Rally for the Navesink Meeting Minutes February 1st, 2017 6pm – 7:30pm Monmouth County Library Eastern Branch Introductions: In attendance in alphabetical order American Littoral Society- Zach Royh AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador- Alexis Bowman Clean Ocean Action- Amanda Wheeler, Mae Henry, Swarna Muthukrishnan, Zach Lees & Cindy Zipf Concerned Citizens-Bob Gorder, Liza and John Doonan, Kara Harrington & Kevin Mcgrath Fair Haven Environmental Committee- Jessie Muray Friends of Oceanic Bridge- Dan and Nancy Crabbo JerseyBayshore.com- John Schneider Middletown Environmental Commission- Bill Simmons Monmouth Conservation- Amanda Brockwell & Alexia Cosatto Navesink and Shrewsbury Fishing Club- Peder Hagberg & sons Navesink Maritime Heritage Association- Rick Van Hemmen & Anne Van Hemmen Navesink River Municipalities Committee- Brian Rice New Jersey Council of Diving Clubs- Glenn Arthur New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection- Bill Hedderndorf & Bob Schuster NY/NJ Baykeeper- Sandra Meola Red Bank Councilman- Mark Taylor Red Bank Pulse- John Velasso River Rats Inc. Fair Haven Sailing Club- Susan Boyce Riverview Medical Center-Wendy Moore Rumson Garden Club-Liz Card & Lucy Kalian Shrewsbury River Sailing Club- Paul Kinsella Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club- John Quinn Sierra Club-Shore Chapter & Tinton Falls Environmental Committee- Bob Sandberg Steven’s Institute of Technology- Elizabeth & Lee Beck Surfrider Jersey Shore Chapter- Zach Zeilmen Tinton Falls Environmental Committee- Teresa Maltz Meeting Goals • Meeting was called to order at 6pm. It is a New Year’s resolution to begin and end meetings on time. • Leverage all activities and programs among the Rally for the Navesink alliance and review Chart of Actions. • The Chart of Actions was started in 2016 to organize the actions of the Rally for the Navesink alliance and will continue to be utilized in 2017 • Discuss 2017 and more, review programs of different groups • Reduce sources of pollution • Grow the alliance • Coordinate/collaborate better

To help navigate the conversation, a meeting worksheet was distributed. We asked groups to fill in actions for 2016 and 2017, indicated what week days and times were best to have a conference call, meeting topic suggestions, potential partners for the Rally for the Navesink and any suggestions they have about the Rally. Review of Rally for the Navesink Accomplishments in 2016 Rally for the Navesink groups highlighted their successes in education, research, networking and action in 2016, as well as discussed actions for 2017. • Discussion participants included Navesink Maritime Heritage, NJDEP, Monmouth Conservation, Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club, Surfrider Jersey Shore Chapter, NY/NJ Baykeeper, Rumson Garden Club, Navesink Municipalities and Clean Ocean Action. • For many groups 2016 was a starting point, which gave them time to formulate plans to best address the pollution problems in the Navesink. Many groups will be releasing exciting new programs for education and research in 2017. Rally for the Navesink Alliance 2017 Actions the groups are planning in 2017 focus on increasing awareness about the Rally for the Navesink alliance and the current state of the river, as well as continuing the ‘find it/fix it’ strategy. • These plans were recorded in the Chart of Actions in the Rally for the Navesink Google Drive folder. A spirited conversation about connections, resources and other actions followed. Alexis Bowman (AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador within Monmouth County) is available for presentation and help with watershed education. [email protected] Additional 2016 Activities/ Actions • In 2016 Rutgers University School of Engineering preformed side by side sampling analysis in conjunction with Clean Ocean Action’s canine ship and sniff. This paper can be found in the Google Drive here. • Rutgers Cooperative Extension Agricultural Experimental Station completed an Impervious Cover Reduction Action Plan (ICRAP) in Fair Haven it found that the town has 27% impervious surface area, which means with ½ inch of rain 18 million gallons of water is being displaced through runoff. Stevens Institute of Technology Professor Elizabeth Beck, who specializes in urban stormwater management, discussed how important it is to consider the spacing of impervious and pervious surfaces. • Navesink Maritime Heritage Association is interested in more native plant presentations from Monmouth Conservation in 2017. Improving Collaboration and Coordination Rally for the Navesink groups visited the idea of continuing meetings among Rally for the Navesink group members to continue to helping and supporting each other. The Rally for the Navesink groups are united

by the same goal, and collaboration among the groups is key to avoid reinventing the wheel. It was decided that: 1. Groups will continue to meet primarily by conference call every month. 2. Groups will continue to use the Rally for the Navesink Facebook page as an outlet to promote events, programs and efforts within the Navesink Watershed. If you are a group and are interested in becoming an admin on Facebook, please contact Mae Henry at [email protected] . 3. Groups requested contact information for the rest of the Rally for the Navesink groups. This document will be available in the Rally for the Navesink Google Drive folder “The Alliance.” 4. Public education meetings will also continue. The draft Rally for the Navesink Alliance Platform was distributed and reviewed. This Draft Platform can be found on the Rally for the Navesink Google Drive. The document highlights the goals of the Alliance, the approach the groups within the Alliance will take to complete the goals, as well as how the Alliance is structured. 2017 Monthly Public Meeting Topics Topics for meetings were discussed, including: • Oysters and State Shellfish Regulations • Boat Waste Management • Septic Maintenance • Furthering Adult Education • Opportunities for Green Infrastructure Discussion followed regarding the perception that the pollution issue should be viewed as communitywide problems, not just problems for towns or environmental groups. John Schneider is a film producer and is interested in making a documentary about the Rally for the Navesink to be shown in Monmouth County. Overall, the documentary will detail pollution in the river, where the pollution comes from, and the harmful impacts on the communities.

Upcoming Meetings and Activities • Surfrider: monthly meeting at Beach Haus Brewery, Belmar, on Feb 9th at 6:30pm • Surfrider: Earth Day celebration at Asbury Beirgarten- seeking organizations to table • Clean Ocean Action: seeking partners for screenings of the documentary A Plastic Ocean • Brian Rice’s Fishing Camp, in conjunction with “Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs” : four weeks this summer The NJDEP’s new app to report non-life threatening environmental incidents to the DEP is a new tool that the public can utilize to enhance protection of public health and the environment. The news release can be found in the Google Drive Toolbox.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30pm