According to Dr. William A. Aiello, GSWA chairman, the initiative "may be the most challenging project this organization has ever undertaken." It will involve contacting hundreds of local landowners whose properties lie along the two streams, and asking them to cooperate by agreeing to donate land or conservation easements, or to make other land-protection arrangements, so that continuous buffers will border both sides of the streams.

"The lands we’re targeting are particularly important," Aiello said, "because the two streams today are the only watershed streams classified as pristine ‘trout production’ waters by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection – and those waters are the lifeblood of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

"Their quality could very quickly decline, however," Aiello continued, " if deforestation and insensitive land development occur. Such activities will rapidly increase stormwater runoff, accelerating stream bank erosion and downstream sedimentation, and delivering higher levels of pollutants coming from car traffic and lawn maintenance. The creation of streamways will help prevent these negative consequences while still permitting reasonable development in the watershed."

An additional reason for streamway development, he added, is that the ribbons of land will preserve animal habitats that could become isolated "habitat islands." Extended habitats should help watershed wildlife thrive – birds, fish, and small mammals in particular.

Finally, Aiello pointed out, streamways creation offers economical incentives both for the communities involved (e.g., reduced costs of flood control, less need for drinking-water treatment) and for individuals (e.g., enhanced property values, tax benefits).

GSWA expects to begin bringing these messages to local landowners in the fall via news stories in local newspapers, targeted mailings, a newly developed booklet providing details, and a series of neighborhood meetings.

The streamways initiative will implement a key recommendation of the 1997 GSWA publication Saving Space: The Great Swamp Watershed Greenway and Open Space Plan, co-authored by GSWA staffer Karen Parrish and environmental planner Anthony Walmsley. The recommendations in that plan were endorsed by virtually every environmental organization and governmental body in the Great Swamp watershed.

The new GSWA booklet, "A Landowner’s Guide to Saving Streamways," was prepared by local environmental planner and writer Harriet Honigfeld. Written specifically for landowners whose property abuts the two streams, it contains a rationale for the project, a statement of GSWA’s qualifications for heading it up, a detailed map of the area, a list of land-protection methods, a frequently-asked-questions section, the endorsements of several local environmental leaders and residents, and a bibliography.

Among the land-protection methods that GSWA will be asking landowners to consider are these: outright donation; donation of easement; bargain sale; full market value sale; installment sale; life estate transfer; bequest; sale to a conservation buyer; mutual covenant; management agreements; registry; limited development; like-kind exchange; lease; restricted auction; charitable gift annuity; and right of first refusal.

Major support for the project has been received from the Town Creek Foundation and the Environmental Endowment of New Jersey.