Help Stop The Closure of the F-COVE !!!

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

The government is working on a plan to close F-Cove.

We need to stop them.

http://www.savebarnegatbay.org/news_231.shtml

Our plan is to get as many people as possible to contact Joe Sangiovanni, Brick Council President, to try to get Brick to work something out with the Fish & Wildlife Service, who own F-Cove.

I will try to get a contact email address for Joe.

A side note:
Joe was a customer of mine when he raced Offshore in a Chris Cat named Bustin' Out

[RollWithIt]

You would hope he will be sympathetic then.. Hope this works out. Seems like politicians all around are looking to legislate our fun lil hobby..

[stecz20]

why do they want to shut down f cove???

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

why do they want to shut down f cove???

The organizations working to close this public access are:

The American Littoral Society
The Army Corps of Engineers
The New Jersey Department of Transportation, and
The US Fish & Wildlife Service

These agencies' reasons would be (1) to use the deep lagoons as a dredge spoil site, (2) to create new wetlands so that builders can be allowed to destroy wetlands in other parts of the state, (3) to restore wildlife habitat, and (4) to tighten up on management of the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Save Barnegat Bay opposes this plan. Thousands of boaters enjoy this natural setting on weekends over the course of the summer.

The government employees contemplating this step need to stop and ask themselves what the purpose of government actually is. To deny thousands of people in the state of New Jersey this simple enjoyment merely for the sake of disposing of dredge spoils or for the sake of recreating a few acres of wetlands is to lose sight of the very purpose of government, which was originally to benefit people.

Stay tuned to this site during the winter in order to be updated on how you can help save F Cove. You may be able to help by writing letters or attending a hearing.

To get some idea of what the government is trying to do, open this enormous 753 page Army Corps of Engineers report and scroll to page 164. (This large document takes a very long time to load. http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Projects/Barnegat/Barnegat%20-%20Volume%203.pdf)

:mad:

[DPT MOTORSPORTS]

Thanks for all that you do Sharkey. They have been trying to close it down for a few years now. Such a great place to hang. Hope the boaters win on this.

[Expensive Date]

Will send an email off tonight.I can't believe we are on the same side of something with the save Barnegat bay group this should get interesting

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

Will send an email off tonight.I can't believe we are on the same side of something with the save Barnegat bay group this should get interesting
Yeah ! Can you imagine that ?

I guess Willie saw how much I was able to rally the troops against a speed limit that he figured I would be the person to get people to help with this.... :sifone:

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

What is Proposed

The agencies' plan calls for filling the lagoons to a depth of six feet. This depth figure may well change to an even shallower depth if they find, as they most likely will, that the shelf at the point of entry is only about three feet in depth.

Some of the dunes would be lowered, especially between the fingers of the F, in order to create habitat for rare diamondback terrapins. A connection would be broken through to the L-Lagoon immediately to the north.

Powerboats would no longer be allowed entrance. "Bollards" - pilings put in various places much as is done on land to enhance security of some building - would restrict access to craft above a certain size.

Various Perspectives

From the standpoint of the Refuge Managers, what currently occurs at F-Cove does not fit the Congressionally mandated criteria for recreational activity on a Federal Wildlife Refuge, which are:1 – Hunting, 2 - Fishing, 3 - Wildlife observation, 4 - Wildlife photography, 5 – Nature-related interpretive experiences, and 6 - Environmental education.

Also in the managers' defense is the fact that the deep water of the lagoons contains so little oxygen at the bottom that their lower portions are biologically useless.

Save Barnegat Bay acknowledges that the current activities do not meet the official recreational criteria. But we strongly believe that the fact that thousands of boaters enjoy this natural setting on weekends over the course of the summer creates an obligation on the part of representative government to work out an accommodation.

The government employees contemplating this step need to stop and ask themselves what the purpose of government actually is. To deny thousands of people in the state of New Jersey this simple enjoyment merely for the sake of disposing of dredge materials or for the sake of recreating a few acres of habitat is to lose sight of the very purpose of government, which was originally to benefit people.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has been very people-friendly over the years

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has been a model government agency. Over the years they have purchased thousand of acres along the New Jersey shore - over 43,000 to date - for conservation notwithstanding the fact that Congress has never given them anything close to the amount of money required to manage this land.

One of the most painful aspects of this situation from the standpoint of Save Barnegat Bay is that of finding ourselves in a disagreement with an organization that in all other ways has demonstrated a strong work ethic and pro-people approach that has greatly improved the environmental quality of the coast. The favorable contrast of the Service to other government agencies that could be named could not be more striking. Thousands of conserved acres would be polluting subdivisions were is not for the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Stay tuned to this site in order to be updated on how you can help save F Cove. You may be able to help by writing letters or attending a hearing.

To get some idea of what the government is trying to do, open this enormous 753 page Army Corps of Engineers report and scroll to page 164. (This large document takes a very long time to load. http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Projects/Barnegat/Barnegat%20-%20Volume%203.pdf)

[Jigsaw89]

I emailed and mailed my letter today via USPS.

Sharkey, what's the contact info for the State Representative and Senator? I think we need to bring in the big guns for this one!

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

In The News !!!

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090131/NEWS/901310339&s=a

[SHARKEY-IMAGES]

I emailed and mailed my letter today via USPS.

Sharkey, what's the contact info for the State Representative and Senator? I think we need to bring in the big guns for this one!

Check out this page:

http://www.njboa.org/legislators.htm