Environmental Commissions can work locally to help reduce energy consumption and costs for the community.
One of the major sources of CO2 (carbon dioxide), car and truck emission reduction programs can be implemented to improve the health of the community.
More information on how ECs can be involved in helping to reduce vehicular emissions can be downloaded here
Maintaining an inventory and coordinating stewardship of municipal conservation easements is a vital task for environmental commissions.
For more information and resources on Conservation Easements download the following documents:
New Jersey law requires environmental commissions to maintain an index of public and private open space in the municipality. This can be in the ERI (Environmental Resource Inventory), or as a separate database.
ANJEC has created a Smart Growth Survival Kit to help guide ECs through the Master Planning process and offer practical approaches to managing growth. ANJEC can provide information and references for pro-active and comprehensive municipal planning to help implement natural resource protection and State Development and Redevelopment consistency.
Recognized as an important national and international environmental asset, state and federal legislation in the late 1970’s formed a partnership to preserve, protect and enhance the Pinelands’ special natural and cultural resources. In 1983, the US Man and the Biosphere Program and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Pinelands as the first National Reserve in the US.
The New Jersey Highlands is New Jersey’s major water source, with extensive diverse natural habitat. This region is a vital open space reserve complementing the densely developed population centers of Philadelphia, northern New Jersey, New York City, and eastern Connecticut. Overall, the region provides a host of natural functions necessary for sustaining the developed northeastern United States.
Annually, ANJEC presents Environmental Achievement Awards to Environmental Commissions, Non-profit organizations. Current Achievement Award winners can be found here
Wastewater management is critical to protecting water resources. The ANJEC paper Septic Systems, Clean Water and Your Municipality explains the connections between development, water pollution, sanitary sewers, and septics. Residents in more than 300 NJ communities use on-site septic systems. Most of them depend on wells for their water supply. Because septic systems replenish the groundwater, it is very important that they function properly and do not pollute the groundwater.
Stormwater is precipitation that falls as rain, snow, sleet or hail. Stormwater is best understood in terms of water cycle. Under natural conditions, about 10 percent of precipitation runs over the land surface and about 50 percent infiltrates the soil to replenish groundwater flow and base flow to streams. Plant uptake and evapotranspiration account for about 40 percent.
Be informed! click here to sign up for the ANJEC newsletter
