The 17th Annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference will be held Friday, April 27, 2012 at Ramapo College of New Jersey, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, New Jersey. Organized by Geoff Welch, a Town of Ramapo Watershed Keeper, the conference explores issues related to what is happening in the area’s watershed. This year’s presentations focus on issues related to storm drainage, development and wetland contamination. Following is a schedule of the day’s proceedings.

In the Pavilion, Morning Session

• 9:30 am – Coffee and Bagels
• 10:00 – Remarks: Ramapo College President Peter Mercer, Sam Rosenberg, Dean, SSHS, Ramapo College
• 10:15 – What a Year! (A quick review of watershed events since the last conference)
• 10:30 – Doc Bayne, Friends of Sterling Forest: The Warwick Brook Fish Kill and the Tuxedo Mulch Site
• 11:00 – Scott Cuppett, NYDEC: The Hudson River Estuary Program and the Ramapo River
• 11:30 – Nancy L. Gibbs, Sheffield Archaeological Consultants: Considering Blandina Bayard’s Indian Trading Post on the Ramapo River Established in 1700

12:15 p.m. —  1:15 p.m. Session Break for Lunch

In the Pavilion, Afternoon Session

• 1:15 pm – Brian Hunderfund, Senior Environmental Health Specialist, Rockland County Health Department: The Asian Tiger Mosquito in Rockland County
•  1:30 – John K. O’Mara P.E., NY DEC: Weather Oil Spills and Response
• 2:00 – Chuck Stead, Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator/Adjunct Professor, Ramapo College: Recovery of the Ramapo Valley Well Field
•  2:30 – Erica VanAuken and Kate Millsaps, The N.J. Sierra Club, Chief Dwaine Perry The Ramapough Lenape Nation: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Project
•  3:00 – Edward J. Lenik, Sheffield Archaeological Consultants: Ramapough Mountain Indians: People, Places and Cultural Traditions
•  3:30 –  E. Durling Merrill, Environmental Officer Pompton Lakes: 1)  The DuPont Acid Brook Cleanup  2)  Flooding Issues
• 4:00 – Ramapo College Environmental Assessment Class Panel: Impacts of the Proposed International Crossroads Development
• 4:30 – Wine and Cheese Reception

Presented by the Ramapo River Committee and the Institute for Environmental Studies at Ramapo College

Sponsored by: George L. Becker, Jr. MD, CGF Passaic River Coalition, Rockland County, Town of Ramapo, Betty Hedges, Jan Barry, and The Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council.

The 17th Annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference is a free event — Registration requested. For more information, email geoffwelch@gmail.com or call 845- 712-5220.

Artwork: David Johnson paintings. Study, The Tourn at Ramapo, 1873 and Study at Ramapo, New York, 1873.

More At SloatsburgVillage

MTA Drainage Fix Along Sloatsburg Tracks —  Metro-North Corporate & Public Affairs provided Sloatsburg with details of improvements made to railroad and right-of-way drainageand.

 Tuxedo Disputes Source of Fish Kill  — Town of Tuxedo Supervisor Peter Dolan said in the same article that “cleanup of culverts in the water basin may have reduced the water levels significantly over the past three weeks.”