Murray Grove Property Will Be Added to Forsythe NWR (06/15/10)

Link to TPL press release here.

Happily, one piece of bad news this morning is balanced with a piece of good news. For more information on the good work of The Trust for Public Land, visit www.tpl.org.

Murray Grove Property Will Be Added to Forsythe NWR

Contact: Matthew Shaffer, The Trust for Public Land, 415-495-4014 x316, email
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge image courtesy National Geographic

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J., 6/15/2010: The Trust for Public Land today announced the purchase of a 242-acre wooded and wetlands property, one of the largest remaining unprotected bayfront properties on the west side of Barnegat Bay, in Lacey Township, Ocean County, N.J. In the next year the organization intends to transfer the property to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an addition to the Barnegat Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization, has been working for the last year and a half to conserve the land, known as the Murray Grove property, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). TPL was able to assemble private funding and interim loan capital to finance the purchase of the property and will hold ownership until federal funding is available to complete the transfer to the refuge.

"Because of the critical importance of this property to the health of Barnegat Bay and the Forsythe Refuge, TPL assembled funding to purchase and hold the property until federal funds are available for adding it to the refuge," said Anthony Cucchi, New Jersey state director for TPL. "Our commitment to the richly wild and naturally significant Barnegat Bay is in its third decade, and we are grateful for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's stewardship of this important landscape."

The tidal salt marsh property is the top conservation priority for the Forsythe Refuge and would link three previous conservation additions to the Barnegat Division of the refuge, which TPL completed in 1994 and 1995. USFWS and TPL have been partnering to protect property at this refuge since 1991and have completed 25 separate transactions, adding more than 2,700 acres.

"The Service is pleased that TPL has been able to respond rapidly to land acquisition opportunities within the approved refuge acquisition boundary," said Steve Atzert, E.B. Forsythe Refuge Manager. "TPL has assured the protection of important natural capital and the continuation of valuable ecosystem services to fish, wildlife, and people, until the Service is able to obtain appropriated funding to purchase the properties and incorporate them in the National Wildlife Refuge System."

This new addition would create an 821-acre conservation area, protecting the marshes of Murray Grove and Stouts Creek, a complex of, pools, embayments, mud flats, and natural waterways including Hancy's Pond, Stumpy Pond Creek, Bony Creek, and Wire Creek Pond. State- and federally-listed threatened and endangered bird species-including peregrine falcon, bald eagle, northern harrier, osprey, red-shouldered hawk, American bittern, and grasshopper sparrow-have utilized the site for foraging or roosting.

TPL and USFWS are hopeful that federal funding for the $500,500 purchase price through the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act funding will allow for the conveyance of the land to the refuge in the coming months. The Act is funded from the sale of Federal Duck Stamps, which function as the federal licenses required for hunting waterfowl. TPL's acquisition of the property was enabled through a grant from the William Penn Foundation and other philanthropic support.

TPL and Forsythe Refuge managers identified the property as a priority for conservation in The Century Plan, a 1995 study of 100 top conservation priorities in the Barnegat Bay watershed.

The wetlands of the E. B. Forsythe Refuge are one of only 26 Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. All of the Barnegat Division of the refuge is within the Environmental Protection Agency Barnegat Bay National Estuary, one of only 28 national estuaries in the US. The entire refuge is designated a unit of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Network Reserve, one of only 52 in the US.

The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. Since 1972, TPL has helped protect nearly 3 million acres nationwide, including more than 24,000 acres in New Jersey. TPL depends on the support of individuals, corporations, and foundations.

Club land in Hamilton eyed for pricey housing development (06/17/10)

Link to original story here.

Not all stories are good. Personally, one of my biggest gripes about this piece is the writer does not even once bother to ask anyone contacted for the story if land preservation organizations had been contacted about purchasing the land instead of Sharbell, which already has several half-occupied developments collecting dust in Hamilton. It feels like lazy journalism; the AP is even cited as a contributor. Was anyone even interviewed by The Times? While in this current economic climate, it doesn't seem likely this "pricey housing development" would even go up anytime soon, that the Italian American's Sports Club would rather see its property's 90-year-old history turn into a sea of starter castles screams of ignorance and/or indifference.

Hamilton, in Mercer County, is already home to several new developments, many built within the last 10 years. Who thinks another one is a good idea?

Club land in Hamilton eyed for pricey housing development

By Erin Duffy

HAMILTON — The Italian American Sportsmen’s Club has inked a deal to sell more than 30 acres of land to Sharbell Development Corp. for a residential development that could include as many as 50 homes, priced to sell at around $400,000 each.

The IASC, a Kuser Road constant since the 1920s, will retain approximately six acres carved out around its facilities, which include a clubhouse, health club and pool area, according to Tom Troy, the senior vice president of Robbinsville-based Sharbell. 
“We should be good neighbors for one another,” said Troy.

Though club President Frank Bocchini said the deal hasn’t been completely finalized, Troy said an agreement of sale has been signed for roughly 32 acres of the club’s land. 
Troy declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.

If the deal goes through and Sharbell actually moves ahead with the project, it could be a rarity in the current economy.

“The economy is growing and the housing market is still in recession,” said Eugenio Aleman, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities, following a report Wednesday of declining housing construction in May.

Overall, new home and apartment construction fell 10 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. April’s figure was revised downward to 659,000.

Applications for new building permits — a sign of future activity — sank 5.9 percent to an annual rate of 574,000. That was the lowest level in a year.

Builders are scaling back now that tax credits of up to $8,000 have expired. The biggest evidence of that trend: the number of new single-family homes tumbled 17 percent, the largest monthly drop since January 1991.

But some builders see opportunity in the down market. Andrew Zuckerman, CEO of Zuckerman Homes in Coconut Creek, Fla., said his company is purchasing land and plans to develop it as early as winter.

“We think now is a good time to buy,” Zuckerman said. “We think the market is slowly stabilizing.”

The rate of home building is still up about 41 percent from the bottom in April 2009. But it’s down 70 percent from the decade’s peak in January 2006.

The Kuser Road club lies behind The Stone Terrace catering and banquet hall, which replaced La Villa Restaurant, and down the road from Veterans Park.

Sharbell plans to use its newly acquired land, which lies to the south and west of the Sportsmen’s Club, to develop single-family homes on 10,000-square-foot lots.

Troy said the company estimates it can build somewhere around 50 homes valued at roughly $400,000 each on the acreage.

The company will be preparing its applications within the next few months, and hopes to appear before the township’s planning board by fall, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Erin Duffy at eduffy@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5723

134 acres once slated for development to be preserved in Mount Olive (6/14/10)

This is a second story for the preserved land reported on last week in the previous Confessions of an Acre Whore entry.


Located in western Morris County, this 31.1 square-mile township had a population of 25,934 as of 2007, as recorded on Wikipedia. This was a 7.2-percent increase of the 24,193 population reported in 2000. The township had its largest reported increase in population, 173 percent, in its 1970 census, when the township recorded a population of 10,394. The earliest recorded census figures for Mount Olive, in 1930, recorded a township population of 1,235.

By Minhaj Hassan

Story originally appeared on DailyRecord.com.

MOUNT OLIVE — Conservation groups have successfully negotiated a deal to preserve more than 100 acres of land that had been approved by the township for a residential development.

The Trust for Public Land purchased a 134-acre parcel in the Highlands region that was slated for the development of 16 single-family homes. The approvals were before the Highlands Act went into effect.

TPL will pay $2.65 million compiled from several groups to purchase the land and the Land Conservancy of New Jersey will own and manage the land as a watershed. The land contains streams that feed into the headwaters of the South Branch of the Raritan River, which provides drinking water to some 1 million Garden State residents.

"Conservation of drinking water sources is paramount to keeping New Jersey's citizens healthy," said Anthony Cucchi, TPL's director for New Jersey. "This land in the South Branch Raritan River headwaters was nearly lost to development, and we are grateful to our partners for working diligently together to meet this conservation challenge and protect and restore this important Highlands resource."

Some of the stream channels were disturbed when a road was installed and stream crossings were installed to make way for the previously approved housing project. However, efforts will be made to have the area return to the way it was prior to the construction. They include stream restoration, removing the crossing and detention basins and soil stabilization on the site.

Mayor David Scapicchio praised the land preservation deal.

"The construction project had damaged neighboring properties," he said. "The Trust for Public Land took the initiative in making the project happen, and The Land Conservancy of New Jersey will be a good steward in returning the property to a natural state. The public will get the benefit of enjoying the property," he said.

Freeholder Jack Schrier, whose governing body contributed $1.6 million in open space trust funds toward the purchase, said the deal is further of proof the county's commitment to open space.

"Here is further demonstration of Morris County's two decades of preservation leadership, as we continue to help protect more critical water supply lands for the benefit of our residents," he said in a statement. "It all contributes to our high quality of life, so important to the Freeholders.

Minhaj Hassan: 973-428-6628; mhassan@gannett.com.

Mount Olive tract preserved as watershed resource (6/9/10)

I especially like that the housing project was already started and was stopped. I've seen parcels -- in Upper Freehold, Colts Neck -- that had been carved out, maybe a road paved, with no other progress for quite a while. This gives hope that these projects can be stopped, even if they've already been started.

Original Dan Goldburg story appears on NJ.com.

MOUNT OLIVE -- A strategically important property near the headwaters of the South Branch Watershed in Mount Olive that had been slated for development will instead be preserved, the Trust for Public Land and the New Jersey Land Conservancy announced.

That’s good news for many township residents and environmentalists who were concerned about how a residential development would affect the surrounding neighborhood and the Raritan River, which supplies drinking water to more than 1 million New Jersey residents in Morris, Hunterdon and Somerset Counties.

The $2.65 million purchase of the 134-acre tract, which sits on the border of Mount Olive and Washington Township in the Highlands region, was coordinated by The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit land conservation organization.

“Conservation of drinking water sources is paramount to keeping New Jersey’s citizens healthy,” said Anthony Cucchi, New Jersey state director for The Trust for Public Land, in a press release.

A portion of the property had been approved in 2004 for 16 single-family homes. As part of the development, a road was installed as were several stream crossings, detention basins and footings for an arch bridge.

The developers, Anthony and Golnaz Mortezai of Chester Township, were fined by the Department of Environmental Protection in 2006 after state officials said the destruction of wetland transition areas on the site led to severe soil erosion that caused streams running through the property to fill with silt.

The foundations for the 16 homes had been laid, said Terrence Nolan, spokesman for the Trust for Public Land, but the souring economy spoiled the development.

The Land Conservancy of New Jersey, which will manage the land as a watershed resource, plans to remove the detention basins, restore stream channels to their natural state and has been given $100,000 from the former owner of the property and the Trust for Public Land to begin remediation.

“The Land Conservancy of New Jersey is excited to have the opportunity to restore the disturbed streams and stop the erosion that has plagued this beautiful property so that it can once again provide clean drinking water,” said David Epstein, conservancy president.

The Morris County Preservation Trust Fund gave $1.65 million toward the project.
“Here is further demonstration of Morris County’s two decades of preservation leadership, as we continue to help protect more critical water supply lands for the benefit of our residents,” said Jack Schrier, freeholder and liaison to the county’s Preservation Trust Fund programs.

The Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority contributed $500,000 and $460,000 came from two New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program grants.

“It’s a good piece to add to our open space inventory,” said David Scapicchio, Mount Olive mayor. “(We get) another piece of open space that the town can use but didn’t pay for.”

Another 476 acres of land permanently preserved in Mannington Township (5/19/10)

A bit late to the party I am on posting this, but better late than never!

From NJ.com

And here is the NJ Conservation Foundation press release, courtesy New Jersey Newsroom.

MANNINGTON TWP. — In a large field off of Sunset Drive Wednesday morning, a crowd gathered amongst the eggplant planted there to celebrate the preservation of 476 acres of agricultural and ecological land, which the Fichera family recently sold to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

The diverse property, which includes an 11-acre forested island in the Salem River, contains cultivated farmland, woods, tidal marshes and freshwater wetlands, and is a haven for birds and wildlife. The preservation will ensure the permanent protection of 279 acres for agriculture and nearly 200 acres in the Mannington Meadows for its rich natural resource value.

Greg Romano, New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s assistant director and director of statewide land acquisition, said Wednesday his organization wanted to thank Frank Fichera, who sold the farm for preservation. He added this property was significant not only for its agricultural value, but for its natural resources as well.

Romano also commended Fichera for selling the property at less than market value. New Jersey Conservation Foundation purchased the property for $1.85 million, using funding from the state Agriculture Development Committee, the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, the state Green Acres program and the William Penn Foundation.

Fichera has been farming all of his life and purchased the first piece of this farm in the 1960s, adding to it through the years. Under the lease with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, he will continue to farm the portion of the property that has been permanently preserved for agriculture.

“I wanted to preserve it because it’s an excellent farm with good soils,” said Fichera, who grows tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers on the farm. Fichera also owns two other farms in Mannington Township, farming a total of 350 acres, and said he has no plans to retire.

The Fichera property will be used by New Jersey Conservation Foundation to demonstrate the relationship between agriculture and natural resources, and to promote sustainable agriculture. A portion will be open to the public for nature observation, hiking, fishing, canoeing and kayaking.

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher said he was proud to be a part of this cooperative project, which builds on the continuing effort to preserve farmland in Mannington Township and Salem County.

“Everyone here is part of a celebration,” he said. “They understand how much it means to preserve farmland and open space in the state. It is incredibly important.”