This is a news release from June 2005, from the NJ Audubion Society: For immediate release Contact: Eric Stiles June 15, 2005 (908) 766-5787 ext. 13 Kathleen Bird (609) 392-1181 or (609) 273-7750 Groups Urge Restoration and Protection of NJs Rarest Wildlife Habitats Conservation Partnerships with Private Landowners Essential to Saving Key Grassland Habitats, Critical Species Federal, state and nonprofit conservation officials joined forces today to highlight the importance and process of restoring New JerseyÂs rarest habitats  grasslands and other habitats in early succession such as shrublands. Landowners have an essential role to play in preserving New JerseyÂs most critically endangered habitats and can benefit financially by voluntarily conserving critical natural resources on private pastures and farmland, the experts said. "New JerseyÂs grasslands have reached a critical juncture. Strong, voluntary partnerships are needed to protect these areas and prevent the large number of threatened and endangered species from disappearing from New Jersey," said Eric Stiles, vice president of conservation and stewardship for New Jersey Audubon Society. "Grassland conservation is a private-public partnership, based on financial rewards to willing landowners, and involving state and federal agencies." New Jersey has lost agricultural and grassland habitat at an alarming rate, from nearly 1 million acres in 1972 to less than 850,000 acres in 2001, based on the latest available state data. And in just a six-year period  from 1995 to 2001  nearly 26,000 acres of agricultural lands were lost to development. "Grasslands and other early successional habitat are New JerseyÂs most critically endangered habitats," Stiles said. Eric Schrading, Senior Fish & Wildlife Biologist and Private Lands Coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service based at its New Jersey Field Office in Pleasantville, said, "Much of the land in New Jersey is privately owned, so protection of our essential natural resources depends on partnerships with willing landowners. Agricultural grasslands, which provide shelter, safety and nourishment for grassland birds, are the most rapidly disappearing land type in New Jersey." "Since they lack trees, the agricultural landscapes of pastures and farmland that contain New JerseyÂs grasslands are easier and cheaper to develop and often targeted first by developers," New Jersey AudubonÂs Stiles said at a press conference today at the ecologically important and strikingly beautiful Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge in the Sussex County community of Sussex. The Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge was chosen for the event to demonstrate the successful grassland restoration and management practices occurring there. The refuge is a gem in an expansive, historically agricultural area of the northwestern part of New Jersey. Nearby Wantage and Vernon townships in Sussex County and Pohatcong in Warren County feature enormous tracts of grasslands hosting critical bird species whose populations are in jeopardy. Critical habitat for grassland dependent species, also found throughout other areas of New Jersey, has been rapidly disappearing due to development. As habitat dwindles, bird and other species decline. The U.S. Department of AgricultureÂs Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the New Jersey Department of Environmental ProtectionÂs Endangered and Nongame Species Program are providing financial and other incentives to farmers to restore native habitat and to manage their lands to benefit wildlife. New Jersey Audubon Society, the stateÂs oldest and most respected conservation organization, is advocating grassland preservation and restoration of native vegetation that provides habitat for species that are listed as threatened, endangered or of special concern by the state. Landowners can learn about how they can manage property of any size to benefit wildlife through a new handbook, "New Jersey Audubon SocietyÂs Guide to Incentive Programs for New Jersey Landowners." It is a clearinghouse for information about state and federal programs that provide financial and technical assistance. The guide is available on NJ AudubonÂs Web site at: www.njaudubon.org/Conservation or by calling (908) 766-5787. "State and federal habitat management programs provide a win-win situation for farmers and for natural resources," said Kim Korth, a biologist who oversees the Landowner Incentive Program under the state Department of Environmental ProtectionÂs Endangered and Nongame Species Program. There has been a dramatic loss of grassland and other early successional habitats statewide and major impacts to the species that use them. Forty percent of the birds on New JerseyÂs endangered list rely on grasslands, while almost 30 percent of birds listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern are considered early successional species. Over 85 percent of New JerseyÂs listed insects including butterflies rely on grassland and early successional habitat. New Jersey still contains important grassland and early successional habitat including habitat for the largest single populations of frosted elfin and arogos skipper globally," said Korth, referring to species of butterflies. Established native vegetation such as Indian grass, little bluestem, big bluestem and switchgrass have many benefits, including needing less treatment, such as fertilizer and lime, than traditional grasses. "Tall native grasses have provided habitat to grasshopper sparrows, bobolinks, northern harriers, upland sandpipers and more," said Tim Dunne, biologist with the U.S. Department of AgricultureÂs Natural Resources Conservation Service based in Clinton. Most farmers traditional hay and pasture crops are cool-season grasses and legumes such as timothy hay, rye grass, orchard grass and alfalfa. These get their first cutting in late May or early June  timing that corresponds to the peak nesting season for grassland birds. As a result, breeding bird pairs selecting these hayfields are doomed to fail. The result is the destruction of habitat and further declines in both the number of individual birds and the number of species. Habitat management to benefit wildlife includes farmers creating buffers, filter strips and other areas that are undisturbed during the nesting season, said Dunne. NJ AudubonÂs Eric Stiles added, "Without adequate protection, creation and management of their nesting habitats, grassland birds will continue to decline in New Jersey until they are locally extinct. Federal and state incentive programs offer some hope. "Grasslands are top priorities for these programs. But in order to succeed best, these programs must focus on areas where converting to grasslands is the most feasible. ThatÂs not all. In addition, effective management is needed on lands owned by nonprofit conservation organizations and by federal, state, county and municipal agencies in regions where grassland management should be a top priority," said Stiles. The Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge was established by an act of Congress in 1990. It hosts more than 200 species of birds, as well as a variety of plants and other animals. While the refuge was created primarily to provide habitat protection for migratory waterfowl that inhabit its wetlands, it manages native, warm-season grasslands. They provide critical habitat for important threatened and endangered bird species including bobolinks and savannah sparrows that inhabit the uplands. If you Google "grassland" and "endangered" or "Threatened" you should find lots.

Hello Mystique, This is my first post, though I've lurked off and on for a few years. I've managed the paperwork for my parents, for the family farm, and for myself for many years. It's sometimes been overwhelming so I've come up with a few strategies to minimize the stress. For family personal expenses, I have a file for bills paid by a certain checking account, with the oldest bill on the bottom, the last on top. Once, I attempted to keep different folders for different types of expenses even if paid by a single account: Big mistake for me. So easy to misfile and so hard to reconcile at the end of the year. For me, it's been much easier to just have one folder per account per time period. I do take one extra step though. I am careful to notate my check register, and I input the information into a spreadsheet later on. That way, I can sort it by check number, type of expense, date, or any other criteria. I don't make online payments, but the same principle would apply. If it gets drawn out of checking, I'd list it in the spreadsheet. And I compare it all with the bank statements. At the end of the year, I double check it, and then e-mail it to a tax preparer and he determines tax consequences, if any. Excel has an auto-fill feature, that makes this data entry easier than it sounds. If you do it this way, it's easy to find a record of a payment, without handling the paper too much. Another reason I try to keep the folders of paid bills uncomplicated and chronological is that these have an expiration dates. Having things scattered about will make record destruction more of an ordeal. So in answer to your question about a credit card statement being with school stuff, I wouldn't do that. I'd keep it in a the file with all the other bills you paid with that checking account, including medical. Otherwise, what would you do when a credit card statement reflects both a school loan, medical bill and an appliance? Contemplating such an issue might make you put it in some "to decide later" file, instead of putting it in a very simple place like your "paid bills" folder right away. Besides, most billing issues in my experience have to do with claims that a check did not arrive, not that a credit card company didn't pay. And most of these issues turn up within a month or two of payment which is another reason chronological filing works well for bills. The whole point of a filing system is so that you can find things as painlessly as possible. With the register inputted into the computer, you will even know how much of the loan you've paid off in a certain period, without touching the paper repeatedly. But you can also find papers quickly if the loan company year end statement doesn't match your record of payments. For appliances, my father had a trick of marking appliances with a purchase date in the back. If it breaks down, you know where to find the bill in the "paid bills" folders. (I think the idea of putting it with the manual is a great idea, but I haven't tried it.) I don't pick and choose what to keep and what to destroy as far as paid bills go. I save all the statements with check numbers and dates written on them....but only for a certain amount of time. For paid off loans, as others strongly recommend, I'd keep the letter that states that the loan is paid off, and the statement that releases any collateral, in a folder called "loans (paid off.)" For my mother's Explanation of Benefits papers, because of the volume, I have a folder per year, in chronological order. (But no bills live here. Those are with all the other paid bills.) It's a record of doctor visits and prescriptions. This type of stuff seems overwhelming, but is not so bad, if it's chronological, pruned of unnecessary newsletters and old booklets, and living in clean, p-touch labeled folders. But I don't think EOBs have a tax consequence. The bills and the health premiums are what might matter, and those I keep with all the other bills. I consider EOB and prescription records only a type of medical history. I choose to keep them so I can tell how long my mother's been taking a medication, when she had a certain procedure done, etc. Your filing system is your personal creation. It doesn't have to conform to any of these ideas, only to the way that you think. I hope this is helpful.

If my mother still lived in Ohio, she would LOVE that job! It would be like getting paid to do her favorite hobby. She lived in Ohio all her life until several years ago, and did a lot of geneology research for our own family during that time. So I bet she's even familiar with both of those locations. She is actually looking for a job right now, too. (She's a young grandma.) But she's in Florida now, so I guess that's a bit of a commute. I think I'll send her that link just to give her a grin, she needs one this week.

I had a very positive experience with Wayfair. I recently ordered 3 boxes of stone/glass mosaic tile ($31/sq ft). It was the kind on paper rather than mesh. It was excellent quality, but the same color glass tile was falling off all of the sheets. I called Wayfair with the intent on either returning it or exchanging it. I knew we could still install it and just hand set the fallen tiles, but I wasn't thrilled about the damage given how much we paid. They issued me an immediate refund and said I could keep the tile! They explained that since it arrived damaged, they did not want to inconvenience me with having to ship it back. Not sure if this is how they handle all damaged products, but I decided to order a different tile from them and it's lovely. Again, very good quality. And I'm going to find somewhere in the house to use the damaged tile...since it was free!