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Your personal checks are also graciously accepted and will result in the full value of your donation going to Bergen SWAN.

Bergen SWAN is now on Facebook!  Click HERE to join our Facebook community.

News!

VOLUNTEERS, ARTISTS & MUSICIANS NEEDED for September & October 2010...
See "Get Involved" for details!

Thurs., September 16, 2010, 5:30 / 7:00 PM 

Watershed-friendly Landcare Workshop II, FREE

Please join us for the second event in our series on managing our landscapes in a more environmentally conscious way.  The 9/16 workshop is being hosted at the Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, NY.  The main program starts at 7:00 PM with Bill Kolvek of BK Perennials discussing Low-water & Water-retaining Landscaping, followed by Rob Schucker of R&S Landscaping, who will talk about Water-efficient Irrigation Techniques.  You are also invited to join us at 5:30 PM for a special pre-program tour of the rain garden at the Hungry Hollow Co-op, led by Ray Manacas and Bill Day of the Threefold Educational Center.  Click on Happenings for full details.

Friday, October 1, 2010, 8:00 PM -

Hackensack River StoryNight! - A Celebration of the River in Words & Art - Admission $25/Person

Save the date for this very special evening at the lovely Church of the Holy Communion in Norwood, where you can listen to leading river advocates tell stories about their experiences living, working, and adventuring along the Hackensack and its tributaries.   The event is designed to be  participatory, with opportunities for audience members to tell their own river story.  The night will also feature an exhibit and sale of river-inspired art (painting, mixed media, photography) and river-related music.  Please attend this fundraising celebration of our 22^nd year working to preserve the watershed!  Check our Happenings page for more details.

Announcing this summer's...
Hackensack River Watershed
Story Contest! 
Sharpen your Pencils...

Contest runs June 1 through April 1, 2011

1st PRIZE:     $500 Cash

2nd PRIZE:  $250 Value Olympic Waterproof Camera

Bergen SWAN and Bergen County Historical Society announce the first ever short story contest for the Hackensack River Watershed.  Contestants are invited to submit original creative writing using our waterways as a backdrop or character in the story.

For further details, contest rules, and an application, click here!

Bergen SWAN completes deal to preserve 11 acres of watershed buffer in River Vale near Lake Tappan!

Unbelievably, SWAN began advocating for the preservation of this parcel over 21 years ago.  Persistence does pay.  By consistently opposing development plans, successfully challenging land use regulation permits and building support for the purchase of these lands we have finally seen this dream come true.  Through our application to the NJDEP Green Acres program Bergen SWAN was able to provide $850,000 to the funding package.  We would like to offer a sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to bringing this long, long effort to a successful conclusion. 

Click here for a link to the report on the acquisition in the Bergen Record.

Our June 18^th event drew a capacity crowd of over 60 participants. Attendees at the session enjoyed talks by noted experts in the field of streamside landscaping, non-toxic lawn care and using native plants in our ornamental landscapes.   Thanks again to all our co-sponsors, United Water NJ, R & S Landscaping, Pascack Valley Sustainability Group and NJ Landscape Contractors Association. Pictures from the event can be seen by clicking HERE!

This workshop is envisioned as the first in a series of educational programs on maintaining our homes and landscapes in a more environmentally sensitive fashion.  Check our website regularly for announcements of upcoming events.

Planting in the Park Yields
Seeds of Success! 

Thanks to the efforts of over 80 volunteers, our Planting in the Park on May 15 and 16 was a real triumph! 

With the cooperative perseverance of the organizers and volunteers of all stripes, all our planning, analyzing, digging, lugging, hauling, wheelbarrowing, shoveling, staking, tying, raking, seeding, feeding, and bucket brigade watering resulted in a lovely new circle of 60 new trees and 75 new shrubs around the pond at Pascack Brook County Park in Westwood.  These buffer of plantings will help to enhance the pond's water quality, beautify the scenery, and increase wildlife diversity. 

In case you missed them, links to stories in the Record  & Community Life covering our event are listed below: 

Record Article

Community Life Article

An array of photos of our event can be found at our Picasa site:

Planting in the Park Photos

Please send us any photos that you took during that weekend and we will select the best of them to add to the posting and share with others.

We look forward to working with all of you in the coming months as we  begin to develop plans for Planting in the Park II, which will add more shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses to the banks of the pond. Stay in touch to learn about our development of and involvement in other new restoration projects throughout the watershed. 

3,300 Acres of Water Company Land Now Protected by NJDEP Easements!

In settlement of our ten year inquiry into violations of the Watershed Protection Act, United Water NJ (UWNJ) will place a permanent conservation easement on over 3,200 acres of their watershed properties and contribute $1,000,000 to the NJ Green Acres program for future purchase of watershed protective open space in Bergen County.  A joint press release by UWNJ, Riverkeeper, and Bergen SWAN can be found at our Happenings page.  A link to a story in the Record appears below.  More details to follow...

http://www.northjersey.com/environment...

Welcome to Bergen SWAN…

From our beginnings in 1988, Bergen SWAN has been aggressively pursuing the preservation of the watershed buffer forests around our drinking water reservoirs.  To date, we have helped protect from development over 3,300 acres of woods and wetlands, and over 300 acres of golf courses. 

The narrow, protective, forest buffers around our reservoirs represent some of the only unbroken stretches of woods in an intensely populated, increasingly urban area. These watershed buffers are a critical link to sound watershed management for the Upper Hackensack, helping to maintain safe drinking water quality for nearly 1 million Bergen and Hudson County residents in New Jersey and in Rockland County, New York.

Watershed buffers... 

• Filter and slow runoff, absorbing pollutants
• Control erosion
• Mitigate flooding
• Provide habitat for wildlife
• Provide a sanctuary for hiking and passive recreation
  

While we continue to fight for the permanent protection of the last remaining open spaces in our region, we are increasingly turning our focus to developing stewardship and educational programs that ensure the long-term sustainability of our watershed.   These programs include:

• Encouraging good streamkeeping by residents living alongside waterways
• Installation of stormwater controls such as rain gardens
• Phasing out the use of high phosphorus fertilizers
• Promoting non-toxic, environmentally sound practices in public places and golf courses
  
  

How it works… Throughout the year, each of the different partners of the Co-op (listed on the right side of this page) will host an outdoor activity or indoor educational program at a nature center or other appropriate location to which all group members are invited. When applicable, member discounts will apply to all Co-op partner members and supporters. For example, if Tenafly Nature Center hosts an event, members of all other NPC groups pay the TNC member rate. (Non-members are also welcome to attend the event, but must pay the non-member rate.)  All NPC events are advertised in each partner group’s newsletter.

For a list of upcoming NPC programs, please visit the NPC site at:

http://www.natureprogram.org/