Manchester Environment Activist Nominated To Pinelands Commission

MANCHESTER, NJ — A Manchester Township woman has been nominated to fill a seat on the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.

Theresa Lettman, a longtime environmental activist who fought to protect the Pinelands with the Pinelands Preservation Alliance for more than 26 years, has been nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy to succeed Candace McKee Ashmun on the Pinelands Commission.

Ashmun is the last of the original members still serving on the Pinelands Commission, which was founded in 1979, according to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.

Lettman also has served as a board member of the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Advisory Committee, on the Ocean County Solid Waste Advisory Council and is a past chairperson of the Manchester Township Environmental Commission.

Lettman worked for the Pinelands Preservation Alliance from 1990 until retiring in January 2017, monitoring legislation that impacted the Pinelands National Reserve, and her recommendations led to the positions taken by the alliance, according to her biography on the Toms River Regional Schools website. A 1972 graduate of Toms River North, she was inducted into the district's Hall of Fame in 2005 for her environmental work.

Lettman was the project manager in charge of building a Pinelands monitoring network within the 56 municipalities of the Pinelands and worked to educate residents about their municipal land use ordinances and how they interact with the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.

Lettman currently serves as the secretary-treasurer of the board of trustees of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, where she was appointed by then-Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in 1995.

According to the book "Legendary Locals of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey," Lettman first got involved in environmental causes in the late 1980s, after learning about possible well contamination in Pine Lake Park. She worked to fight the original Hovnanian proposal to put 17,000 homes, a heliport and two strip malls at the Heritage Minerals site.

She continues to advocate for the Pinelands and for environmental issues, particularly related to the Heritage Minerals site, as a Manchester resident.

"Theresa Lettman and Kelly Mooij will bring experience, expertise and wisdom to the state agency that oversees Pinelands conservation," a statement from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance said. "We look forward to the state Senate confirming these nominations very soon."

Mooij is the vice president of government relations for the New Jersey Audubon Society.

On the departure of Ashmun, the group said: "It is impossible to overstate Candy’s contributions to New Jersey’s environment, in the Pinelands and beyond. We are deeply grateful for her decades of service to the people and to the natural resources of our state."

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Theresa Lettman photo by Pinelands Preservation Alliance, published with permission