November 3rd is Election Day in New Jersey. We may disagree on who the best candidates are for the various positions, but we at URWA hope we all agree that supporting “Public Question #1” is a good idea. By approving this question we will continue the work of the Garden State Preservation Trust. This $400 million bond authorization will continue protecting our water supply by acquiring open space, farms will be preserved helping to insure that we have land for local food production, historic sites will be protected for future generations to enjoy, and more parks will be created.
We all know what challenging financial times we are living through, yet this expense really pays its way. An acre of preserved land makes far fewer financial demands on municipal governments than that same acre with a house and family would necessitate. With land values at temporary low levels, this is the time to be buying land for preservation. The cost for all this preservation would be about $10 annually per household, based on a 20 year bond at 5% interest. Let’s work together and support the bond question.
Robert Reid, Land Projects Manager
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
We Are Being Invaded!
It began yesterday. I first noticed them when I was outside doing some of the annual chores to prepare my yard and home for winter – splitting and stacking firewood, cleaning window screens and raking leaves. All of a sudden, around noon, as the temperature warmed to about 60 degrees, great swarms of silent little creatures filled the air. I could see hundreds of them without even turning my head, and when I did turn it to look in a different direction, I saw MANY, MANY more of them. After doing a bit of research, I learned that this seeming invasion of tan and orange Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis) isn’t really an invasion. It is simply a massive relocation effort – each fall, adult beetles leave their summer feeding sites in yards, fields and forests in search of protected places to spend the winter. Swarms are heaviest on sunny days following a period of cooler weather (such as we experienced over the weekend) and most flight activity occurs in the afternoon. The intensity of swarms varies from one day to the next depending upon the weather.
As their name suggests, Asian lady beetles are not native to the United States. They were brought into this country in the 1960s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to control agricultural pests on crops such as pecans and apples, and they have since established thriving populations that reach into Canada. In their native lands, Asian lady beetles live mainly in trees in forests and orchards. Here though, they take up residence in ornamental and agricultural crops as well as suburban areas. In the spring and summer, the larvae and adults feed mainly on aphids, consuming hundreds each day.
As they seek out winter homes, Asian lady beetles head for bright areas. They congregate on the southwestern exposures of buildings, and they are especially drawn to dwellings that have light and dark contrasting features i.e. dark shutters on a light background. The 200 year-old house at Fairview Farm that now serves as the office of the Upper Raritan Watershed Association is a textbook example of this phenomenon – the house is painted white, its shutters are dark green, and it is absolutely covered with beetles on its southern facing side! Once they land on buildings, the beetles begin a search for crevasses and cracks in which to crawl. They make their way into attics and wall cavities, where they remain until temperatures warm up again in the spring and they re-emerge to return to fields, forests and lawns. Unfortunately, their journeys can take them throughout the entire house – our office is literally crawling with them today.
Although they are a nuisance, Asian lady beetles generally don’t cause much damage or harm people. They do, however, emit an acrid odor and can stain surfaces with their yellowish secretions when they are disturbed (this is a defense mechanism they employ to deter predators), and they sometimes bite (speaking from experience, I can assure you that their bite isn’t ferocious – it feels like a small pinprick, at most, but it is rather startling).
If Asian lady beetles have found their way into your home and you don’t want to host them all winter long, your best move is to get out a vacuum cleaner. If you attempt to use a broom to sweep them back outside, you may have a significant clean-up in store to remove the yellow stains on your walls and floors. We do not recommend that you use an insecticide to eliminate Asian lady beetles from your home – too many other creatures may be killed. Instead, next spring or summer, seal up the cracks around windows, doors, soffits, fascia and other openings into your home. By doing this, you’ll create a barrier that will prevent Asian lady beetles and other pests from getting into your home. For now, get out the vacuum cleaner, and know that the cooler weather ahead will stop the swarming soon!
Susan Brookman, Membership Program Director
Photo courtesy of Iowa State University
Saturday, October 10, 2009
URWA Urges Watershed Residents to Be Idle Free
Turn the key, be idle free! Tuck this catchy little phrase in the back of your mind and let it remind you to turn off the engine in your vehicle any time you are going to be stopped for more than a few moments. You’ll save fuel, protect your engine and reduce vehicle emissions which pollute our air and harm our water.
Idling gets you nowhere. While most of us are seeking ways to maximize our gas mileage for the sake of our wallets and our health, the fact that an idling vehicle gets ZERO miles per gallon has largely escaped our notice. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if 145 million passenger vehicles idle for five minutes a day, approximately four million gallons of gasoline are consumed. That’s a lot of gas, and money, to waste!
An idling car does not perform at full capacity, which can lead to problems that require sometimes expensive repairs. The problems can include oil contamination due to residue build-up on the cylinders, corrosion caused by excessive condensation collected in the exhaust system and decreased peak engine operating temperature due to spark plug residue.
Diesel and gasoline exhaust contain nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The negative health implications of exposure to vehicle emissions are well documented and have been shown to cause significant respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, because they inhale more air per pound of body weight – think about this the next time you see a line of vehicles idling as drivers wait to drop off or pick up students near a school, and consider the fact that the noses of the youngest children are right above the level of all those tailpipes. How can they help but breathe in toxic air?
The microscopic particles from vehicle emissions can be carried by wind and settle on the ground and on the surface of water bodies such as lakes, ponds and streams. This can make lakes and streams acidic, change the delicate balance of nutrients in coastal waters and river basins, deplete soil nutrients and damage vegetative communities from forests to farm crops.
Here in New Jersey, it is illegal to idle for more than 3 minutes. Limited exceptions to N.J.A.C. 7:27-14 (diesel vehicles) and N.J.A.C. 7:27-15 (gasoline vehicles) exist. Sleeping in trucks with sleeper berths is currently allowed, although this exemption will be eliminated in 2010, and idling of emergency vehicles operating in emergency situations is allowed. The three minute limit is quite generous, and URWA encourages drivers across the Upper Raritan watershed to limit idling to ten seconds or less unless traffic conditions make stopping and starting your engine unsafe.
For more information about vehicle idling and the damage it can do to your health and our natural environment, please visit one or more of the following web sites:
· http://www.stopthesoot.org/ (the NJDEP’s Diesel Risk Reduction Program)
· www.cleanwateraction.org/feature/clean-air-idle-free-new-jersey (the Clean Water Action’s "Idle Free New Jersey" Campaign
· www.consumerenergycenter.org/myths/idling.html (the Consumer Energy Center of the California Energy Commission.
Many people believe several myths about idling their vehicles. Research by government and vehicle manufacturers has debunked these three common myths:
Idling Myth #1: The engine should be warmed up for long periods before driving.
Reality: Idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive the vehicle. With today’s modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling before starting to drive.
Idling Myth #2: Idling is good for your engine.
Reality: Excessive idling can damage your engine’s components, including cylinders, spark plugs and exhaust system.
Idling Myth #3: Shutting off and restarting your engine is hard on the engine and uses more gas than if you leave it running.
Reality: Frequent restarting has little impact on engine components such as the battery and starter motor. More than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine.
Idling gets you nowhere. While most of us are seeking ways to maximize our gas mileage for the sake of our wallets and our health, the fact that an idling vehicle gets ZERO miles per gallon has largely escaped our notice. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if 145 million passenger vehicles idle for five minutes a day, approximately four million gallons of gasoline are consumed. That’s a lot of gas, and money, to waste!
An idling car does not perform at full capacity, which can lead to problems that require sometimes expensive repairs. The problems can include oil contamination due to residue build-up on the cylinders, corrosion caused by excessive condensation collected in the exhaust system and decreased peak engine operating temperature due to spark plug residue.
Diesel and gasoline exhaust contain nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The negative health implications of exposure to vehicle emissions are well documented and have been shown to cause significant respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, because they inhale more air per pound of body weight – think about this the next time you see a line of vehicles idling as drivers wait to drop off or pick up students near a school, and consider the fact that the noses of the youngest children are right above the level of all those tailpipes. How can they help but breathe in toxic air?
The microscopic particles from vehicle emissions can be carried by wind and settle on the ground and on the surface of water bodies such as lakes, ponds and streams. This can make lakes and streams acidic, change the delicate balance of nutrients in coastal waters and river basins, deplete soil nutrients and damage vegetative communities from forests to farm crops.
Here in New Jersey, it is illegal to idle for more than 3 minutes. Limited exceptions to N.J.A.C. 7:27-14 (diesel vehicles) and N.J.A.C. 7:27-15 (gasoline vehicles) exist. Sleeping in trucks with sleeper berths is currently allowed, although this exemption will be eliminated in 2010, and idling of emergency vehicles operating in emergency situations is allowed. The three minute limit is quite generous, and URWA encourages drivers across the Upper Raritan watershed to limit idling to ten seconds or less unless traffic conditions make stopping and starting your engine unsafe.
For more information about vehicle idling and the damage it can do to your health and our natural environment, please visit one or more of the following web sites:
· http://www.stopthesoot.org/ (the NJDEP’s Diesel Risk Reduction Program)
· www.cleanwateraction.org/feature/clean-air-idle-free-new-jersey (the Clean Water Action’s "Idle Free New Jersey" Campaign
· www.consumerenergycenter.org/myths/idling.html (the Consumer Energy Center of the California Energy Commission.
Many people believe several myths about idling their vehicles. Research by government and vehicle manufacturers has debunked these three common myths:
Idling Myth #1: The engine should be warmed up for long periods before driving.
Reality: Idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive the vehicle. With today’s modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling before starting to drive.
Idling Myth #2: Idling is good for your engine.
Reality: Excessive idling can damage your engine’s components, including cylinders, spark plugs and exhaust system.
Idling Myth #3: Shutting off and restarting your engine is hard on the engine and uses more gas than if you leave it running.
Reality: Frequent restarting has little impact on engine components such as the battery and starter motor. More than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)