THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY HARBOR ESTUARY PROGRAM
The Harbor Estuary Program (HEP) is a National Estuary Program authorized in 1987 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The program is a multi-year effort to develop and implement a plan to protect, conserve, and restore the estuary. Participants in the program include respresentatives from local, state, and federal environmental agencies, scientists, citizens, business interests, environmentalists, and others. The primary planning document produced by the program is the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), completed in March of 1996 and signed by the governors of New York and New Jersey the Fall of 1997. The vision governing the development of the plan is to establish and maintain a healthy and productive Harbor/Bight ecosystem with full beneficial uses. The areas of concern outlined in the CCMP are: habitat and living resources, toxic contamination, nutrients and organic enrichment, pathogenic contamination, dredged material management, floatable debris, and rainfall-induced discharges. The program is currently working on implementing a number of key CCMP actions, including developing a habitat acquisition and restoration plan and a plan to reduce the sources of toxic materials to the Harbor Estuary.