One of New Jersey’s most valuable agricultural communities is located in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties within the state’s Delaware Bayshore region. The area has been recognized by the State Farmland Preservation Program for its high quality agricultural soils and the fact that the farming culture in this area is under intense residential development pressure.

Sprawl is creeping with increasing momentum into this area, with thousands of residential housing units already approved for development in the watersheds of Raccoon, Oldmans and Alloway Creeks, as well as Salem and Cohansey Rivers. The time for preserving critical farmland in southern New Jersey’s tri-county farmland region is now. NJCF has received $2.75 million in state and federal farmland preservation grants to protect this vital area. We are currently working to preserve some 800 acres of agricultural lands in this important region.

NJCF also recently launched the Tri-county Agriculture Retention Partnership (TARP) to better understand the issues facing farmers in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties and has brought together a group of influential farmers, government officials and academic leaders.
The viability of farming in New Jersey is impacted by many issues including government regulation, development pressures and the economics of the marketplace. The partnership has identified the major problems facing agriculture and we are evaluating steps that could enhance agricultural profitability. Our goal is to help keep farmers farming!

Saving the Delaware Bayshore Region
The Delaware Bayshore spans southwest New Jersey and is bordered by the Delaware River and Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and is best known for its vast wetlands and associated wildlife. NJCF has led conservation efforts in the region for two decades, starting with the publication of Charting a Course for the Delaware Bay Watershed, the first comprehensive planning guide for the region. NJCF with its preservation partners have saved over 2,000 acres of farmland, wetlands and forested areas in the region.

The Delaware Bayshore is under increased development pressure due to rising demand for residential housing for workers commuting to Philadelphia and Wilmington. The Bayshore offers resting and feeding grounds for more then a million migrating birds each spring. The shorebird population that gathers on the Delaware Bay each May and June is the second largest in the Western Hemisphere. American egrets, great blue herons and other water birds typically found in the region are declining due to loss of wetlands and the development of shoreline areas.

For more information about NJCF’s preservation work in the Delaware Bayshore, please contact NJCF Regional Manager Janet Eisenhauer at (856) 589-4317 or
Janet@njconservation.org.