Come join us in the New Year to explore the wildlife of the Great Swamp! Many creatures make themselves scarce when the temperature drops, so we will be checking for scats, tracks, and other tell tale signs of who is living in the swamp this winter. This program is free for members. For non-members, the fee is $10 per adult, $5 for each child five and over, and $30 per family.

The program begins at 10 and will run until about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 8th, 2011. The meeting place will be at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in the parking area of the former Friends of Great Swamp gift store on Pleasant Plains Rd. in Basking Ridge.

For information on how to become a member and attend all programs for free please visit:

www.greatswamp.org

One Week to the Green Acres Gala!

We are getting so excited here at GSWA, the gala is a week from today! We have just received some really exciting items that we wanted to share with all of you. We will be auctioning off two trips: an Ecotrip to St. John's and a cottage in Ireland. We will also have tons of sports tickets and some beautiful fashions as well. As always, there will be plenty of wine and delicious food, hope to see you all there!



We are proud to annouce that our sponsors include Merck, Investors Savings Bank, Peapack Gladstone Bank, JM Sorge Inc., and PSEG



For additional information please visit our website at www.greatswamp.org or email at amaddaluna@greatswamp.org

Addition Auction Items

For all of those sports fans out there... GSWA will have Knicks, Nets, Yankees, and Mets tickets at our annual gala this year! For the ladies we will have tickets to the View and tickets to Regis and Kelly as well! The gala is in just a couple of short weeks so if you have not already sent in your RSVP card please do so as soon as possible so you can join the fun! For more information visit www.greatswamp.org or email: Amaddaluna@greatswamp.org ...remember the gala is October 14th at the Basking Ridge Country Club.

GSWA Annouces Sponsors

GSWA is proud to annouce that Merck and JM Sorge, Inc. will be sponsoring the 2010 Green Acres Gala.

We have also received some new auction items which include roundtrip airfare to Orlando, Knicks tickets, a one hour facial at RIdgewood European Day Spa, and tickets to the Morristown Community Theater.

The event is less than a month away, and we hope to see you there! For additional information or to find out how you can help us this year visit our webpage at http://www.greatswamp.org/ or email amaddaluna@greatswamp.org. We are available by phone at 973-538-3500 x 14

Exciting Auction Items Are Coming In!

We have been getting in some really exciting auction items lately that we are eager to share with you! Our first item is a signed baseball by Yankee legend Reggie Jackson. Another item is a golf foursome at Trump National. And finally, we will have 4 tickets to Regis and Kelly & 4 tickets to The View! The invitations are out and we are starting to receive RSVP cards, so send them in as soon as you get a chance. Can't wait to see all of you there, October 14th at the Basking Ridge Country Club. For more information on donating auction items, buying tickets, placing an ad, sponsoring the event, or buying a table please visit www.greatswamp.org or email amaddaluna@greatswamp.org .

More Auction Items!

More auction items are coming in! This week we received a golf foursome at the Basking Ridge Country Club, lunch for 2 at Due Terre in Bernardsville, brunch for 4 at Willie's Tavern in Bedminster, lunch for 4 at the Famished Frog in Morristown, and a gift certificate to Arthur's Tavern in Morris Plains. The attire for the evening will be City or Country, so feel free to dress it up or go casual! As a reminder the event will be held October 14, at the Basking Ridge Country Club. Hope to see all of you there!! For additional information feel free to call Amy at 973-538-3500 x 14 or email at: amaddaluna@greatswamp.org. Visit http://www.greatswamp.org/ to find out how you can contribute to the event this year!

Fall Breakfast Briefings Announced

GSWA continues its series of monthly breakfast meetings this fall. Covering a range of environmental topics, this is your opportunity to learn more from guest speakers and environmental specialists. Each briefing is from 8:00-9:30 a.m. at GSWA Headquarters, 568 Tempe Wick Rd., Harding Township (next to Jockey Hollow). A hot breakfast buffet is included.

Seating is open to the public and limited to 50 people so advance reservations are requested. Donations are appreciated. Register by calling our Event Info Line at 973-538-3500 x22, or visit www.greatswamp.org.

Tuesday, September 14: Fall Gardening Tips
Presented by: Mike Bucek, Green Path LandCare
As Fall approaches, learn how to put your garden safely to bed for the winter. Green Path LandCare, a Chatham-based family-owned and operated business, helps beautify landscapes, reduce chemical pollution and simply lives.

Tuesday, October 12: Social & Physical Landscapes of the Great Swamp Watershed
Presented by: David Tulloch, Rutgers University
The Rutgers University junior class in landscape architecture will present initial findings from their recent inventory of the social and physical landscapes of the Great Swamp watershed. Their report will be a creative reflection on both existing knowledge of the watershed as well as their own perceptions. They will be conducting further analysis and exploring regional design strategies for the area, so your input and response to their presentation will be invaluable to their progress.

Tuesday, November 9: The State of the Passaic River
Presented by: Kirk R. Barrett, Director, Passaic River Institute, Montclair State University
The watershed’s five streams flow through the Great Swamp and exit as the Passaic River. So what happens downstream of the Great Swamp watershed? Come and learn about issues facing the Passaic River, a source of drinking water for more than a million people.

Gala Auction Items

We hope you are all getting excited for our upcoming gala on October 14th! Just as a reminder, it will be at the Basking Ridge Country Club. The invitations will be coming soon, and we hope to see all of you there! We are getting plenty of new auction items each week and want to give you a taste of what you will see at the event! We have 2 certificates for Deep Root Fertilizers from Tree Tech, an overnight stay at the Sheraton Parsippany with breakfast, a gift certificate to Copeland Restaurant, an overnight stay at the Westin Governor Morris, and tickets to the Discovery Orchestra! Stay tuned for more items next week!

For more gala information please email Amy at amaddaluna@greatswamp.org or check out our website at www.greatswamp.org

Chris Daggett to Speak at Green Acres Gala 2010

Great Swamp Watershed Association is pleased to welcome Chris Daggett as the keynote speaker at this year’s Green Acres Gala. Mr. Daggett, president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, was the 2009 independent candidate for governor of New Jersey and former Commissioner of the NJDEP.

GSWA's 2010 Green Acres Gala will be held on Thursday, October 14th at the Basking Ridge Country Club, beginning at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour and silent auction followed by a seated dinner. GSWA's Annual Meeting will be held prior to the gala beginning at 5:30.

If you'd like to purchase tickets, donate to the silent auction or place an ad in our commemorative ad journal, visit http://www.greatswamp.org/ or contact Amy Maddaluna at 973-538-3500 x14 or amaddaluna@greatswamp.org.

Team Workdays at the CMA

The Great Swamp Watershed Association greatly appreciates the help of corporations and other businesses whose volunteers have assisted in the removal of invasive species, the construction of trails, and the planting of native species at our Conservation Management Area (CMA). Not only is this an effective way to improve the watershed and volunteer time to a great cause, but it also provides a team building experience between the workers, and it's a fun way to spend the day!

Last spring and summer, over 200 employees from Pfizer, Ethicon, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, Mars, and Eisner pitched in at the CMA to help clear invasive plants, replant native plant species, erect fencing, build boardwalks and mulch the trail system. This spring/summer, nearly 300 employees from Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Ethicon and Royal Bank of Canada, through 15 corporate workdays (so far!), have signed up to volunteer their time and energy through their employer community give-back programs.

GSWA’s primary goal for the CMA is to restore the property to a diverse ecologically functioning state. Restoration projects undertaken to date have included 15+ acres of invasive plant species control, installation of 23 acres of deer exclosure fencing, enhancement of vernal pool habitat, stream bank stabilization and replenishment, and the replanting of over 2,000 native shrubs and 4,500 live stakes. GSWA wishes to thank all of those hard-working corporate employees who rolled up their sleeves during team workdays to help us move closer to our restoration goals. To learn more about the CMA and the work being done there, visit www.greatswamp.org.

How Can We Have Four “100-Year” Floods In 15 Years?

By Jim Northrop, GSWA Member

In Bound Brook, New Jersey, there was a flood in 1996, and in 1999 Hurricane Floyd brought 17 feet of water to downtown Bound Brook. In 2007, there was another flood, followed recently by heavy rainfall which caused more downtown flooding. Some people call these “100-year floods,” but they all occurred over a mere 15 years. How can we have several “100-year” floods in the short span of 15 years?

Some people mistakenly believe that a “100-year” storm or “100-year” flood happens only once every 100 years. The term “100-year” flood is shorthand for a flood that statistically has a 1% (1/100) chance of occurring in any given year. Likewise, the term “100-year” storm is used to define a rainfall event that statistically has this same 1% chance of occurring this year. For a hydrologist studying water flows, “100-year” means an extreme hydrologic event having a 100-year recurrence interval.

Based on historical data about rainfall and stream stage at a given location, a process of frequency analysis is used to determine the probability that an extreme hydrologic event (such as a river cresting at a flood stage of 20 feet) will be equaled or exceeded in any given year.

Ten or more years of data are required to perform a frequency analysis for the determination of recurrence intervals. Of course, the more years of historical data the better -- a hydrologist will have more confidence for an analysis of a river with 30 years of record than one based on 10 years of record.

Thus, the terms “100-year” storm or “100-year” flood, are used merely to simplify the definition of a storm or flood that statistically has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. It is not the promise of a 100-year interval.

Join GSWA for a Vernal Pool Exporation at the CMA

Pull on your rubber boots, grab a flashlight, and join us for a Spring Peeper Party from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 26, in the vernal pools of GSWA's 50-acre Conservation Management Area. This forested wetland contains many vernal pools that will be jumping with the spring breeding amphibians that rely so heavily upon them. We'll take an evening stroll around the trails, seeking spring peepers, chorus frogs, wood frogs and more.

Visit www.greatswamp.org to register, or to find out more about GSWA's spring educational programs, including our popular monthly Breakfast Briefings.