The Friends of Pews Creek

Port Monmouth , New Jersey

Monmouth County Planning Board                                               March 11, 2007

Hall of Records Annex

One East Main Street

Freehold, New Jersey 07728

Attn:     Anne Waters

            Senior Planner

Dear Ms. Waters,

The purpose of this letter is to encourage the Monmouth County Planning Board (MCPB) to include the Pews Creek Wetlands (Pews Creek) on the Monmouth County Unique Areas Study currently being updated.

The Pews Creek Wetlands area represents the largest uninterrupted area of salt marsh wetland and mudflat habitat along the Monmouth County Bayshore. The Compton Creek and Ware Creek floodplains are situated to the east of the Pews Creek Wetlands. During the development of the County’s Bayshore during the past two centuries the majority of the saltwater tidal floodplains have been filled and reclaimed. Thanks to the acknowledgement and appreciation of the critical value of these lands, approximately 137 acres of tidal floodplain remain at Pews Creek. The Pews Creek floodplain is surrounded to the south, east and west by single-family residential development.

The inclusion of the Pews Creek Wetlands on the Unique Areas list is appropriate due to the following special features of the area:

·         The Pews Creek floodplain is the home, feeding and breeding area to dozens of species including Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Mallards, Hawks, Fiddler Crabs, Mussels, Blue Crab, Spearing, Killies, Striped Bass and salt water Snapping Turtles. In recognition of the natural area, the Middletown Environmental Commission has erected an Osprey nest platform at the Pews Creek floodplain.

·         The majority of the Pews Creek floodplain is currently owned by the County of Monmouth and the Township of Middletown . The Monmouth County portions are included in the Bayshore Waterfront Park which includes the Monmouth Cove Marina at the terminus of Pews Creek, bayshore beachfront and the Seabrook-Wilson House and fishing pier at the northeast corner of the Pews Creek floodplain. In addition, the County’s Henry Hudson Trail is routed through the south portion of the area providing unique scenic views of the Creek and floodplain.

·         The eastern scrub-shrub portions of the Pews Creek floodplain are depicted as “Critical Environmental Sites” in the Bayshore Strategic Plan (narrative at page I-4-8 and Figure 4-3 (Waterfront and Upland Environmental Resources Map-Middletown). Several parcels at the eastern scrub-shrub portions are currently privately owned and therefore could be developed for single-family housing in the future. This development would put additional pressure on this environmentally sensitive area.

Pews Creek Education & Outreach

In 2006, the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council (BRWC) partnered with the Friends of Pews Creek Volunteer Group to label approximately 200 storm drains on the roadways that empty into Sandy Hook & Raritan Bays. Residents in the area where storm drains were labeled received informational door hangers to inform and remind them that what goes down the storm drain goes directly into Pews Creek and eventually Sandy Hook Bay .

The BRWC and Friends of Pews Creek Volunteer Group have partnered since 2003 to conduct beach cleanups at the beaches and roadways bordering Pews Creek with Clean Ocean Action .   Hundreds of pounds of debris, mostly plastic items, have been collected by volunteers on the beach in Port Monmouth.

We, the Friends of Pews Creek and members of the BRWC fully support the designation of the Pews Creek Wetlands as a Unique Area.

Respectfully,

Joseph S. Martin

Kari L. Martin

Friends of Pews Creek

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