakeholders across the Raritan region. Each talk was supported by a poster, and the conference closed with a poster session and networking reception.
If you missed the conference or want to learn more about the presentations and talks, check out the links below, or contact Sara Malone for more information.
Also, watch for our announcement of next year’s conference — our 10th Annual!
Links to more information:
- Conference Agenda
- Speakers Biographies
- Continuing Education Credits
- 2017 Sustainable Raritan Award Recipients – Press Release
Conference Presentations
- Welcome
- Sara Malone and Dr. Carrie Ferraro, Welcome and Rutgers on the Raritan
- Status and Trend Reports
- Dr. Richard Lathrop, State of the Raritan Report, Volume 1 and Updates
- Dr. Jay Kelly, Assessing Forest Health in Central New Jersey: Effects of Deer and Invasive Plant Species
- Jeffrey L. Hoffman, Status of Raritan Groundwater Resources
- Kimberly A. Cenno and Jack Pflaumer, 2016 NJDEP Integrated Water Quality Report
- Elizabeth Schuster, Scoping for a Healthier Raritan Watershed for Nature and People
- Isabelle Stinnette, Habitat Restoration Projects and Opportunities in the Raritan
- Keynote Address
- Panel and Audience Discussion, Where do we go from here? (summary comments)
- Data Blitz – Eleven Lightning Talks
- Daniel Mayer, Restoring Duke’s Brook: A Story of Collaboration
- Mike Stepowyj, Sediment Survey of the Lower Raritan River
- Meredith Comi, Citizen Science Monitoring for Pathogen Indicators Along the NJ Raritan Bayshore
- Mara Tippett, It’s Time to Test your Well! What Motivates Homeowners to Monitor Their Drinking Water?
- Zoe Linder-Baptie and Alexa Schatzmann, Locally Driven Policies to Help Improve Water Quality in the Raritan River Basin
- Dr. Beth Ravit and Sandra Meola, Microplastic Pollution in the Raritan River
- Dr. Aamani Rupakula, Anaerobic Biodegradability of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Raritan River Sediments
- Dr. Josh Kohut, Introducing Rutgers Students to NJDEP Sampling and Quality Control Standards
- Dr. Margaret Christie and Jennifer Walker, Impacts of Sea-level Change and Human Activities in the Raritan River
- Brittany Musolino, A River-Friendly Vision for the Raritan Basin
- Anthony Vastano, Raritan River Fish Cam
- Poster Session
- Daniel Mayer, Duke Farms – Dukes Brook 2017 CREP Restoration
- Mike Stepowyj, Sediment Survey of the Lower Raritan River
- Meredith Comi, Citizen Science Monitoring for Pathogen Indicators Along the NJ Bayshore
- Mara Tippett, It’s Time to Test your Well! What Motivates Homeowners to Monitor Their Drinking Water?
- Zoe Linder-Baptie and Alexa Schatzmann, Locally Driven Policies to Help Improve Water Quality in the Raritan River Basin
- Dr. Beth Ravit and Sandra Meola, Microplastics in Urban Freshwaters: Conduit for Persistent Organic Pollution
- Dr. Josh Kohut, Introducing Rutgers Students to NJDEP Sampling and Quality Control Standards
- Dr. Margaret Christie and Jennifer Walker, Impacts of Sea-level Change and Human Activities in the Raritan River
- Brittany Musolino, A River-Friendly Vision for the Raritan Basin
- Alex Ambrose w/Krasnuk, Walker, Weber and Viera, Mapping the Physical and Historical Features of the Lower Raritan
- Rosy Tucker w/Kapagantula, Gilardi, Schumm, Ray and Hudyha, Flood Inundation Modeling for the Raritan River
- Ian Baker w/Hess, Huang, Kerr, Nausbaum, Purus and Warina, Raritan River Real-Time Hydrological Observatory
- Daryl Krasnuk, Improving Watershed Health Through Habitat Restoration and Storm Water Management in the Raritan River Basin
- Daryl Krasnuk, Urbanization and Groundwater Recharge in the Raritan River Watershed
- Dr. Nicole Fahrenfeld, Microplastics as Emerging Contaminants in New Jersey Surface Water
- Susan Welkovits, Raritan River Park Connector Trail (poster), Raritan River Park Connector Proposed Trail (handout)
- Dr. Kristi MacDonald, Biodiversity Initiatives to Protect Water in the Upper Raritan Region
- Subhasis Giri, Assessing Land Use Intensity on Stream Health Using Macro-Invertebrates
- Anthony Vastano, The Raritan River Fish Cam: A Live View of Fish Passage on the Raritan River
- Angela Gorczyca, Waiting 2 – 3 Days to Swim in a Stream After a Rain Event May Increase Safety: Raritan Headwaters Dips into Bacteria Monitoring
- Dr. Jie Gong, Inundation Risk Information System (IRIS) Viewer: A Convergence of Big Spatial Data and Cloud Computing for Flood Mitigation
- Alex Mossavir, Where the Pipe Ends: The Fate of PPCPs in the Raritan River Watershed
- Samuel Wieczerzak, Characterization of PPCP-degrading Microbes in River Sediments
Thanks to our Sponsors
Multi-year Sponsors
Bald Eagle Level Sponsor
Osprey Level Sponsors
In Memory of
Ann McGovern Suydam
Special Thanks to
Chancellor Richard Edwards, Rutgers University – New Brunswick
Dean James Hughes, Rutgers Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Dean Robert Goodman, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
The Sustainable Raritan River Initiative is independently funded. For information about how to support our efforts, contact Sara Malone at sara.malone@rutgers.edu or by calling 848.932.2720. Thank you!