Chapter 11 of Protecting New Jersey’s environment, called Headwaters and Watersheds talked about the water environments we have in New Jersey and how they are being treated. One portion of the chapter that stuck out to me in particular was on page 190 when Belton stated, “headwater streams are among the most threatened aquatic environments in the United States” (Belton). This surprised me at first because I always thought that the larger bodies of water were the most threatened. However, it does make sense that the littler headwater streams are the most at risk because it is these headwaters that run into the larger bodies of water. One good point that was raised to support this idea is that “most states cannot protect these headwaters because a lack of scientifically defendable standards and monitoring tools” (189). This means that even though the headwaters are the most threatened, they are also harder to protect because we can determine a standard they need to uphold to. Therefore, because there are no formal regulations on them they are further threatened.
I am a serious lover of all kinds of frogs, they have always been one of my favorite animals (even though they also freak me out a bit). It was really sad to read about how both the Pine Barren’s tree frog and the southern gray tree frog were both on the endangered species list (along with two types of salamanders). Overall the numbers that were listed in this section of the chapter were simply sad to read about. I can’t believe that almost a third of the world’s amphibians are threatened (201)! This shows that the problem goes beyond more then just New Jersey. I don’t think people today realize how immensely humans are effecting the environment. I’m sure that if more people knew about some of the facts that were shared in this book overall they would be more conscious of their actions. I feel like right now most of the general public is living in a blissful ignorance.
However, it wasn’t all-bad. Belton stated in New Jersey there were things done to try to save the environments that these amphibians were living in. There was even controversy about if the government could use wetlands areas that these creatures were living on. I think that the answer is a hard NO! There is no reason for the US government to need to destroy wetlands to build on, we should be protecting these lands for the animals that live there and have lived there. We have no right to stomp our human mess all over their home.