Comment EI-17453
Received or sent (printed as 4/21/2009)
I am Nancy Slowik the Director/Naturalist at Greenbrook Sanctuary, a 165 acre nature preserve in the New Jersey Palisades which is part of the lsrger Palisades Interstate Park system. In 1993 and 1994 I conducted 5 site visits to the Harsimus Branch Embankment. Although most sites were not accessible I was able to make observations on the eastern most segment which is thirteen feet above grade level on the eastern edge. I cataloged the plant and animal life observed during 4 different months and submitted this informatio to the STB. Although no endangered or threated (E & T) species were identified, these visits were short and confined to only a 400 X 400 foot section of the Harsimus Branch, which is more than a mile long and includes habitat not only on the Embankment segments, but also farther west. This was by no means the sort of study that the site warrants. The SEA's Enviornmental Assessment discounts the presence of E & T species on the Harsimus Branch. It does so on no evidence, since no formal studies have been done on most of the Harsimus Branch. An Environmental Impact Statement should be authorized to further determine whether protected species use the habitat of the Branch and what impacts of abandoment and demolition will have on all species if this habitat is further destroyed. In such a densely populated area, even a small space provides valuable habitat for both resident and migratory species. The Harsimus Branch begins at the Palisades and extends toward the Hudson River. In A Naturalist's Guide to the Southern Palisades" (2004), I documented E & T species a little farther north on the Palisades. These include: American Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sedge Wren and Savannah Sparrow. Peregrine Falcons are also found nesting in this area. A nesting pair resides at 101 Hudson Street, Jersey City, atop the Mack-Cali Building, less than a mile from the Embankment "as the peregrine flies". This site is well documented. Please authorize an environmental impact statement to be conducted on this site. Thank you for your attention in this matter."
Submitted by: Nancy Slowik · Palisades Nature Association
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/AB-167/sub/1189X/comment/EI-17453 · back to the docket sheet