Background
Founded in 1981, the Great Swamp Watershed Association encourages protection of the environment, history, and quality of life of the communities of the Great Swamp watershed because every aspect of our community life has an impact on the water we drink.
When it rains or snows, the 55-square mile land area of the Great Swamp watershed collects the precipitation and then drains it to many small streams which feed into the Passaic River, a primary drinking water supply for millions of NJ residents. When excess fertilizer, automotive fluids, animal wastes and other pollutants are deposited on the land area of the watershed, they are later washed off the land and into our streams during precipitation events, contributing to degradation of drinking water supplies, downstream flooding, and a decline in the habitat for the diverse plant and animal species of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Protecting the land has, therefore, become a major water quality issue in the Great Swamp watershed.
The Great Swamp watershed and its public lands serve as a valuable watershed model because, as a closed ecological system, both degradation and environmental improvements can be measured in this rapidly developing region. The watershed provides a testing ground to demonstrate the effectiveness of protecting a wildlife refuge and wilderness area while allowing well-planned development to occur. We also believe that comprehensive and continuing environmental-protection efforts in this watershed, undertaken in a spirit of collaboration with concerned governmental agencies and private organizations, serve as a useful pilot for the protection of public lands and natural resources statewide and nationally.
In helping to protect the natural lands of Great Swamp's watershed, the work of the Watershed Association falls into three categories -
water quality, land
preservation, and outreach and
education- and includes both wide-ranging and carefully targeted projects.
