GREAT SWAMP WATERSHED ASSOCIATION Winter 2001 |
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| 58-Acre
Morris Twp. Land Purchase Called 'Giant Step' in Environmental Protection
Thanks in significant part to an eight-year GSWA campaign, Morris Township last November agreed to purchase 58 acres of steeply sloped property lying just above the headwaters of Great Brook, one of the five principal streams in the watershed. Calling the move "a giant step in protecting the environment in the Great Swamp watershed," Morris Township Mayor Richard A. Watson said the property would become permanently protected open space. Before the agreement, the property owner, local developer Harvey Caplan, had proposed building 24 homes on the site. Reporting on the purchase, the Harding Observer-Tribune said GSWA Executive Director Julia M. Somers was "elated by the news." "This is one of the most important things that has happened to encourage the members of the Great Swamp Watershed Association that their work has value," she said. The $1.7-million purchase price will be met primarily from grants from the NJDEP's Green Acres program and Morris Township's Open Space Trust. Part of the Green Acres funding is the result of an NJDEP grant to GSWA. In its 1997 publication Saving Space, GSWA had identified the property, which the developer has called Jockey Hollow Top VI, as one of the most critical land acquisitions to be made in the Great Swamp watershed. The property lies on the western side of Route 202 in the southern part of Morris Township. Had development on the property been permitted by the Morris Township Planning Board, "the increased stormwater runoff would have dramatically increased pollutant levels, upstream flooding and erosion, and downstream siltation," Somers said. According to the Observer, "The land will become a public park to accommodate passive recreation activities, such as walking trails." In addition to GSWA, other supporters of the purchase included the Ten Towns Great Swamp Watershed Management Committee, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, the National Park Service, Harding Township, and the Morris Land Conservancy. |
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