July Force of Nature: Katherine Dresdner

Photo by Benoit Cortet

If you have taken a walk on beautiful preserved land in Hopewell Valley, odds are that FoHVOS July Force of Nature, Katherine Dresdner, has had some hand in preserving it.

From the time she was a child, Katherine’s life experiences seemed to lead and prepare her for her great achievements throughout Hopewell Valley.   

Katherine’s earliest memories include being with her grandfather in his garden and learning about trees and plants with her mother, a landscape designer, who always caught and released insects rather than killing them. These models helped shape her law career, which focused on protecting land and life. 

Katherine began litigating complex environmental cases in the 1980s. Some of her cases uncovered webs of corruption and mismanagement akin to the plots in movies like Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action. 

The Chemical Control Corp. (CCC) was one such case. In early 1980, 60,000 55 gallon drums leaking toxic waste exploded violently during the night and burned for two days spewing toxic smoke and particulates, endangering communities in Elisabeth and Staten Island.  Katherine successfully litigated the only CCC civil case, representing residents and a Red Cross volunteer who all suffered health problems caused by exposure to the toxic smoke. She shared her legal work to help firefighters and first responders when they developed cancer from their exposures to the toxic materials. 

Katherine obtained court orders for records that revealed the involvement of organized crime, corruption, and mismanagement: the CCC was taken over from the owner at gunpoint by an organized crime family; the CCC incinerator contracted to destroy the chemical wastes from Fortune 500 companies never functioned. PCBs from PSE&G were dumped by CCC for years through a hidden pipe into the waters of the Kill Van Kull. 

The NJ DEP issued violations, then decided to take over the site. Katherine proved the state's takeover of CCC from its organized crime owners was not used for intended cleanup but instead stored hazardous wastes brought from other dump locations to CCC. Katherine employed aerial photography grid analysis that proved 30,000 more drums were staged at CCC during the state's "clean up." Katherine also met with whistleblowers about the site conditions and obtained photographs of the site showing many leaking drums two days before the explosion. A state official had recorded a video taken the same time as the photos, but the video disappeared from the state evidence locker. The loss of this key evidence uncovered by Katherine was investigated in a hearing by the NJ State Senate Judiciary Committee, but the tape was never found.   

The last case Katherine litigated before moving to Hopewell Valley in 1998 involved helping young families in Franklin, Gloucester County who were sold starter homes without being told their new homes were built on a toxic landfill. The families had wells drilled into the landfill, and their water and soil were contaminated with chemicals. The families only became aware their homes were in a landfill when one morning men in full body hazmat suits came to their neighborhood to take water and soil samples. 

Katherine got involved through a state police lieutenant familiar with her CCC case work, who asked her to represent the families. The case took 10 years but Katherine saw it through from beginning to end. Her work exposed a web of silence by the landfill landowner, the developer, town and county officials, insurance agents, realtors, and law firms, all of whom were interconnected by family or business relationships. Her work continued when she had to sue the insurance company to pay the families the judgment she obtained for them. Every family was able to move to a safe home.

At the same, FoHVOS was winning our own 10 year battle, led by FOHVOS President Ted Stiles, that culminated in the property acquisition by Mercer County in 1998 that created today’s Ted Stiles Preserve at Baldpate Mountain.

As Katherine settled into Hopewell Valley, we would join forces as she got involved in local land conservation efforts. Katherine worked on the St. Michaels Preservation committee with many local families who cared about the land. Working with Sophie Glovier, then Development Director at D & R Greenway, together they raised the millions of private funds needed to save St. Michaels. Katherine believes local fundraising and community involvement differentiated the St. Michaels project from other preservation efforts.  The new model inspired the entire community -- senior citizens, school children, and every age in between, raised money for a common goal. 

Katherine volunteered for a year at D&R Greenway and at the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed for 10 years. Katherine would draw from the St. Michael’s collaborative community based model in her crusade to save the land that became the Mount Rose Preserve. She was inspired by Ted Stiles' vision of preserving the Carter Road site along with contiguous farmland and open space parcels linking the Valley to the Sourland Mountains.

While serving as general counsel for the Hopewell Valley Citizens Group, Katherine donated all her legal work on this project since 2007.  HVCG formed during a contentious land use battle challenging Berwind Property Group's approved office park and proposed high density housing development slated for both sides of Carter Road in the former Western Electric/AT&T corporate campus. After winning in the NJ Supreme Court, Katherine proposed purchasing the land to settle the litigation. New Jersey Conservation Foundation partnered with HVCG as the lead land trust partner on the purchase. Katherine worked closely with NJCF executive director Michele Byers.

Katherine's vision of this project was regional in scope. She assisted in negotiating the northern loop of the 22 mile regional Lawrence Hopewell Trail with the landowners, and gained support for the land preservation project from Mercer County and all five surrounding municipalities. Overall, a dozen public entities and nonprofit organizations, as well as 130 private donors, and the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust collaborated on a $7.5 million land purchase.

The Mount Rose Preserve is now a 400 acre public park and Katherine continues to work to raise donor and grant funding to cover additional land stewardship. FoHVOS Stewardship Director Mike Van Clef prepared a 10 year stewardship plan for Mount Rose. NJCF and FOHVOS are primarily responsible for stewardship, restoration, and trail work. The Mount Rose Preserve is currently owned by NJCF, FoHVOS, Hopewell Township, and Mercer County.

Partnering with NJCF added special significance to the win.  NJCF Executive Director Michele Byers was married to Ted Stiles and shared Ted’s vision for the preservation of Mount Rose. Katherine is very pleased that she was able to “complete the circle” by seeing the mission through with Michele.

At a FoHVOS event in 2015 both Katherine Dresdner and Michele Byers were presented the prestigious Jack Gleeson Environmental Award for a lifetime of achievement as an environmental activist.

An excerpt of this article appears in July's Hopewell Valley Neighbors magazine.