RCCA views films

The positive and negative impact that humans have on the environment was the theme of two video presentations yesterday at the winter quarterly meeting of the Rockland County Conservation Association at the Suffern Free Library.

A half-hour video documentary titled "Saving the Palisades" was produced by Frances J. Treanor of Media Women Inc., a nonprofit television production company, and funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission. It describes the role of the New Jersey Federation of Womens Clubs in rescuing the Jersey Palisades from rock quarrying.

The 190 million-year-old Palisades cliffs — standing 500 feet high and stretching 13 miles along the Hudson River, from New Jersey north into New York state — were being blasted by quarry companies in the 1890s for their gravel to pave roads and construct buildings in New York City.

Two women in particular — Elizabeth Vermilye and Cecilia Gaines Holland — were key participants in leading the protests, conducting letter-writing campaigns and getting media and political attention. "Men can legislate, but women can agitate," was a popular comment of the time.

In 1900, a consortium of wealthy philanthropists, including the Rockefeller, Harriman and Perkins families, who had also become alarmed about the destruction of the Palisades, raised the money to buy out the quarry companies. The blasting was halted by Christmas Eve.

Today, a stone watchtower erected on the cliffs at Alpine, N.J., bears a plaque that commemorates the efforts to save the Palisades. "Women didn't even have the vote in those days," said Legislator Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, who attended yesterday's presentation. "But women have often been in the forefront of protecting the environment."

Diane Gruskin, executive director of the Rockland County Environmental Management Council, said she was also inspired by the video. "In these trying times, it's nice to be able to sit down and be inspired by something positive that happened so long ago," Gruskin said.

"Protecting the Streams of Rockland County," a 10-minute video produced by Geoff Welch and David Weber for the Rockland County Water Quality Committee, was funded by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation and the Soil and Water Conservation Committee. The video contrasts the natural stream conditions as found in the Upper Torne Brook and the Ramapo River with the impact man-made channels have on such waterways as the Nyack Brook. It also shows that runoff from construction sites can result in sedimentation and destruction of wildlife habitat.

"Good natural streams with adjacent uplands and wetlands provide more places where water can infiltrate the underground aquifer, resulting in ribbons of biodiversity and pathways for wildlife to move around," Welch said. "But the streams have been heavily impacted by suburban sprawl and a lack of strong local laws."

The video shows that protecting streams improves water quality, natural beauty, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. "Water quality is definitely the topic for the future," said Florence Katzenstein of Upper Nyack, who attended yesterday's presentations.

end.

Conservationists screen two videos

The positive and negative impact that humans have on the environment