Champion Carl Richko Named Chair of Highlands Council

Governor Murphy has appointed Carl Richko as Chair of the Highlands Council. Richko is the former mayor of West Milford Township. He is a former member of the Passaic County Open Space Committee and served as Vice Chairman of the Highlands Municipal Property Tax Stabilization Board. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel released the following statement:

“Carl Richko is an outstanding appointment as Chair the Highland Council. Has been a long-standing environmental champion who began fighting to protect the Highlands over 40 years ago. He founded the Highlands Watershed Association to fight development in the Newark Watershed. He was also instrumental in fighting proposed uranium mining in the Highlands. His activism led to him becoming Councilman and Mayor of West Milford Township. While in that position, he worked tirelessly to protect the communities and natural resources of the town and entire region. We want to thank Governor Murphy for appointing Carl Richko as head of the Highlands Council. We are confident that he will fight to protect the Highlands, communities and drinking water for six million people.

“This is a major, and important, change after eight years of Riley being chair under Christie. We’ve been battling development and rollbacks in the Highlands for almost ten years and are looking forward to a major change. During the Christie Administration, we have been fighting proposed development across the Highlands region. Christie rolled back the Highlands Septic Density Rules to increase development, putting the water supply of the entire state in jeopardy. Richko has been a champion for the region for decades and we look forward to working with him as the head of the Council to address these rollbacks and better protect the Highlands from overdevelopment and climate change.

“I’ve known Carl Richko for a long time and am excited that he has been appointed head of the Highlands Council. I first met him over forty years ago when he was fighting to prevent a city from being built in the Newark Watershed. He was one of the key people I worked with when I began getting active in the Highlands area protections. Richko worked to update the Highlands Regional Master Plan and get towns to conform to it as well as preventing large developments in the middle of the region. After eight years of working to stop weakenings and rollbacks, we can start moving the Highlands forward. We can protect the forests and waterways of the region while fighting climate change and preventing overdevelopment. We hope that Governor Murphy will appoint more members to the Council like Carl Richko who will fight to protect the Highlands and the drinking water for six million people.”