Do Me a Favor, Protect my property value, make my stream "ecologically significant"

Of the seven streams that Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell has protected from developers by identifying them as "ecologically significant," at least four abut land owned by people with ties to the Democratic Party or to Campbell himself. In one case, Campbell's department banned developers from a stream running through the valley where former U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli owns a circa-1730 Hunterdon County farm. In another case, environmental protections went up along a stream below the home and farm pond owned by Carla Katz, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which represents about 9,000 state workers, including 2,379 of the DEP's 3,450 employees. The DEP also granted Katz an exemption from Highlands Act restrictions to expand and upgrade the 205-year-old farmhouse.

Katz, who earns about $90,000 a year, has been in the news lately after it was disclosed that her former sweetheart, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., forgave a $470,000 loan to pay off a mortgage on her property. Corzine is running for governor against Republican Doug Forrester and eight third-party or independent candidates, and, should the senator win, would have to negotiate salaries and benefits with his former lover, among others. A top aide to Katz is married to a DEP deputy. They live by a stream in Frenchtown that is also off-limits to developers. In a fourth case, an environmental activist who is a friend of Campbell's wife resides in Stockton. A stream at the north end of town won state protections, helping preserve the town's bucolic image.

A scientific basis. In an interview Tuesday, Campbell stressed that neither politics nor friendships figured in the decisions by his department to protect these streams. He said it was all based on science. "We don't decide whether to include or exclude based on who lives nearby," Campbell stressed. He later added, "This has been a program based very clearly on environmental criteria and science, and not any other consideration." The commissioner, appointed in 2002 by former Gov. James E. McGreevey, said it would make sense that people connected with state government would get to enjoy environmental protections on their Hunterdon County land. Campbell reasoned that the hill country north of Trenton is a DEP priority and is also favored as a place to reside by managers in state government. "Our priority has been to protect the upper reaches of the Delaware. We have protected just about every tributary. . . . And yes, because it is close to Trenton, you can always find state employees who are in that area," said Campbell, who lives in Lambertville.

Willow Pond Farm, with its long driveway and restored stone structures, sits on a forested hillside upcountry from Stockton and Lambertville, sloping down toward the Lockatong Creek, a few hundred yards from where the waterway empties into the Delaware. With the stream's DEP classification as "Category One," it means that Torricelli, who left the Senate amid ethical questions, can look out from his pastoral home there with the assurance his natural vista will be unchanged by any noisy bloom of suburbia. Torricelli did not respond to a request for an interview. Campbell said he never had a single discussion with Torricelli about the Lockatong or its status.

One of the ways a stream can win so-called C1 protections — which under state storm water rules means no new development is allowed within 300 feet of its banks — is to be a healthy habitat for trout. The state says the Lockatong is just that and stocks it with hatchery-raised fish. Mark Dettmar, who operates Delaware River Outfitters, a fly-fishing store and fishing-guide guide service in Pennington, disagrees. "At one time it was a wild trout stream. It had wild trout. It no longer does. It does get stocked. The problem with the Lockatong is it doesn't hold water any more. It dries up," said Dettmar.

Creeks rise to C1 status: Miles to the north, the meandering Harihokake Creek wanders down a leafy valley from a headwaters 100 yards or so beneath Katz's farm pond. Downstream, it flows through the center of Milford, where people feed the flock of ducks. Then, the stream enters the Delaware. "I am completely unaware of this stream. This is news," Katz said Wednesday. South of Milford in Frenchtown is Nishisakawick Creek. Jeff Scott and his wife, Jeanne Herb, have a home and barn on a sort of peninsula where the creek enters the Delaware. Scott is the political director of Katz's union. Herb is Campbell's assistant commissioner for policy, planning and science. A CWA receptionist said Wednesday that Scott is on vacation and unavailable for comment. Until McGreevey quit a year ago, Scott had been in line to become his deputy chief of staff. The Stockton stream is Wickecheoke Creek. Alison Mitchell, policy director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, advocated for its C1 status. Campbell said that decision had nothing to do with Mitchell's friendship with Campbell's wife. They married last year. A spokesman for the Conservation Foundation refused Wednesday to pass along requests to Mitchell seeking her comment, saying he first had to know the nature of the story in which she was to be mentioned. Said Campbell of Mitchell, "People aren't disqualified on an issue on the basis of where they live." Environmentalists such as Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club and David Pringle of the New Jersey Environmental Federation said they are glad to see streams protected.

But Tittel said other stretches of water are at least as worthy of safeguards. "They take care of their friends," said Tittel of DEP. "I'm more concerned with waterways where developers are going to be allowed in," said Pringle. Tittel cited stretches of the Ramapo and Musconetcong rivers. "We asked for about 300 to be protected," he said. Since taking charge at DEP, Campbell has protected stretches of 17 other streams for reasons other than ecological significance. These are because the streams are an "exceptional water supply," such as the Shark River; or because they are labeled just "water supply," such as the Manasquan and Metedeconk rivers. [org pub Asbury Park Press, by Tom Baldwiw]