NJCF receives nearly $3.2 million for land preservation

NJCF recently received nearly $3.2 million in Federal and State grants to protect New Jersey's natural areas and farmland, including the largest grants awarded to any New Jersey nonprofit organization this year.

Recent grants will support farmland preservation in Gloucester, Hunterdon and Salem Counties.

The State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC), which administers New Jersey's Farmland Preservation Program, will provide $2 million to fund NJCF projects in the Raccoon/Oldmans Farm Belt in Gloucester and Salem Counties and Wickecheoke Creek Farm Belt in Hunterdon County. The Natural Resources Conservation Service's Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program will provide nearly $750,000 for preservation work in the Raccoon/Oldmans region. And a $400,000 grant from the State Green Acres Program will fund the protection of natural areas. The Green Acres funding will support NJCF projects in the Highlands in North Jersey; Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties in Central Jersey; and Camden County and the Delaware Bayshore and Pine Barrens regions in South Jersey.

The SADC and Green Acres grants were the largest provided to any New Jersey nonprofit organization. Legislative approval of the State grants is expected later this year.

"We greatly appreciate the continued commitment of our conservation partners at both the State and Federal levels," said Greg Romano, NJCF Assistant Director & Director of Statewide Land Acquisition. "With these new funds, NJCF will continue to protect our state's farmland, forests and precious natural areas, all vital to New Jersey's future."

Raccoon/Oldmans Farm Belt, Gloucester and Salem Counties

The Raccoon/Oldmans Farm Belt region falls within the Delaware Bayshore, characterized by working family farms, but under intense development pressure. 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 wildlife. Development pressure is largely due to a rising demand for residential housing for workers commuting to Philadelphia and Wilmington, resulting in farm production declines and loss of wildlife habitat.

The Delaware Bay soils are some of the most fertile and productive in the country and support the largest remaining contiguous farm belt in the state. Protecting the region from development is vital for the future of the region's agriculture. The Bayshore also offers resting and feeding grounds for more than a million migratory birds each spring. The shorebird population that gathers on 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.

Wickecheoke Farm Belt, Hunterdon County

NJCF has led conservation efforts along the Wickecheoke Creek, a tributary of the Delaware & Raritan Canal, for over 20 years. NJCF, together with conservation partners, has preserved about 2,300 acres in the region. The first projects in the area preserved farms in the picturesque Rosemont Valley. One of the few unblemished agricultural landscapes in central New Jersey, the valley is extremely vulnerable to development.