NEWS, SPORTS, COMMENTARY, POLITICS for Gloucester City and the Surrounding Areas of South Jersey and Philadelphia
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Download the Winter 2011 issue of Estuary News as a full-color PDF here.
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 Flooding and You
By Jennifer Adkins, Executive Director,
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
Flooding is an age-old hazard, especially for coastal areas. But a changing world is making flooding an increasingly pressing issue for the people and resources of the Delaware Estuary. Sea level is rising, causing more sea water to surge up the Delaware River and into coastal communities, especially when combined with storm surges. Precipitation is also increasing and concentrating into more extreme rains, causing more and faster water to flow across the land and through streams and floodplains toward the Delaware River. The result is more flooding. [Download Now]
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 Delaware Coastal Programs
Studying Ways to Keep Sea at Bay
By Kelly Valencik, Coastal Training Program Coordinator,
Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve
Sea level rise is such an important issue that helping prepare for its effects has become a priority focus for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's (DNREC) Delaware Coastal Programs Office. For several years, scientists and planners with the Delaware Coastal Programs (DCP) have been conducting research, working with residents and professionals to fill holes in our knowledge, and helping communities in Delaware plan and prepare for higher seas in the future. More specifically, DCP scientists have begun examining natural resources that are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, yet on which little research has been done: coastal marshes and impoundments. [Download Now]
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 New Online Tool Helping to Predict Floodwaters
By Laura Tessieri, Water Resources Engineer,
Delaware River Basin Commission
A new flood-preparedness tool is now available for several central Delaware River communities. Flood-inundation mapping is an interactive, Web-based product that shows the extent and depth of floodwaters over given land areas, enabling public safety officials and residents to examine the threat of floodwaters and determine areas of highest flood risk. [Download Now]
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 'Focus on Floods' Campaign
Boosting Interest in Flood Alerts
By Rachel Hogan Carr, Director of Environmental Outreach, Nurture Nature Foundation
The bad news: Flooding is the nation's most common, costly and deadly hazard.
The good news: Flood losses are the most preventable, new flood-forecast and warning technology can help communities prepare, and Nurture Nature Foundation is spreading the news [Download Now]
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 EcoExpress.org: Connecting Teachers,
Young People to the Natural World
By Barry Lewis, Executive Director,
GreenTreks Network, Inc.
GreenTreks Network, Inc., an award-winning Philadelphia non-profit, has begun dividing its vast library of captivating documentaries and television programs into short video segments for use in area schools. These personal, story-based videos make environmental issues come alive by focusing on local people who are taking on a wide range of issues and getting them solved. From dumpster divers, who are literally turning trash into art, to volunteers combating the effects of development on wetlands and drinking-water supplies; from family farmers who are turning to organic practices to students who are learning how innovative thinking can make use of renewable forms of energy to power transportation and homes; each has a lesson to teach. [Download Now]
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 For the Bay's Sake, Plant a Rain Garden
By Shaun Bailey, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
It was a beautiful day for gardening when Governor Jack Markell proclaimed the final week of summer Rain Gardens for the Bays Week in Delaware. He did so by visiting the Delaware Agricultural Museum, appropriately enough. That's where workers had put the finishing touches on a brand new rain garden, but not just any rain garden. This was a demonstration garden, or a plot planted to show others how it's done. [Download Now]
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 Dispose of Chemicals --
Before Floodwaters Do It for You
By Shaun Bailey, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
For many people, recycling is second nature. They either drop it off or it gets picked up at the curb. But what about those hard-to-recycle items, like hazardous chemicals? These have to be dropped off at a neighborhood collection event, but as you probably know, this can get complicated. [Download Now]
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 Landscaping With a Purpose
By Laura Whalen, Restoration Specialist,
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
Every corporation or community group landscapes its property, so why not make that landscaping count by planting groups of plants that provide food and habitat for wildlife, or reduce flooding issues? Members of the Corporate and Community Environmental Stewardship Program (CESP) are working with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE) to improve their landscapes by making them more functional and more beautiful, and they're having fun while doing it. [Download Now]
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 Updates
- Pennsylvania's Growing Greener Program in Jeopardy
- PDE Receives First Donation of Stock
- Thank You, Speakers and Sponsors
- [Download Now]
Estuary Events
- February 25: Art Contest Deadline
 February 28: "Spokesdog" Voting Deadline- March 1: Video Contest Deadline
- March 10: Delaware River Basin Forum
- April 16: Christina River Watershed Cleanup
- [Download Now]
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