Environmental Resource Inventory
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This document was prepared with aid of a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Services Program. 2 DISTRIBUTION LIST Summit Free Public Library, 4 copies Mayor: Jordan Glatt City Administrator: Christopher Cotter Common Council: Frank Macioce, President, 8 copies City Clerk: David Hughes Planning Board: Paul Deehan, Chair, 10 copies Department of Community Services: 5 copies Environmental Commission, Marian Glenn, Chair, 7 copies Summit High School Library Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School Library Oratory Prep School Library Kent Place School Library Oak Knoll School Library Brayton School Library Franklin School Library Lincoln-Hubbard School Library Jefferson School Library Washington School Library Union County: JoAnn Gemenden, Bureau Chief of Environmental Services Department of Public Safety, 300 North Avenue, East Westfield, NJ 07090 NJ DEP, Environmental Services Program, Joseph C. Rogers ANJEC, Sandy Batty, Executive Director Millburn Environmental Commission, Martine Redman, Chair Chatham Borough Environmental Commission, Peter Kuyk, Chair Chatham Township Environmental Commission, Susan R. Hoag, Member New Providence: Municipal Administrator Berkeley Heights: Municipal Administrator Mountainside: Municipal Administrator Springfield Environmental Commission, Cranford Environmental Commission, Nelson W. Ditmar, Jr., Chair Great Swamp Watershed, John Malay, Director of Communications Passaic River Coalition, Ella Filippone, Executive Director This report is also available on the City of Summit website, http://www.ci.summit.nj.us/ 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................7 II. GEOLOGY ..........................................................................................................................8 III. GEOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................11 IV. HYDROLOGY AND WATER QUALITY.........................................................................12 V. WETLANDS ......................................................................................................................15 VI. CLIMATE AND WEATHER .............................................................................................18 VII. SOILS................................................................................................................................19 VIII. VEGETATION ..................................................................................................................22 IX. WILDLIFE ........................................................................................................................25 X. LAND USE .......................................................................................................................27 XI. HISTORIC PRESERVATION ...........................................................................................32 XII. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION ..................................................................................34 Appendix 1: Topography of Summit.........................................................................................38 Appendix 2: Summit’s Aquifers and Production Wells .............................................................40 Appendix 3: Water Features and Wetlands...............................................................................41 Appendix 4: Canoe Brook Weather Station Readings ..............................................................41 Appendix 5: Growing Native Plants .........................................................................................43 Appendix 6: Native Trees and Shrubs of the Piedmont Region of New Jersey .........................44 Appendix 7a: Landmark Trees of Summit ...............................................................................45 Appendix 7b: Street Trees in Summit - 2000............................................................................46 Appendix 8: Invasive Plants .....................................................................................................47 4 Appendix 9: Bird Species Seen in Summit................................................................................48 Appendix 10: Dragonflies and Damselflies of Union County, New Jersey ...............................49 Appendix 11: Lepidoptera Found in New Jersey......................................................................50 Appendix 12: Mammals of New Jersey.....................................................................................51 Appendix 13: Reptiles in New Jersey........................................................................................53 Appendix 14: Amphibians of New Jersey ..................................................................................54 Appendix 15: Open Space in Summit ........................................................................................55 Appendix 16: Summit’s Known Contaminated Sites .................................................................57 5 6 ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE INVENTORY SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY I. INTRODUCTION In 1968, the State of New Jersey passed legislation that enabled municipalities to create Conservation Commissions. These Commissions, later renamed Environmental Commissions, are non-elective and advisory. The State Legislature suggested that the environmental commissions prepare natural resource inventories, plans and projects for recommendation of conservation measures to be included by planning boards in master plans for land use. Later, the natural resource inventory was renamed the environmental resource inventory (ERI), to acknowledge the human as well as the natural elements encompassed in environmentally-informed planning efforts. For many years, Summit did not have an ERI, and information on Summit’s environmental resources was scattered in various documents, such as the city’s Master Plans, the Union County Master Plan for Open Space and Recreation, local documents such as the Landmark Tree Inventory, as well as numerous NJ-level studies on weather, water, air quality, soils and natural history. From the earliest days of civilized living, people have recognized the intimate dependence of their well-being on the natural environment. Whether through religion, civic statutes, or even through war, the public has called upon their leaders to provide a hospitable environment for the pursuit of their lives. New Jersey’s Municipal Land Use law places this responsibility on local governments and the citizens of its 500-some villages, towns and cities. As human activity and the built environment have come to dominate natural processes in heavily settled areas like Summit, the public has increasingly called upon government to plan not only the management, but also the design of the environment. Good environmental design harmonizes the built environment with the processes of nature and the activities of residents. Since Summit is a mature, fully-developed community, there was an assumption that its land use was already well-defined, and there was little need for planning to preserve open space and other natural aspects of its environment. However, Summit, like other mature communities, is still challenged to understand and preserve what is already here, and to promote planning based upon sound environmental principles. This ERI will inform the public and planning officials about Summit’s environment from various perspectives, geology and hydrology, which affect soil erosion and storm water management, plants and animals, as they are found in our parks and open space; weather, air and noise, as well as other aspects of the surroundings that affect the quality of life in Summit. This document is aimed at generating an awareness of the resources in Summit’s environment in the hope of preserving and enhancing the interface between Summit’s residents and their physical surroundings. 7 II. GEOLOGY1 New Jersey is divided into four geologic regions, known as physiographic provinces, which have distinctive rocks and landforms. Summit lies in the center of New Jersey’s Piedmont physiographic region. The Piedmont region has more topographic relief than the Coastal Plain, but not as much as the Highlands. The Piedmont presents a low, hilly surface, broken by occasional ridges. These hills are separated by wide valleys that slope downward toward the east and southeast. The story of Summit’s geology goes back millions of years. During the Jurassic and Triassic epochs, roughly 200 million years ago, active volcanoes, formed the Watchung Mountains on top of rocks that were much older, dating from Paleozoic and Precambrian times. During the Pleistocene epoch, also known as the Ice Ages, rocks, sand and gravel carried to Summit by glaciers, were deposited as the glaciers melted about 11,000 years ago. New Jersey’s Physiographic Provinces Ridge and Valley Highlands Summit Piedmont Coastal Plain During the Triassic Epoch, as the giant continent Pangea began to break up, a series of northeast-to-southwest basins were formed in the Piedmont Plateau from Nova 1 Information on geology can be found in the following: Widmer, K., 1964 The Geology and Geography of New Jersey. The New Jersey Historical Series, V. 19, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey; Wolfe, P., 1977 The Geology and Landscapes of New Jersey. Crane Russak and Company, Inc., New York, New York; Trailside