Page 4 • Wednesday , November 22 , 2023 • The Hammonton Gazette
Town waiting for Pinelands approval to spray lake
PINELANDS , from Page 1
of water being treated and water velocity of the lake as it drains eastwardly .
‘ 2 . To protect the concerned T & E plant species , please address why the objective of the proposed herbicide treatment of the water body cannot feasibly be achieved through mechanical control including harvesting , use of barriers and lake drawdown .
‘ 3 . Please address whether any specific management measures , for example floating barriers temporary cofferdam , would be helpful or are proposed to protect critical habitat for both purple and humped bladderwort ,’” Bachalis said .
Currently , the town does not have approval from NJPC yet to spray chemicals in the lake next spring .
The town will have to negotiate with the NJPC on how they will protect the threatened and endangered species of bladderwort before the town can get permission from the NJPC to spray the lake .
“ What ’ s interesting is that they ’ re saying that we should also consider mechanical harvesting , which answers the question , ‘ Will they allow us to do mechanical harvesting ?’ Clearly they will allow us to do mechanical harvesting ,” Bachalis said .
The three options to treat the lake are chemical treatment , mechanical harvesting and dredging .
According to Bachalis , town council raised the question if they should consider dredging during a public meeting , but that was before they entered into discussion with NJDEP [ New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ] and the NJPC .
The LWQA Committee will give their input to the town to address the letter from the NJPC .
Another correspondence discussed at the meeting was a phone call Bachalis received from a Hammonton resident who wanted to talk about the lowering of the lake .
“ Just calling to note that as we lower the lake — of course he ’ s going on the basis of the full length that ’ s included in the permit , which is March 15 ,” Bachalis said . “ If we leave the lake lowered until
Marino on Election Day win
MARINO , from Page 1
services at the airport . Previously , he said council had looked into lengthening the runway to bring private jets in and he would like to open more options for the Hammonton residents .
“ Because there ’ s a lot of towns that would love to have their own airport and their own lake like we do , and I think we should be taking advantage of that ,” Marino said .
Another thing Marino said he would like to see is a veterans committee established .
Government transparency is important to Marino .
“ The people should know what ’ s going on . There shouldn ’ t be any backroom deals or voting like that , especially when it comes to spending taxpayer money . The residents should know where their money is going , and I intend to be a voice for that ,” Marino said .
Marino said being on town council will be different this time because there are different people on council .
“ We ’ re not going to agree on everything , but I ’ m hoping on the matters that matter most to Hammontonians that we can come together . I was able to do that 15 years ago , and I don ’ t see a reason why we can ’ t do that today ,” Marino said .
March 15 , that just increases the chances that the raccoons are going to eat up all the freshwater mussels in the lake , thereby reducing the abilities of those mussels to filter the water and keep the lake clean . We also talked about the fact that bladderwort cleans up the lake too .”
LWQA Committee member Robert Roesch said he doesn ’ t remember the committee voting to lower the lake . Bachalis replied . “ I don ’ t know if we actually voted on it , but the boards and the dam need to be fixed . And I think it was actually due to be lowered anyway ,” Bachalis said .
Roesch said he has no problem with the lake lowering , but he remembers the lake lowering coming through the LWQA Committee .
The town engineer applies for the permit and the NJDEP issues the permit , Bachalis said .
Bachalis said he expects the lake to come back up before spring .
According to Bachalis , last year the lake lowering was for an emergency response to a possible storm surge .
“ This year they got the boards and the dam that have to be replaced ,” Bachalis said .
During the meeting , the committee discussed rain garden maintenance .
According to the agenda , the committee needs work dates to remove “ volunteer ” plants and silt , and restore rock edging .
“ I was over there last week and looking at it with fresh eyes , and the silt has gone into the rain garden has brought the level of the garden up to the level of the parking lot , so all this stuff is going to wash in and nothing is going to sink into the rain garden . So it ’ s got to be dug out and restored ,” Bachalis said .
Bachalis is going to send an email to the Friends of the Lake group to seek volunteers to help with the rain garden .
During the new business portion of the meeting , Bachalis said he had a conversation with Rutgers University ’ s Professor , Extension Specialist and Director of the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute Christopher Obropta .
Obropta was contracted by NJDEP to create a new Totally Daily Maximum Loads ( TDML ) for various substances , mainly nutrients and also a draft Watershed Plan for Hammonton Creek .
Bachalis said he doesn ’ t know what the draft says yet .
Bachalis will talk to Obropta to see how many public hearings they need , which could be one to three public hearings .
Since LWQA Committee member Bill Parkhurst was absent , the committee will discuss spatterdock control during next month ’ s meeting .
The next LWQA Committee meeting will be on Dec . 12 at 7 p . m . at the Hammonton Canoe Club .