New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) was founded in 1960 as the Great Swamp Committee of the North American Wildlife Foundation, by a small group of citizens who organized to fight a plan by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build the region’s fourth major airport in the middle of the Great Swamp near Morristown.

The battle lasted four and a half years, but the group succeeded. In early 1964 the group turned over 1,400 acres of land to the federal government, and on May 29th of that year the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge – New Jersey’s first National Wildlife Refuge and the first federally designated wilderness area east of the Mississippi – was officially dedicated.

After winning this long and exhausting battle against such tremendous odds, the Committee members decided to broaden their horizons and took as their responsibility the environmental health of the entire state. In 1975, the organization changed its name to New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

From our roots in the Great Swamp, NJCF has grown into one of the nation’s preeminent land conservation organizations. We’ve helped protect over 100,000 acres of New Jersey farmland, forest, and natural areas – from the cedar swamps of the Pine Barrens to the urban parks of Newark and Camden, from the forests of the Highlands to the marshland of the Delaware Bay. NJCF has also been at the forefront of every key legislative initiative to protect farmland, forests and water quality throughout the state, including the current effort to renew funding for the Garden State Preservation Trust. You can learn more about this initiative by visiting www.outdoorrecreationalliance.org. NJCF has been a leader in the passage of historic legislation to protect the Pine Barrens and the Highlands – respectively the Pinelands Protection Act and the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act – as well as every Green Acres bond initiative.

Over the years, NJCF has used innovative techniques to protect land across New Jersey, including:

• Arthur Kill Coalition
• Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, Bergen County (1979)
• Cooper River Greenway in Camden (1987 - ongoing)
• Dismal-Harmony Reserve in Mendham Township, Morris County (1965)
• Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris and Somerset Counties (1964)
• Grovers Mill Pond in West Windsor Township, Mercer County ("site" of Orson Wells 1938 War of the Worlds Martian invasion) (1985)
• Highlands Coalition
• Historic Walnford in Upper Freehold, Monmouth County (1979)
• Historic Whitesbog in Pemberton Township, Burlington County (1982)
• Morristown National Historic Park - Jockey Hollow (addition of the Cross Estate) (1974)
• "Portable Parks" in Newark (1975)
• Patriot's Path in Morris County (1966 - ongoing)
• Pinelands National Reserve (1978)
• Stockton Alliance (1990 - ongoing)
• Tolz Beach, Lower Township, Cape May County (1985)
• Walt Whitman Historic Complex in Camden (1989)
• Wells Mills County Park in Ocean Township, Ocean County (1983)
• Wickecheoke Creek Greenway in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County (1981 - ongoing)
• Franklin Parker Preserve in Chatsworth, Burlington County (2003)

Today, NJCF continues to work across the state: from Cape May to the Highlands, from the Hudson to the Delaware – and everything in between! To find out how you can help, contact NJCF at 1-888-LAND-SAVE (1-888-526-3728) or info@njconservation.org.