Upper Raritan Watershed Association Appoints New Executive Director

Cynthia Doggett Ehrenclou has been named Executive Director of the Upper Raritan Watershed Association (URWA) following a nationwide search. Ehrenclou formerly served the Association for twelve years as Director of Development and, for the past five months, as interim Executive Director. As a lifelong member of the community and a committed conservationist, Ehrenclou brings a keen understanding of the environmental issues facing the geographic watershed which includes 23 municipalities within Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon Counties.

As Director of Development, Ehrenclou has been praised for her strategies which have contributed to the ongoing success of a Capital Campaign, which now exceeds $9 million and a long range plan to secure the environmental future of the region’s watershed through advocacy, land preservation, education and research.

The Board of Trustees reviewed a group of highly qualified candidates for the position and collectively reached the conclusion that, “the very best person to lead the Association to the next level was right before us,” said Harry Wilmerding, President of the volunteer Board. “This organization is at a critical point in its history, where suburban sprawl is a constant threat, and we are running out of time to protect remaining precious natural resources of land and, especially, water.”

Among other goals, Ehrenclou intends to implement URWA’s plan to create and upgrade a state-of-the-art Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI) for the entire watershed. This tool effectively breaks down political boundaries, promoting cooperation in watershed-based planning while ensuring that local governments have access to the best environmental data. In 1967, URWA pioneered the first such inventory in the state of New Jersey to help guide the region’s planning and zoning decisions. Ehrenclou hopes to build partnerships with each of the region’s 23 municipalities to support proactive planning and will work to develop a coalition of like-minded organizations to identify critical open space and land areas for conservation.

URWA is a non-profit conservation organization with a professional staff of six whose headquarters are located on Fairview Farm, a 170 acre wildlife preserve in Bedminster, open to the public for passive recreation from dawn till dusk. The Association has preserved, in perpetuity, land including 30 donated conservation easements, 10 properties owned and managed as preserves and has participated in protecting hundreds of additional acres of open space within its watershed region. The Upper Raritan Watershed is a 194 square mile natural geographic region defined by the drainage basin of the North Branch of the Raritan River and its tributaries.

For further information about URWA, access the website at www.urwa.org or call 908-234-1852.

Back to Basin Bulletin