835 Acres Preserved in Jefferson Twp, Morris County

This is AWESOME news.

Originally appeared on Jefferson Patch

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will announce the protection of 835 acres in the New Jersey Highlands in Morris County, creating a link to 3,000 acres of existing public land.

The Baker residential property has been a high priority for preservation for more 20 years due to its varied habitat, water resources and adjacency to over 3,000 acres of preserved lands, accourding to the DEP. The property contains environmentally sensitive wetland areas, steep slopes and habitat for a number of important state and federally listed species including bobcat, golden-winged warbler, timber rattlesnake, red-shouldered hawk, Indiana bat, Cooper’s hawk and barred owl.

The agreement calls for ownership to be split between Jefferson Township and the DEP as an addition to the Rockaway River Wildlife Management Area. The project is being funded by federal Highlands Conservation Act funds, the state Green Acres Program and the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund.

And some more info from a NJDEP press release:

A pristine 835-acre tract located in the heart of the North Jersey Highlands in Jefferson Township, and once slated for residential development, will be permanently preserved through a $4.6 million agreement announced today by project partners, the Department of Environmental Protection, the federal government, the Trust for Public Land, Morris County, and Jefferson Township.

The newly preserved land, long known as the Baker Firestone or Baker Residential property, will greatly expand the DEP’s Rockaway River Wildlife Management Area and provide land for local parks, said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin.

The property, long sought by conservation groups, had recently been bought by the Trust for Public Land as an interim conservation purchaser for $4.6 million. Title to the land is being formally conveyed to the State of New Jersey and Jefferson Township, which will take ownership of 647 acres and 188 acres respectively.

Almost 200 Acres Preserved in Morris County

This one is a two-fer. I was already planning on posting the 129-acre announcements, but this article, from the Daily Record, also notes a piece of preserved land on the Mendham-Chester border. Whoo hoo!

Two large swaths of land were preserved this week in deals that will add nearly 200 acres to public lands. Both deals — 129 acres bordering Rockaway and Boonton townships, and 46-acres bordering Chester and Mendham townships — were brokered by the Trust for Public Land and announced Wednesday.

More than 129 acres south of Decker Road in Rockaway and Boonton townships were preserved and will be managed by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. The purchase extends the Johanson tract, a 62-acre property managed by the nonprofit land group that is adjacent to Wildcat Ridge Management Area.

About $1.2 million of the $1.74 million purchase price came from the Morris County open space trust fund.

The property supports critical water resources, including a tributary of the Stony Brook, a Rockaway River watershed stream and Dixon’s Pond, according to a prepared statement that said the pond will not be open to the public, but future trails will offer hikers lake views.

Michele S. Byers, executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, called it a “Highlands gem.”

“It contains valuable wetlands, as well as rocky outcrops with wonderful views of the water,” Byers said. “We are pleased to work with The Trust for Public Land, Morris County, and the state to permanently protect this beautiful wooded property and expand the area’s network of preserved lands.”

In Chester and Mendham townships, the 46-acre Shale Valley property consists of mature upland woodlands and wetlands that connect the Morris County-owned Mount Paul County Park and the Mendham Township-owned Burnett Brook Natural Area.

Funding for the $1,697,500 purchase was provided by a $1,188,250 grant from the Morris County Preservation Trust Fund.

The property was transferred to the Schiff Natural Lands Trust, which owns the nearby 423-acre Schiff Nature Preserve. The organization intends to conduct a large-scale ecological restoration on a portion of the property that was mined for shale. It is envisioned that the restoration would convert 9 acres of the former mining area into a functioning, emergent wetland and upland habitat.

“Preserving and restoring this critical link in the Schiff to Mount Paul Greenway is a key goal identified in our new strategic plan, as well as a natural extension of our community-based conservation efforts in this area over the last decade,” said Marissa Hartzler, executive director of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust.

Preserving Open Space in Densely-Populated North Jersey

This comes courtesy the Hudson Reporter. It's not often we see stories from densely-populated places like Weehawkin and Union City, which makes them all the more welcome.

Weehawken’s Webster School auditorium was packed with nearly 300 people on Nov. 2 as Mayor Richard Turner and engineers from the Trust for Public Land announced that a reservoir near the Weehawken/Union City border will be jointly purchased and preserved rather than sold to developers to build upon.

Union City Mayor Brian Stack could not attend due to a heavy campaign schedule, but sent a representative who expressed full support for the purchase. The meeting was a public event that Turner held in order to officially announce the purchase of the reservoir by both towns. Officials addressed residents’ questions about cost, safety, and the effect the purchase would have on taxes and property values. United Water put the 14-acre, 100-year-old, $11.3 million reservoir up for sale in August of 2010 and immediately received several bids from companies who wished to build large commercial housing on the land.

The following month, Turner and Stack contacted officials to see if the township of Weehawken could acquire the reservoir. The following year, they approached Green Acres – a program under N.J.’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) dedicated to funding land conservation and recreational resources – and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and, according to Turner, received a “great amount of support.” Engineer Simone Mangili told the audience that TPL is a national, non-profit organization that has worked with landowners, funders and townships across the nation since 1972. How they plan to pay The overriding concern was how to pay for the reservoir’s preservation.

Turner said that Green Acres gave the state a $2 million grant on June 16 toward the total cost, and that the city of Union City and township of Weehawken procured a loan from NJ DEP’s Environmental Infrastructure Trust for the remaining $9.3 million. Turner reported that the NJ State DEP listed on the deed for the land, which guarantees that the reservoir will be preserved indefinitely. The loan – three quarters of which is at 0 percent interest, and one quarter of which carries between 1 and 2 percent interest – will be split by both parties. The loan’s projected payoff will take 20 years. However, Stack and Turner plan to apply for annual Green Acres grants so that the loan will hypothetically be paid off within 8 to 10 years instead. Union City and Weehawken will also split the annual maintenance fees, which Turner estimated will cost around $600,000.

So what effect will this purchase have on taxes? “I never can say,” Turner said. “I don’t think it will have an effect.” He added that this past year’s waterfront construction added $18 million worth of ratables (taxable property), which brings in around $400,000 annually, and will help absorb the reservoir’s cost. In answer to the alternative to build on the land rather than preserve it, Turner said, “You can always build more someplace, but you have to look at the effect on quality of life, and the effect on the neighborhood.” Both towns are very densely populated. Turner said new buildings would have increased traffic that the neighborhood’s infrastructure could not handle, and would start a competition for the views. “Nobody builds low,” Turner said. “There would be an ongoing effort to build up.”

What locals can expect “We think we’ve come up with a wonderful way of balancing more open space and more development that fits with the character of Weehawken,” Turner told the audience. The reservoir, bordered by Washington Street, Gregory Avenue, Highpoint Avenue, and 20th Street, will be made a “severely restricted property.” Four acres along Palisade Avenue will have an easement for United Water to build a 2.5-acre water tank (which was one of the stipulations of the purchase) that will come to the top of the raised barrier separating the tank and the reservoir. The remaining acres will eventually be made into a sitting area. The reservoir will be open to the public in the morning, guarded by security, and closed after dusk with no nighttime access or lighting. The existing interior and exterior fences will remain, and a walking/jogging path will be built around the perimeter. “It’s not going to be a Great Adventure,” Turner said, though they may allow fishing or kayaking in the future.

TPL will conduct safety inspections in the coming months and, with the supervision of the DEP to protect the existing wildlife, the reservoir will be drained and cleaned to make sure it is solid. The entire process will take a maximum of two years, Turner said, and most construction will take place on the interior of the property. “It’ll be a minor pain in the [posterior], but we’ll all get through it,” he said.

Residents react Turner opened up a forum for audience questions and comments, and a majority of responses were positive. Roosevelt School Principal Alfred Orecchio said, “It would have been easy to avoid the headache of preserving the land, but all of the hard work put in will make the city more attractive to people.” “There are politicians and there are [public] stewards,” resident Edward Flood stated. “In this case the entities are the same.”

Martin Shapiro, Weehawken’s self-proclaimed “devil’s advocate,” expressed two main concerns: first, that the loss of ratables would negatively affect property values. Turner responded, “I think it’s worth it to preserve the neighborhood.” Shapiro’s second concern was that while the deed for the property will definitely include the NJ DEP and the township of Weehawken, it is still undecided as to whether or not Union City will be included, leaving room for the possibility, he feared, that they could pull out of the agreement.

Turner said that Union City and Weehawken had signed a contract guaranteeing that all costs for the reservoir’s purchase and upkeep will be split equally. Read more: Hudson Reporter - Preserving open space Union City and Weehawken to buy reservoir

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.

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.”

63 acres in Rockaway Twp. preserved as open space (05/05/10)

Original article appeared here.

By Colleen O'Dea

ROCKAWAY TWP. — The 63-acre Copper Beech tract on Lyonsville Road is now protected open space.

At their meeting Wednesday night, the Morris County Freeholders presented a ceremonial check for $1.95 million to The Trust for Public Land, which closed April 30 on the property adjacent to the Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area. The total cost for the project was $2.15 million, with the remaining $200,000 coming from the state Green Acres program. The Morris County Preservation Trust approved the county funding portion last November.

"Morris County is a great place to live, and conservation areas such as Wildcat Ridge, Dixon's Pond, and Pyramid Mountain play a large part in the quality of life here," said Anthony Cucchi, The Trust for Public Land's New Jersey director. "The county's commitment to link these natural areas only strengthens the value of these areas, and the Copper Beech property will be a keystone for that effort."

Known as Copper Beech for the beech trees on the property, the land contains both water protection and forest resources according to the Highlands regional master plan and because it is in the planning area of the region, it was open for development. Johanson Holding Company owned the property.

"This is another exceptional example of our long commitment to protect our county's natural areas, especially those with this level of environmental significance," said Morris County Freeholder Jack Schrier, who is currently serving as acting chairman of the New Jersey Highlands Council and is the liaison to the county's open space program.

The land was a priority for protection for many years, and in 2005 the township open space committee asked the The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization, to help preserve it. In 2008, with real estate values dropping due to the economic downturn, the trust and New Jersey Conservation Foundation worked together for a solution that included the foundation agreeing to manage the land.

"We are very excited to work with The Trust for Public Land in preserving this property," said Michele S. Byers, executive director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation. "This property provides another link in a network of preserved lands, which will ultimately lead to more trails for the public to enjoy."

Rockaway Township Mayor Louis Sceusi said township officials are grateful that the land is now protected: "I applaud and appreciate that in these difficult economic times, our county and The Trust for Public Land continue to recognize the paramount wisdom in preserving and protecting critical watershed property and our supply of clean water."

Colleen O'Dea: 973-428-6655, codea@gannett.com.