STONE HARBOR — Inmates from Bayside State Prison will clean marshes, move debris and weed invasive growth at the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary beginning at the end of this month, before birds return in May.
Council made a motion to participate in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Shores Program at its meeting April 7.
Prisoners will work spring, fall and winter with the exception of summer for 5-hour days, typically arriving on site at 7:30 a.m. and leaving at 12:30 p.m. Inmates will help to open up sight lines for the birds to see potential feeding grounds and/or nesting areas.
There will be no direct contact between the borough and the inmates. Once the Natural Resources Committee and volunteer Bird Sanctuary Advisory Committee decide what must be done, DEP representatives will tell a corrections officer who will direct the inmates.
The Clean Shores Program is not a work-release program, but rather part of inmates’ regular physical labor. It will be fully supervised by the state.
The borough must provide dumpsters, restrooms and lunch for the workers. The borough will be reimbursed for expenses like waste tipping fees, renting portable restrooms, etc. DEP Website states the program cannot reimburse for cost of inmate food and any municipal employees and equipment that may be needed.
DEP will provide a woodcutter to use a chainsaw, as the inmates are not trained to do so, said Councilman H. Brian Levinson, chairman of Natural Resources Committee.
Council approved contacting Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) to look into the program at its March 17 meeting, per suggestion from the Bird Sanctuary Advisory Committee.
Clean Shores work crews consists of 20 inmates, two state correctional officers, a site manager and the woodcutter. The inmates have received special selection for outside work by the Department of Corrections and have full minimum status, DEP Website explains.
Mayor Suzanne Walters, Van Drew and Levinson, among other notables, will be at the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary on Tuesday, April 14 at 11 a.m. to thank Director of the DEP Clean Shores Program Virginia Loftin.
Information about the program is available at:
www.state.nj.us/dep/wms//bmw/CleanShores/CSmain.html
Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 ext. 24 or at: ltruluck@cmcherald.com.
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