Friends Along the Mullica
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – A recent project conducted by the Galloway Township green team, Go Green Galloway, demonstrates the connectivity between watersheds and the need to care for Absecon Island waterways.
The green team, led by Steve Fiedler and his brother Martin Fiedler of Just Right TV Productions, LLC, recently released an 85-minute video, “Friends Along the Mullica,” which is available for viewing on YouTube. The Friends Along the Mullica is a collaboration between eight municipalities that have frontage along the Mullica River, from Hammonton to Absecon, which is where the Mullica River and Great Egg Harbor River converge and flow into the Absecon Inlet between Brigantine and Atlantic City. The film, a key part of a grant funded by the Sustainable Jersey Atlantic and Cape May County Hub, is designed to help municipalities better understand the needs of the watershed and its history and collaborate on a variety of issues.
Friends Along the Mullica project points out the importance of connectivity between upstream and downstream communities. This simple relationship dynamic applies to groupings of towns within any watershed, including the Great Egg Harbor watershed, Steve Fiedler said in a column.
The watersheds of the Great Egg Harbor and Mullica rivers converge along Absecon Island.
The municipal borders of Absecon, Atlantic City, Brigantine and Galloway Township meet in the “mixing bowl” of Absecon Bay, Reed’s Bay and others. The waters that flow out of Absecon Creek are a mixture of Mullica River and Great Egg Harbor River waters. The entirety of Absecon Island, including Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate and Longport, are touched by these mixed flows along the very important back bay estuaries. Therefore, the issues addressed by the Friends Along the Mullica, particularly in the Brigantine and Atlantic City segments, speak directly to those of the Downbeach communities.
Climate change, wetlands loss, stormwater management, invasive species plants and animals, wildlife management and habitat, litter, illegal dumping, damage from off-road vehicles, and the importance of native plants in a healthy ecosystem are some of the issues addressed in the film.
Go Green Galloway organized a consortium of eight towns: Hammonton, Mullica Township, Egg Harbor City, Port Republic, Galloway Township, Absecon, Brigantine and Atlantic City. Along with these towns, a variety of local, county, state and federal partners assisted in the development of this educational film.
Steve Fiedler of Go Green Galloway.
After getting basic buy-in from each town in the form of administrative support, a collection of maps showing the environmental features of the town and its flood vulnerabilities, was gathered and members of each community were interviewed or narrated the various segments, which are separated into municipal regions.
The themes are very timely in the face of recent strong storms, flooding and other weather anomalies. Also, with the Army Corps of Engineers Back Bay Study laying out bold and possibly controversial resiliency measures for dealing with rising seas and stronger storms, it is incumbent on these towns and many others to educate themselves and to weigh options. Science is very much a theme, as are the lessons to be learned from history and the limits of stress citizens can put on nature and its resources.
“Hope” is on the storyboard with the presence of young people willing to work and study hard. Wisdom is made available through the works and words of seasoned professionals, such as planner Jim Rutala of Rutala Associates of Linwood, who is instrumental in obtaining funding for municipal environmental projects, and Rick Dovey, president of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority. The film also includes interviews with talented artists and people who clearly convey their passions for the environment.
The film can be viewed at the Go Green Galloway website at http://gogreengalloway.org or the Friends Along the Mullica Facebook page.
