update: April 2nd, 2010 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

ALO’s 17th Annual Earth Day Clean Up

<click here> Kelly Quinlan Clean-up Video <click here>

 

Date: Saturday, April 24,  2009 Time: 10am – 1pm

Meet at your choice of 6 locations

 

Bonnet Island, Dutchman’s Parking Lot

Barnegat Light, at the end of Broadway

Surf City, 16th street Bay Beach
Ship Bottom Public Dock and Boat Ramp
Beach Haven, Center Street Ocean Beach

Holgate, parking lot at the end of Long Beach Blvd.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 2, 2010

CONTACT: Lori Castle, lorcastle@yahoo.com , 908-963-9838
or Kristin Neal, alolbi@verizon.net, 609-494-7800

 

Long Beach Island area —Alliance for a Living Ocean’s  (ALO) 17th annual Earth Day Clean Up will take place from 10 am – 1 pm, Saturday, April 24 rain or shine. This year, the Long Beach Island Business Alliance’s  (LBIBA) “Green Up Clean Up” will take place the same day. “We are excited to support ALO in its clean up efforts. As local business owners, we want to do our part and by working through ALO we will help further their larger mission,” said Stacey Fuessinger, Board of Directors LBIBA and owner of “just bead it.”


ALO will man its traditional six sites along the beaches and bay. This includes Cedar Bonnet Island (meet in the Dutchman’s parking lot), Ship Bottom at the public dock and boat ramp, Beach Haven- Center Street at the ocean beach, Surf City, 16 St. and Bay Beach, Barnegat Light at the end of Broadway, and Holgate.

 

To clean up the Boulevard, check-in sites to date are: just bead it ,1616 Long Beach Blvd., Surf City; just bead it, 1305 Long Beach Blvd., North Beach Haven; Swell colors, 10909 Long Beach Blvd., Haven Beach; and Surf Unlimited, 1820 Long Beach Blvd., Ship Bottom.

 

ALO board members will be on hand by to sign people in, distribute bags, gloves, and data cards to track the debris. “While the immediate result of the clean up is obvious, the data we collect is used in additional research, serves as a basis for certain grant programs, and let’s us track the problem from year to year,” said Kellie Karolkiewicz, Vice President, ALO.

 

An after party will be held at just bead it, 1305 Long Beach Blvd., North Beach Haven and will feature food, bands, and prizes.

 

Volunteers can just show up at one of the sites the day of the event. Groups should call the ALO office to register so the executive director can coordinate the manpower most effectively. Volunteers should wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts in light colors, wear sneakers or boots (not sandals), and bring sun block. Younger children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, email alolbi@verizon.net or call ALO at: 609-494-7800.

 

ordinance 2009-50 “Fertilizer Application Requirements”.


 

 update: December 16th, 2009 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Stafford Township

Passes Precedent-Setting

Environmental Ordinance!

 

ALO members testify in support!

 

 

Ship Bottom, N.J. December 16, 2009- The Alliance for a Living Ocean (ALO), whose mission it is to promote and maintain a healthy coastal environment, provided comments at the Stafford Township Council meeting, last evening, December 15, 2009 regarding ordinance 2009-50 “Fertilizer Application Requirements”.

ALO supported this ordinance “as a good first step, of hopefully many, towards a healthier bay” said ALO President, Tom Beaty. The ordinance passed unanimously and will prohibit fertilizer applicators from applying fertilizer to an impervious surface (such as roads or sidewalks) and from applying fertilizer between December 15 and February 15 or if the ground is frozen. Also prohibited is the depositing of grass clippings into water bodies or storm drains and the application of phosphorous fertilizer unless the soil is tested and shown to be phosphorus deficient.

These measures will limit the amount of fertilizer that leaves lawns when it gets washed off in runoff from rain and into streams or storm drains, which eventually empty into the bay. Once in the bay, the excess nutrients in the fertilizer allow nuisance organisms such as sea nettles and algae to grow out of control, known as eutrophication. The conditions of the bay experiencing eutrophication also prevent sensitive species such as clams, scallops, eelgrass, or fish such as gar and blowfish from thriving. “The local economy depends on a healthy bay” said ALO Issues & Education Committee Chair, Kelly Quinlan. “We have a responsibility to what we can where we are able, and it started with Stafford Township.”

ALO Executive Director, Elizabeth Burke commented, “The passing of this ordinance shows Stafford Township’s commitment to improving & protecting water quality. This is a precedent set locally and we hope it will be taken up by other towns of Ocean County and eventually at the State level.”

ALO Vice President, Kellie Karolkiewicz, added, “our ‘Green Room’ shop and headquarters is ready to help the public learn more about how to landscape in an responsibly in lieu of this ordinance passing. It is important for people to understand the alternatives and we are here to help them”.

ALO comments presented to the Council included suggestions to address nitrogen and organic/natural fertilizer in amendments. Although phosphorous is also a problem nutrient in the bay, nitrogen is the biggest offender. ALO suggests fertilizer should contain at least 30% slow-release (insoluble) nitrogen content.

 

 

 

Info LBI, LBI.net