Groups work to preserve marshland

Protecting 166 acres helps save water quality and bog turtle, By Cindy Weightman A national conservation group is credited with spearheading an effort to preserve more than 166 acres of marshland in Frankford Township once targeted for development. State and federal environmental officials had long eyed the property known as Armstrong Bog for open space but their attempts were unsuccessful until the housing bubble burst in 2007 and Orleans Development abandoned plans for a 35-lot subdivision. The landowners approached the New Jersey office of the Trust for Public Land in the hopes that the group would be able to put together a federal funding package. Trust Senior Project Manager Cindy Roberts says her group had worked with them before on a deal to conserve land in Barnegat Bay. The plan that the Trust for Public Land came up with involves purchasing the land in two phases. The first $1.1 million purchase of 166 acres was completed on Dec. 30. The land trust paired up nearly $1 million in grant money from the state’s Green Acres program and a federal program through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service that protects threatened and endangered species habitat. Frankford Township contributed over $87,000 from its open space trust fund and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation contributed more than $70,000. What it means Roberts says the acquisition means different things to different people. “The priority of the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge is preservation of the bog turtle habitat.” The turtle is on the federally threatened species list. “For locals, she says, “it retains the community’s character.” She adds that from a water quality standpoint, it adds further protections to the Papakating Creek, which is a New Jersey-classified Category One stream corridor. Either way, the state had required a 300 foot buffer zone between the stream and any development, but “think how much better it is with no storm-water retention pond, no lawn fertilizer, no 70 cars coming and going each day.” Roberts says the Trust for Public Land is now working on the second phase of the acquisition, which she hopes to complete by the summer. The organization has lined up $1.2 million, which will be used to preserve the remaining 158 acres. The Trust has qualified for a $900,000 grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation fund and Roberts says the group is in the process of finalizing its due diligence. That includes completing an appraisal, title work and survey. The Sussex County Board of Freeholders also just passed a funding resolution to contribute another $203,000 toward the purchase. Frankford Township also plans to chip in open space funds that will be used to acquire 42 acres of land and the remaining amount will be funded through the state’s Green Acres program. The township will take ownership of the 42 acres for passive recreation, but wants the Refuge ultimately managing the full 324 acres, Roberts said. A law requires the township to hold the title of any land it purchases, but Roberts said that once acquisition is complete, the Trust will work with them to transfer the ownership to the Refuge. “They just thought acquiring the property was important enough to come up with the money,” Roberts said.