From the Asbury Park Press

Sept. 29, 2007

Pinelands officials OK $4M to preserve 3,200 acres

BY KIRK MOORE
STAFF WRITER

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP — After a complex nine-month review, state Pinelands officials Friday approved spending $4 million in partnership with local governments and conservation groups to preserve 3,200 acres worth up to $20 million.

Achieving "the best leverage possible" was one goal in selecting properties to be purchased through the Pinelands Conservation Fund, said Michael Catania, a consultant and former state environmental official who put the deals together for the Pinelands Commission.

The conservation fund was created in 2004 with $13 million from Atlantic City Electric, which provided the money as compensation for forest-clearing associated with building a new power line alongside the Garden State Parkway in southern Ocean County. About half the land proposed for acquisition lies west of the power line, in the Forked River Mountains area of Lacey and Waretown.

In letters and meetings with county and local officials, Catania said he sought cost-sharing partnerships and donations to maximize the impact of the conservation fund dollars. Major partners include the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust, which administers use of the county's $12 million annual revenue from its open-space property tax.

Other targeted tracts are near the upper Toms River in Jackson and in Medford and Evesham townships in Burlington County. Both have been designated special planning areas by the commission, which has worked with municipal officials there to retailor the Pinelands management plan in those areas.

Commission officials released a summary of the planned acquisitions and their partners:

Toms River corridor in Jackson, four tracts totaling 225 acres, with $1 million allocated to the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust.

Forked River Mountains in Lacey and Waretown, three properties totaling 1,591 acres, slightly more than $2 million allocated to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and the Ocean County lands trust.

The Medford and Evesham sub-regional planning area, two parcels of 27 acres, with $245,200 allocated to the Rancocas Conservancy.

Elwood corridor in Mullica Township, 593 acres with $300,000 allocated to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, 700 acres with $300,000 allocated to Atlantic County.

The South River branch of the Egg Harbor River in Buena Vista, 70 acres with up to $10,000 allocated to Buena Vista Township.

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