Lisa Plevin Appointed ED of Highlands- Good Choice

Lisa Plevin has been named Executive Director of the Highlands Council. Pleven currently lives in the Highladn worked as the Chief of Staff for the EPA Region 2 for 7 years. Before that, she worked as the Deputy Director for US Senator Frank Lautenberg for 7 years.

“I have known Lisa Plevin for over 30 years. We worked very closely when she worked for Senator Lautenberg. We spent a lot of time working to protect Sterling Forest in the middle of Highlands which was slated by be a city of 35,000 people and now it’s a 22,000 -acre park. Senator Lautenberg was instrumental in protecting the Highlands forest and our reservoirs. From working in the EPA, Plevin has a strong record on environmental protection and clean water,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “As Executive Director of the Highlands, Plevin has a lot of work to do. With all of Christie’s rollbacks and delays she is going to have to move Highlands protections quickly. We want to thank Governor Murphy with what he has done so far but now he needs to move toward to replace Chris Christie’s appointees that were put in place to weaken Highlands protections. Instead, Murphy must appoint people who will protect the Highlands.”

The DEP’s Highlands Forest Preservation Area is one of the most environmentally sensitive area of the region and is a major source of drinking water for up to 6 million people that includes pristine trout streams, and reservoirs. Carl Richko, a retired public-school teacher and former West Milford mayor will chair the state council overseeing the controversial 2004 Highlands Act limiting development in ecologically-sensitive parts of seven northern counties.

“Together with Lisa Plevin and Carl Richko, it will be a one-two punch for the Highlands. Carl Richko is an environmental champion in the Highlands council. The Council, however, need to move forward on not only protecting 880,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land and forest but more importantly, the drinking water for over 6 million people. The Highland provide drinking water for over half of the people in New Jersey. But there has been virtually nothing done to implement the regional master plan in the Highlands over the last 8 years,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the Sierra Club. “The Highlands region is New Jersey’s Yellowstone and Yosemite. It provides drinking water for over 6 million people but what’s even more important is that this water runs our economic engine. Highlands’ water is found in everything from M&M’s to Tylenol, Manischewitz Matzo, Goya beans to Budweiser. That’s why its important that we need someone who cares about the Highlands, and Lisa Plevin does.”