Musconetcong River Valley

The Musconetcong River Valley features an outstanding diversity of farms, hamlets, villages and secluded natural areas. The Musconetcong is a boundary waterway that flows through Morris, Sussex, Hunterdon and Warren Counties. A major tributary of the Delaware River flowing through the environmentally sensitive New Jersey Highlands, the Musconetcong is an important source of drinking water. The river corridor offers important habitat for many threatened, endangered and rare wildlife species. The Musconetcong also provides excellent recreation opportunities including hiking, canoeing, camping, nature study and particularly fishing, with the river and many tributaries supporting naturally reproducing trout populations. Beautiful scenic views can be enjoyed of the river valley, Highlands and Kittatinny ridges, and Delaware Water Gap.

The landscape and land use has not changed much in the last 300 years with small settlements along the river and cultivated fields stretching up gentle slopes. The deep, rich limestone soils make the area an exceptionally significant farmland region in New Jersey. But the same characteristics make the Musconetcong Valley very susceptible to suburban sprawl since developers often prefer well-drained soils, which are ideal for septic systems. NJCF has received funding from the State Farmland Preservation Program to preserve land in the Musconetcong Valley of Warren County, which is one of the largest areas of prime agricultural soils in the Highlands and falls under the Planning Area of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act. Communities in the law’s Planning Area do not have the more stringent protections of the adjoining Preservation Area of the Highlands.

New Jersey Highlands

The New Jersey Highlands region stretches from eastern Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut, forming a vital linkage between the Berkshires and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Highlands form a greenbelt of forest and farmland around the New York metropolitan area and provide fresh air, natural areas and recreation opportunities for millions of residents of the greater New Jersey metropolitan area. NJCF’s publication The New Jersey Highlands: Treasures at Risk detailed the importance of preserving the region’s forests, fields and wetlands.

With over 1,300 square miles in the northwest part of the state, the Highlands stretch from Phillipsburg in the southwest to Ringwood in the northeast and lies within portions of seven counties (Bergen, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren), including 88 municipalities that are home for more than 750,000 people. The Highlands diverse natural communities are important statewide. With extensive forests, wetlands, rivers and streams, over 70 percent of the Highlands are environmentally sensitive while providing water supply for more than half of New Jersey’s families – over 5.2 million people.

To learn more about NJCF’s preservation efforts in the Highlands, please contact Ingrid Vandegaer, Highlands Regional Manager, at Ingrid@njconservation.org or 1-888-LAND-SAVE (1-888-526-3728). For information on NJCF’s public policy initiatives in the Highlands, please contact Wilma Frey, Highlands Project Manager, at Wilma@njconservation.org or 1-888-LAND-SAVE (1-888-526-3728).