“Sustainable Raritan Awards,” photo by Nick Romanenko (c)2016 Rutgers University”

Press Release 3/20/17

NEW BRUNSWICK – The Sustainable Raritan River Initiative is accepting nominations for the 2017 Sustainable Raritan Awards to recognize outstanding achievement in efforts to revitalize, restore and protect the Raritan River resources and promote the area as a premiere place to live, work and raise a family.  Nominations are due May 15.  The awards will be conferred at the 9th Annual Sustainable Raritan Conference and Awards Ceremony at Rutgers’ Douglass Student Center on Friday, June 9, 2017.

“The purpose of these awards is to recognize some of the more creative and impressive accomplishments by genuine leaders throughout the Raritan Watershed,” said Michael Catania, Executive Director of Duke Farms Foundation and a member of the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative and the 2016 Awards Committee.

The Sustainable Raritan Awards were established in 2010 to promote innovation and energize local efforts to restore and protect the rivers, streams and habitat of the Raritan River, Basin and Bay.  There were originally six categories of awards.  Due to the breadth of nominees, additional awards have been added over the years.  This year, nominations will be accepted for achievement in Government Innovation, Leadership, Non-Profit Innovation, Public Access, Public Education, Remediation and Redevelopment, Stewardship, and Sustainable Business, as well as for a new category – Citizen Action.  The awards have highlighted extraordinary accomplishments and inspired other groups across the watershed to achieve comparable levels of excellence.

“We noted last year that there had been an increase in citizen involvement in projects throughout the watershed, and we received several nominations for those actions, which did not fit neatly into the existing award categories. So, beginning this year, we are adding a new award category – Citizen Action – in order to encourage and recognize these types of individual commitments to projects such as stream clean ups, water quality monitoring, and similar critical citizen actions,” said Bill Kibler, Director of Policy for Raritan Headwaters and a member of the 2016 Awards Committee and the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative.

Nomination submission guidelines and information about past Award recipients can be found on the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative Website at www.raritan.rutgers.edu.

Rutgers University launched the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative in 2009 to bring together concerned scientists, environmentalists, engineers, businesses, community leaders and governmental entities to craft an agenda that meets the goals of the U.S. Clean Water Act to restore and preserve New Jersey’s Raritan River, its tributaries and its bay.  The Initiative, a joint program of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, partners with other Rutgers schools, centers and programs to ensure the best contributions from the sciences, planning and policy.

The Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative is a growing network of over 130 organizations, governmental entities and businesses in the Raritan River region working together to balance social, economic and environmental objectives towards the common goal of restoring the Raritan River, its tributaries and its estuary for current and future generations.  Each member organization in the Collaborative contributes to the overall restoration and preservation of the River.

To learn more about the Sustainable Raritan Awards, the conference, or the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, visit www.raritan.rutgers.edu, or contact Sara Malone, Facilitator, Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, raritan@ejb.rutgers.edu.