2017 NJ Land Conservation Rally

Partners throughout the Delaware River Watershed (DRW) collaborate to improve water quality conditions through strategic implementation and monitoring of conservation practices. In 2013, the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (sponsored by the William Penn Foundation), began attempting to coordinate restoration, protection and monitoring efforts within 8 geographically-representative sub-watershed “clusters” of the DRW, including the New Jersey Highlands and Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer. Within and outside of the DRWI and these “cluster” boundaries, collaborations are constantly expanding to improve the watershed conservation efforts within the DRW. This panel will highlight the efforts of the Academy of Natural Sciences' work in the DRW, and generate discussion on the topics of 1) management and planning to encourage collaboration between conservation efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations;  2) monitoring and assessment of conservation practices’ effectiveness using before/after water quality, habitat, and ecological metrics; and 3) geospatial biogeoinformatics to identify conservation sites with the greatest chance of success.

Approved for APA CM 1.25.