2022 Memorial Day Issue

Hopatcong Environmental
Commission Marks 50 Years
of Preservation
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
One of the oldest environmental
commissions in the state has turned 50
this year. But the Hopatcong Environmental
Commission certainly isn’t showing its age,
keeping up with evolving environmental
conditions and the need to educate residents on
how to keep their surroundings beautiful and
healthy.
The organization was established in May 1972
as the Hopatcong Conservation Commission.
It was modeled after a Massachusetts program
designed to create a local unit of government
that would be the watchdog for the environment,
according to Cliff Lundin, 70, one of the original
members appointed by the mayor and borough
council.
“At the time, Hopatcong was an
environmental catastrophe,” said Lundin, who
left the commission in 1975 when he became
a councilman. “The population had almost
doubled between 1960 and 1970, due primarily
to Route 80 opening up and it became a cheap
place to live and commute to jobs east. You
had all these summer bungalows that were in
the process of being converted to year-round
homes. The privately owned water systems were
collapsing. The lake was showing major signs
of stress. Septic systems were spilling over and
running down the street.”
The group was put in charge of protecting and
representing the environment in the community,
according to Lundin. “One of the first things
the commission set out to do was to perform
a national resource inventory, which was
completed in 1975.”
The study looked at all the natural resources—
wetlands, streams, steep slopes, flood plains—
mapping out where the most sensitive areas
were. “The result was a recommendation that the
borough adopt critical area zoning, an overlay
that defined the natural resource areas,” Lundin
said.
The council adopted an ordinance that required
anyone looking to build in an environmentally
sensitive area to go before the zoning board and
demonstrate how they were going to address the
environmental feature. According to Lundin,
that provision remains in the borough code
today.
Jule Girman, 79, was appointed to the
Hopatcong Environmental Commission in
2012, later becoming a full member and voted in
as chairperson in 2014, a position she still holds
today. “We are very lucky to be an environmental
commission in a very environmentally diverse
community, and we have the best—the lake,
the woods, the trails, the wildlife. It’s just a great
place to live,” she said.
“Mayor [Mike] Francis has appointed a great
team that works together with motivation and
energy and has the knowledge and wherewithal to
get things done,” said Girman. Current members
include Jen Barone, Lisa Hirschfeld, Brad
Hoferkamp, Pat Hoferkamp, Jon Rafalowski,
Willa Scantlebury and Georgia Schilling.
One of the group’s biggest achievements has
been becoming involved with Sustainable Jersey,
according to Girman. The program encourages
communities to work toward certification, a
distinction Hopatcong has held since 2015.
“The borough had to accomplish actions
and complete environmental projects that
support us as a sustainable community,” she
said. Hopatcong gained “points” through the
maintenance of a community garden, the
establishment of a farmers market, as well as by
supporting recycling and “shred days.”
“All these things that we do make Hopatcong
a better place,” she added. Certification is good
for three years, and communities can recertify by
maintaining or increasing their points.
The commission works in conjunction with
the borough council. John Young, 72, who has
served as a councilman since 2009, was asked
to act as the liaison between the council and
the commission. “I’m the spokesperson for the
environmental commission to the council and
vice versa. If there is something the council
wants the commission to look into, I might
be the delivery mechanism, and I report to the
council on the environmental commission.”
Young said educating the public about how to
become better contributors to the environment
is of the highest priority. “People don’t realize
that a lot of the plants you can buy for gardening
are actually invasive species,” he said. “If they are
not indigenous to this area, they can take over—
like bamboo. It’s about recognizing in your yard
what’s not natural to the area and what’s harmful
if you let it go.”
One of the ways the commission has encouraged
that knowledge is through participation in
programs such as a free tree giveaway—held this
year at the end of April—through New Jersey
State Tree Recovery. “We received 500 trees; we
gave away over 400,” said Young. “What we had
left, we made arrangements with the Cub Scouts
to replant the rest of them off Stanhope-Sparta
Road. So, none of them went to waste.”
Young believes the yearly distribution is also
an opportunity to educate residents on native
trees and also provide advice on how and where
to plant them. “Trees are a natural resource and
replenishing them is not a bad idea.”
Sometimes an extra special honor comes
around. “This year we were given a seedling from
the historic Salem oak tree. It’s been potted and
will be planted somewhere in town,” Young said.
The environmental commission was also very
instrumental in the installation of two small rain
Volunteer Jamie Windt advises Katelyn
MacDonald and Jeffrey Rundle on how
best to care for a tree sapling.
Nicholas Tommasulo, center, looks skyward on a
recent guided bird hike in Hopatcong.
Jule Girman shows a group
of hikers in Hopatcong
one of many invasive
plants in the area.
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