Passaic River: Partnership History and Accomplishments

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership worked to improve engagement of the communities in the upper nine miles of the watershed in the expedited cleanup of the Superfund site. This involved developing and delivering presentations about the history of the Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) to local community organizations, and collaborating with the Clifton Environmental Commission to host the first upriver CAG meeting in several years.

 

2017

The Lower Passaic River UWFP collaborated with NY/NJ Baykeeper and the USFS Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project to map how local community-based and stewardship organization involve their membership in Passaic River-related projects. The map is available here

 

In 2017, the Lower Passaic River developed a series of workshops focused on improving public participation in federal flood risk and ecological restoration projects. The workshops were held at 10 environmental commissions and community-based organizations. The feedback collected through the workshops were used to create the Lower Passaic River Community Involvement Guide

The Lower Passaic Urban Waters Partnership held a meeting with homelessness service providers from five local organizations to share information about the needs of the homeless community living in the footprint of the soon-to-be-expanded Riverfront Park. The Partnership developed an information sheet about relevant local resources for the homeless shared with the contractors for the site.

 

With support from the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary program, the Partnership co-hosted with Ironbound Community Corporation and the Lower Passaic River Community Advisory Group a public workshop in accordance with the development of HEP’s Five Year Action Agenda.

 

The Lower Passaic River Urban Waters Federal Partnership convened Federal, state, municipal, and neighborhood stakeholders to map out interacting projects and programs around Newark’s expanding Riverfront Park, as well as leveraging opportunities. Specifically, the mapping pilot provided a structured opportunity for local NGOs to provide input to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the alignment of a planned flood mitigation project, in addition to the minimum public outreach required under NEPA. The map used to facilitate discussion in the pilot can be found here

 

In January 2016, the Hudson River Foundation and the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program hired an Ambassador support and coordinate efforts between local partners and stakeholders.

 

To define and pursue expanded goals, Partnership federal co-leads from EPA and the USACE convened federal partners and non-governmental organizations (NGO) to identify community-based projects where interagency coordination could accelerate projects, or provide technical expertise to build capacity. The list of these projects can be found here