Great Swamp Watershed Association’s “Green Acres” Gala 2008

Harding Twp. – The Great Swamp Watershed Association will hold its 2008 Gala on Wednesday, October 22, 2008, at the Basking Ridge Country Club. Guests at our “Green Acres” Gala will enjoy a seated dinner, dancing and keynote address by Michael Catania, founder and president of Conservation Resources, Inc. An exciting addition to this year’s event is entertainment provided by MamaLuke, a popular area rock n’ roll band. The 2008 Gala is sponsored by Wachovia. Additional sponsors to date include Wyeth, Peapack-Gladstone Bank and Pfizer.

“Our intention is to have a fun event that captures the essence of the organization’s mission”, says Sally Rubin, Executive Director. “The ‘Green Acres’ theme certainly conveys a double meaning, allowing the Great Swamp Watershed Association to promote open space and other environmental issues, with a whimsical tongue in cheek reference to the popular 1960s sitcom.”

This year the Gala features Michael Catania as the keynote speaker. Mr. Catania is the founder and President of Conservation Resources Inc., a non-profit conservation group, which provides financial and technical assistance to the conservation community in New Jersey. He was the founder and Chairman of the Coalition for Conservation, currently serves as chair of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust and President of Schiff Natural Lands Trust, Inc. He served as Deputy Commissioner of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection under three Commissioners and two Governors, and began his career with the non-partisan NJ Legislative Services Agency, where he drafted many of New Jersey’s landmark environmental laws, including the Pinelands Protection Act, several of the Green Acres Bond Acts and others. Mr. Catania also served as in-house counsel at NJDEP and was also the Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey for 12 years.

Invitations will be mailed by September 1st. Tickets are $150 per person, and are available now by calling the Development Department at 973-538-3500, extension 18. Net proceeds from the Gala support the ongoing programs and activities of the Great Swamp Watershed Association.

 

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Founded in 1981, the Great Swamp Watershed Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the water and land of the 36,000-acre watershed region in Morris and Somerset counties. The organization works to maintain the beauty and health of open space, and to monitor and protect five streams: Loantaka Brook, Great Brook, Primrose Brook, Black Brook, and the headwaters of the Passaic River — which feed into the Passaic River and providing drinking water to more than a million people.
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