In Chapter 11, "Headwaters and Watersheds" of the book "Protecting New Jersey's Environment" by Thomas Belton, the author talks about the importance of conserving New Jersey's watershed. In the section, "Headwater Protection, the author states that "headwater streams are among the most threatened aquatic environments in the United States" (190). I found this fact very interesting considering that headwaters are a key part of the environment and are biologically very important. The chapter states that the following cause harm to our headwaters: channelization, agricultural irrigation, piping, urbanization, mining practices, and ground water withdrawal. This is shocking because so much of our water is harmed by our every day practices. Urbanization is happening right before our eyes. Pipelines are making news and these things ruin the headwaters. In this same section, it stated that "headwater fish diversity is very low" (190). This was shocking because our diversity on land and in rivers is very important to the biological balance of our environment. Less fish diversity can lead to an imbalance in our aquatic environments which will never be able to be healed.
In the section, "The Trophic Diatom Index", the author states that this index was created to help the NJDEP assess the quality of the water. They made two separate models of this index for the northern and southern parts of the state. I found that very interesting. These proved to be a reliable tool to the NJDEP which would later identify pollutants within the watershed and allow for restrictions on those particular nutrients within the aquatic environment. This was meant to help improve the quality of the water. I liked this section because it stated what has been done and what technological advances have been made to try and solve the problem in our watersheds. In previous chapters, it has been made obvious that our water is not the best quality due to pollutants and ignorance. Therefore, it was nice to read about something hopeful (198-199).
In the section, "Freshwater Wetlands and Vernal Pools, the author shares that four Vernal Pool amphibians have been put on the endangered species list. The four species are: the easter tiger salamander, the blue-spotted salamander, the Pine Barren's tree frog, and the southern gray tree frog (201). Another fact that was absolutely shocking was that "nearly one-third of the world's amphibians are threatened", in numbers that represents 1,856 of the 6,300 existing amphibious species (201). This is shocking because that is a large chunk of our amphibian population. Also, I had no idea that that many amphibians are threatened. Facts like these can be used to wake up the people that live in this nation and in the world because that is no small number. In fact, the loss of these amphibians can truly affect our ecosystem. Another fun fact that I didn't know was that amphibians have lived on this planet for "nearly 300 million years, yet within the past twenty years nearly 168 species have gone extinct"(201). Is this due to the fact that our water is so polluted? What is causing these numbers? Is it overfishing? The statistics are shocking!
Also, in that same section, the author stated the efforts of New Jersey to try and conserve the Vernal Pools and the habitats for the amphibians. Despite their efforts, there still seems to be this question of whether or not the US government can use the wetlands in which these endangered creatures live on and the answer should be no (202). We should be preserving these lands and these animals. Amphibians have been on this planet so much longer than we have and it is scary that they are declining rapidly. Almost 200 species, is a lot to have lost within the past 20 years. As for our headwaters and watersheds, there is so much that we can do to conserve the water. We should be setting up laws and continue fighting for them. These are important for the vast biodiversity within New Jersey, as well as, for the ecology of the state.
As a people, we live in a world where people are filled with greed and want to build and urbanize the land. Unfortunately what people don't realize is that, once you ruin the land their is no way to continue making the money you're making. You will lose everything. People should continue to be educated on why these things are important to protect. Not everything needs to be "luxury apartments".