2011 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations

Project Name: Newark Bay/ Arthur Kill/ Lower Raritan River Watershed Education Regarding the Dangers of Subsistence Fishing

Amount Requested: $139,750

Recipient: Elizabeth River/ Arthur Kill Watershed Association

Address: 1045 East Jersey City Street, Suite 204, Elizabeth, NJ 07201      

Project Description: This project would provide education on the subsistence fishing within the Newark Bay/ Arthur Kill/ Lower Raritan River to the diverse residents living in communities abutting the waterways. 

Explanation/ Value to the Taxpayer:  Residents would become informed watershed stewards and local students would be trained and educated on the dangers of subsistence fishing in the area. 

Project Name: Project STOP- Schools Transforming Obesity Prevention

Amount Requested: $500,072

Recipient: Liberty Science Center, Inc.

Address: 222 Jersey City Boulevard, Jersey City, 07305

Project Description: Project STOP is an obesity prevention intervention that would target pre-kindergarten to fourth grade children.  Funding would also be used to develop and deliver the program and specifically pay for the cost of the program development, staffing, school-site recruitment, materials/supplies, and full program evaluation.

Explanation/ Value to the Taxpayer:  To address the concerns of child obesity in Newark, NJ, Liberty Science Center proposes to implement Project STOP.  A successful program would prevent obesity related illnesses, improve quality of life through screening and counseling for obesity, and empower children and families to make healthy decisions.  Ultimately the project would positively impact Newark’s community and serve as a model for national data and replication.

Project Name: New Jersey Urban-Suburban Extension

Amount Requested: $1,000,000

Recipient: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station

Address: 88 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Project Description: This project would expand educational and outreach programming that would address the environmental needs of New Jersey’s urban and suburban communities.   Programs would include training for green jobs, creating rain barrels, and converting brownfields to greenfields.

Explanation/ Value to the Taxpayer:  The region’s intense urban development, energy demands, and population density have negatively affected drinking water quality and availability, coastal habitats and marine water quality, local air quality, environmentally sensitive ecosystems throughout the state, and the overall quality of NJ life.  This project would fund a five-year program that is set up to become self-sustaining and would allow Rutgers University to create comprehensive needs assessments through the Counties of Essex, Passaic, Union, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Camden, Burlington, Salem, and Cumberland, specifically regarding water resources issues, green jobs training, restoration and urban ecology. 

Project Name: Agricultural Technical Assistance and Staff Retraining

Amount Requested: $1,200,000

Recipient: US Department of Agriculture- Natural Resources Conservation Service- New Jersey office (USDA-NRCS-NJ)

Address: 220 Davidson Avenue, Somerset, NJ 08873

Project Description: This important federal-state-local partnership provides technical assistance to New Jersey farms, neighbor clients, municipalities, and State agencies for protection of natural resources.  These programs serve urban and agricultural clients by protecting water quality and maintaining and expanding local and farmers markets with NJ grown food and help sustain agriculture and open space. 

Explanation/ Value to the Taxpayer:  This federal-state-local partnership provides technical solutions developed from urban and suburban complaints related to the sounds, dust and odors common to agricultural production.  Conservation practices applied to the land protect water quality both for drinking water and wildlife.  The benefits include improved soil, water and air quality by conservation planning and implementing best management practices on-site.   2011 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations