The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation announces Hackensack River Nation Summit takes place on Earth Day 2025, April 22. Captain Bill Sheehan, Executive Director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, will present the keynote address, The State of the Hackensack River. The Summit runs from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the Student Union Building located at Sub Lane in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Earth Day 2025
The Hackensack River Nation Summit takes place on Earth Day 2025 at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The Summit will bring together public officials, leaders of environmental and community organizations, and also business leaders seeking to protect the Hackensack River watershed ecosystem and to connect more people to the waterway. The Hackensack River flows and impacts these municipalities in Bergen and Hudson counties: Oradell, Haworth, Emerson, New Milford, Hackensack, River Edge, Bogota, Teaneck, Ridgefield Park, Little Ferry, North Bergen, Secaucus, and Jersey City.
Featured presentations and workshops will discuss the following:
- cleaning up the Hackensack River Superfund site, led by the US Environmental Protection Agency;
- collaborating for better and more cost-effective stormwater management planning, led by the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Future;
- choosing green infrastructure for watershed protection, led by United Energy Advisors;
- building trails in urban and suburban communities, led by the New York/New Jersey Trails Conference; and
- creating Strong Watershed Alliances, with the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Musconetcong Watershed Association, and the Waterfront Alliance.
Workshop Sessions
The workshops confirmed and scheduled to be presented include the following:
- Collaborating for Better Stormwater Management Planning with Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP from the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. In addition, other speakers include Chris Sotiro from New Jersey Future and Kristina Korervo and Miranda Muniz from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
- Building Strong Watershed Alliances with panelists Cortney Koenig Worrall, President and CEO from Waterfront Alliance and also Thomas G. Dallessio, AICP/PP/CPM/FRSA, from Musconetcong Watershed Association
Cortney Koenig Worral, President and CEO of Waterfront Alliance, will speak on the Building Strong Watershed Alliances panel on Earth Day 2025 at the Hackensack River Nation Summit.
- Green Infrastructure: Leaves and Branches with André Masud and Kevin Parham, United Energy Advisors
- Building Trails in Urban and Suburban Communities with Peter Dolan, New York/ New Jersey Trails Conference
- Hackensack River Superfund Cleanup with presenters from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, District 2
At the Summit, meet exhibitors. In addition, learn about their missions and how to get involved with their work. The organizations scheduled to exhibit include Jersey Water Works, New Jersey Future, and also New York-New Jersey Trails Conference. In addition, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, Ramapo College, and Sewage Free Streets and Rivers round out the exhibits.
Registration
Registration for the Summit may be done conveniently online. Ticket prices cover the following: general public $80, government and nonprofit environmental commission and green team members $40, and also students and green infrastructure champions $20. Students attending Fairleigh Dickinson University, Montclair State University, and Ramapo College, as well as Rutgers University purchase tickets with a valid student email address. For additional information about the Summit, contact the Foundation’s Executive Director, Leonardo Vazquez, at leo@nnjcf.org or call 201-568-5608 extension 2.
Sponsors and Donations Appreciated
The NNJCF seeks sponsors and donations to support the Hackensack River Nation Summit. Furthermore, donations assist with growing greener, cleaner and healthier places through the Foundation’s work in the region. To date, sponsors for the Summit include Dimension Energy, PSEG Foundation and M&T Charitable Foundation.
Help the NNJCF continue its work. Make a donation of any size online. Contributions may also be sent by check made out to ‘The Northern N.J. Community Foundation’, with ‘Hackensack River Nation Summit’ entered in the memo line. Send checks to the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, 1 University Plaza, Suite 102, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601. For further information about sponsorships, donations, or the NNJCF, call 201-568-5608 or send an e-mail to nnjcf@nnjcf.org.
