Environmental Commission approves tree removal applications
Page 4 • Wednesday, March 20, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
COMMISSION, from Page 1
the initiative is the result of a
Sustainable Jersey grant that was
awarded to to Go Green Galloway
on an 18-month cycle in
November. During the first four
months of the initiative, fiedler
said he has been able to complete
various tasks in which he cleaned
up several tracts of land along the
Mullica river.
fiedler said he has also been
using a drone to record aerial
footage along the banks of the
Mullica river while collaborating
with
other
residents
in
photographing several areas
throughout the watershed to
demonstrate
the
interconnectedness
of
the
waterways within it and the
importance of keeping them clean
and free of pollution.
“We’re trying to tell a story—
both in photography and video,
and of course, verbally and on the
ground—in so many ways about
where the water comes from, how
it gets to the Mullica [river] and
what the problems are along the
way, So, mainly, i’m asking each
town to look into where the dump
sites are, how we can remediate
those,” fiedler said.
During the early portion of his
volunteer work, fiedler said he
discovered several areas where
illegal dumping had been taking
place. this prompted him to alter
the scope of his project by asking
municipalities located throughout
the watershed to work together in
monitoring and reporting the
locations of illegal dump sites.
“i would like to get a sense of
who knows what about where so
that i can be of some help to get
arms around illegal dumping. it’s
important that we report it to the
DeP
[Department
of
environmental Protection] and we
start to try to put a stake in the
ground and stop this stuff from
happening over and over again,”
fiedler said.
During the final year of the
grant cycle, fiedler will focus on
educating local communities on
issues related to local waterways
and orchestrating various cleanup
projects throughout the watershed,
which he asked the commission to
participate in.
Commission Chairman Daniel
Bachalis commended fiedler for
his efforts in raising awareness of
the issues facing the Mullica
rivershed Watershed and the
waterways the flow into it.
“the fact that you’re pulling
this together to help raise
awareness about issues in the
Mullica Watershed, which again,
people heard this from me before
ad nauseam—probably the most
pristine waterway on the east
Coast—is really groundbreaking,
very, very important work,”
Bachalis said.
Bachalis said he and the
commission will help raise
awareness of the friends along
the Mullica initiative within the
community while providing
fiedler with continual tips and
information pertinent to the
initiative.
“We’ll make sure we coordinate
about getting the word out,”
Bachalis said.
in other news, the commission
approved the following tree
removal applications during the
meeting:
Gregg Ingram, 548 14th
Street—requesting the removal
of two dead trees (none will be re-
planted). a motion to approve the
application was made by
commission
member
terri
Caruso-Cafiso, seconded by
commission member amy Menzel
and passed unanimously.
Elizabeth Giralo, 217 Lincoln
Ave.—requesting the removal of
one partially dead tree (Six trees
will be planted in its place). a
motion to approve the application
was made by Caruso-Cafiso,
seconded by Menzel and passed
unanimously.
Joseph Pavesi, North Third
Street—“Several” trees have been
removed by the applicant before
he formally received a removal
permit (five trees will be planted
in place of the trees that were
removed).
although Pavesi’s removal of
the trees did not follow the
commission’s protocol for tree
removal applications, Bachalis
said he and three other
commission members visited the
property, where Pavesi is currently
constructing a modular home
whose lot lines would have been
obstructed by some of the trees.
“apparently, he didn’t realize
that he needed a permit for tree
removal until he showed up at the
construction office to get a permit
for his building,” Bachalis said.
after discussing the matter with
Pavesi, Bachalis said he gave a
satisfactory explanation for having
the trees removed. therefore, the
application was approved prior to
the meeting. Commission member
Marty Matro recused herself from
discussing or voting on the
application.
“He had his bases covered, i
thought ... i was appreciative of
that and i wish him a lot of luck
with the house,” Bachalis said
about Pavesi.
the
Hammonton
environmental
Commission’s
next meeting will be held at 7 p.m.
on Wednesday april 10 in town
hall.
Green Committee hears about sustainability
GREEN, from Page 1
proached by St. Vincent de Paul regional
School in Mays Landing about aiding them in
the creation of an educational garden for its
students.
Yeager said the Sustainable township of
Hamilton Green team has created four 48-
square-foot gardening beds at the school and
has discussed layering one of the beds with
“ecosoil,” which is created and sold by aCUa.
Before layering the final bed with the organic
soil, Yeager said he wanted to gather insight
from the Green Committee in regards to
ecosoil and whether it is truly 100 percent or-
ganic and safe to use for gardening purposes.
“i wanted your input. Was there any negative
effects of the eco-soil that you used? Help me
convince my other team members that this is
something that we want to do until our on-site-
made compost is ready to start as a growing
medium,” Yeager said.
according to Yeager, the Sustainable town-
ship of Hamilton Green team’s concerns stem
from the fact that many local residents and
landscaping companies who take grass clip-
pings to aCUa could be tainting the organic
composting that is done to create ecosoil.
“they do a fantastic job at creating the com-
post, but the concern is it’s not 100 percent or-
ganic. there’s no way that they could certify
that it was 100 percent organic and it comes
down to the concern of herbicides, weed-
killers that would be in the grass clippings, and
does it stunt the growth of early planting and
things of that nature,” Yeager said.
Green Committee member and aCUa com-
munications manager amy Menzel said aCUa
tests its composted material every year and
again every fifth year, but couldn’t recall the
exact chemicals that are tested.
“We do test the ecosoil annually for a range
of things. i don’t have the list of what those
things are. every five years, it gets tested for
heavy metals and things like that. We’re re-
quired by our permit—for our composting per-
mit—to have the testing done and honestly, i
can’t say what has been tested … i don’t know
of anybody who’s certified organic, who is
making that claim after using eco-soil, but
we’re not. We’re just growing as naturally as
we can,” Menzel said.
Green Committee member Daniel Bachalis
said he has personally been using ecosoils for
gardening and has never been concerned about
its contents.
“i haven’t found the eco-soil to have any
negative effects on growing anything. the only
negative effect that i run into is myself ... But
it never even occurred to me to think about the
eco-soil content and quality until you just men-
tioned it,” Bachalis said.
according to Green Committee Chair Mica
McCullough, the Hammonton Community
Garden stresses the importance of its gardeners
using organic planting materials, but she said
she never considered whether the ecosoil being
added could be contaminating otherwise or-
ganic soil.
“We call it organic in that we are asking peo-
ple not to use herbicides, pesticides, insecti-
cides, et cetera, but we didn’t really even—at
least i didn’t—think about the soil that we
were adding, the eco-soil. So, we’re asking
people not to add in more chemicals, but that’s
as far as it goes as far as calling it an organic
garden,” McCullough said.
Yeager said the Sustainable township of
Hamilton Green team’s ultimate goal is to es-
tablish the garden at St. Vincent de Paul re-
gional School and educate the students about
See COMMITTEE, Page 10