NJAS Opinion: Summer, 1991
The following is excerpted from testimony of N.J. Audubon Society
to Skylands-Greenway Task Force, 22 January 1991 at Ramapo State
College, Mahwah, N.J.
The Skylands-Greenway Task Force region crossing the three northern
counties from river to river east to west intersects the Highlands
Physiographic province - the New Jersey portion of the Highlands
running from Pennsylvania and the Hunterdon - Warren shore of
the Delaware River up through New York, continuing through the
Hudson Highlands to western Connecticut. This region, with its
integral geology, hydrology, forest types and fauna, is the environmental
matrix within which conservation plans for the area need to be
hatched. Conservation efforts in this larger physiographic region
include the Skylands-Greenway Coalition, with both New York and
New Jersey groups, and the U.S. Forest Service study, which is
funded by the 1990 Farm Bill. The vision of the Skylands-Greenway
Task Force needs to be compatible with these efforts and needs
to expand, to look north and south in the direction of the Highlands,
so that the integrity of the entire region is preserved. Many
of the lands in Hunterdon, Warren, and Morris counties are in
need of protection.
A critical core in the Skylands is the area of overlap between
the task force region and the highlands province, extended south
to (roughly) Route 46, bounded on the west by the ridge and valley
province and on the east by the Piedmont. This area needs special
attention as the centerpiece, literally, of Skyland conservation.
An incomplete forest preserve already exists here, including various
state forests and wildlife management areas and parks like Wawayanda,
Ramapo, and Berkshire Valley, federal lands like Picatinny, county
lands like Mahlon Dickerson Reservation. There are watershed lands
such as Wanaque and Pequannock, and the bi-state Sterling Forest.
There are many forested areas adjacent to or in between these
that need to be protected to assure the integrity of the region.
Lands that come to mind are the Ramapo Land Company, the lands
in west Kinnelon, the lands adjacent to Split Rock Reservoir,
and Farney State Park. These and other lands could complete a
forest preserve, a wilderness, of over 100,000 acres. Twenty thousand
acres are already in permanent protection: 60,000 acres are in
good stewardship; there are 40,000 acres to go. There is a potential
wilderness in New Jersey within an hour from where the people
live; not a two- or six-day trip away like Yellowstone.
The important resources of this region are too many to describe.
Water, recreation, and historical cultural resources are extensive.
The number of lakes and hiking trails make the region exceptional.
It is replete with revolutionary war history (the NJ. brigade
site in the winter of 1779 is in my backyard); and the cradle
of the North American industrial revolution is here. But I emphasize
the forest and wildlife resources, not simply because they are
Audubon concerns but because they are outstanding and require
particular attention.. The extensive hemlock-hardwood forests
harbor more than 120 resident bird species, all North Jersey's
common mammals including black bear, and native brook trout. The
raptor population of hawks and owls is of national significance.
The region is a critical breeding ground and migratory bird corridor
for sixty or more species of long-distance migrants which move
along these ridges every year to and from South America. They
are our hemispheric responsibility. The relict bogs like Uttertown
and Mt. Hope, the ridge tops with their many rare plants, the
forested wetlands, the conifer plantings by the CCC in the 1930s-all
are important botanical and wildlife resources. The region holds
twenty-three federal and state endangered and threatened species
(two thirds of the endangered list).
The Skylands-Greenway Task Force must be aware of what needs protection
and must use a holistic approach to conservation. Water, wildlife,
forests, recreation are separate only in the mind of governments,
not in the real world. The geology, hydrology, the flora and fauna
are the basis of conservation, not political lines on a map. The
highest priority for regional conservation is large-tract, wilderness
forest protection; that is what will guarantee the future use
of the area by our children, preserving its water, wildlife, historical
sites, scenic beauty and recreation. Some 83 percent of our forests
are in private hands; 83 percent of those are in tracts of over
twenty acres. Zoning, easement, and transfer techniques have to
be found; you can't buy it all.
A recent study of forest birds in the northeast showed clearly
the negative impact of forest tract isolation; immigration of
suburban and edge species to compete with forest birds; loss of
bird density and species richness at six hemlock-hardwood sites
(the same forest we have here); and the loss of new forest species
immigrants to replenish the population from contiguous forest
lands. Birds are an excellent illustration of the conservation
imperative. Avoid sticking us with a few relics.
The design of the forest preserve core will have to include forests,
parks, management areas, watershed lands and private holdings.
As a first step, the state or the appropriate federal agency needs
to have right of first refusal on Picatinny Arsenal, should it
become military surplus, for conservation purposes; it is integral
to forest preserve. The large private tracts of forest between
and next to the protected lands in the core area hold the key
to the forest preserve. The biggest contribution the task force
could make is to push for a forest preserve in this core area.
On a personal note: My first fall in New Jersey I spent on top
of Jenny Jump, Breakneck Mountain, Bald Mountain, and Bearfort.
The big question I had is why would anyone in New Jersey go to
Vermont for the fall color?
Richard P. Kane
Director of Conservation
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