The Raritan Basin Welcomes its New Watershed Ambassadors

This fall, we welcome the sixth group of Watershed Ambassadors to the Raritan Basin.  

Lawrence Lewis, who holds a BA in Earth Science from Kean University, is the new ambassador for The North and South Branch Raritan (WMA 8).  Lawrence will be dividing his time between two host agencies, Upper Raritan Watershed Association and South Branch Watershed Association.  

Amy Groark, a recent graduate of Douglass College, will be the ambassador for The Lower Raritan, South River and Lawrence Brook (WMA 9).  Amy has a BA in Biological Sciences with a minor in Geography.  Her host agency is New Jersey Water Supply Authority’s Watershed Protection Unit.  

Allison Jackson, the ambassador for The Millstone River (WMA 10) has a Bachelor of Environmental Science from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.  Allison can be reached at her host agency, Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association.

The New Jersey Watershed Ambassadors Program is a community-oriented AmeriCorps environmental program designed to raise awareness about watershed issues in New Jersey. Through this program, AmeriCorps members are placed in watershed management areas across the state to serve their local communities.

Watershed Ambassadors monitor the rivers of New Jersey with a visual and biological volunteer monitoring program. The members also work with community volunteers using these two volunteer monitoring techniques. Members are available to train local volunteers in these volunteer monitoring techniques.

Watershed Ambassadors are also available to make presentations to community organizations and schools. These interactive presentations provide information about water and watershed issues in New Jersey. Members educate students and citizens about watershed issues and empower them to get involved in their watershed.

The NJDEP Division of Watershed Management began hosting this AmeriCorps program in September of 2000. AmeriCorps is a national service initiative that was started in 1993 and is known as the domestic Peace Corps. The program works with all sectors of society to improve the quality of New Jersey's waterways and therefore improve the quality of life in New Jersey. The program works to improve water quality by exploring relationships between people and the environment, nurturing community-based environmental activities and empowering residents to make responsible and informed decisions regarding their watershed.  Below is a summary of the many impressive accomplishments made by watershed ambassadors over the past five years:

- Completed over 2,400 visual assessments and over 1,200 biological assessments on local waterways.

- Presented over 2,500 Enviroscape demonstrations.

- Generated volunteerism with over 32,000 hours of community participation.

- Formed over 100 sustaining partnerships.

- Feed and clothed the homeless throughout NJ.

- Planted over 1,500 trees and clean up 15 tons of trash from streams.

To schedule a presentation or to learn about volunteer monitoring, please contact your ambassador at their host agency.  For more information about the program, please contact Michelle Ruggiero, Program Manager at (609) 292-2113 or Michelle.Ruggiero@dep.state.nj.us. 

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