Open Space Resources in Sussex County

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1 Open Space Resources in Sussex County Photo by Donna Traylor Cross Country Skiing at High Point State Park People move to Sussex County because of the natural beauty of Sussex County. Earl Riley, Byram Township Council member at a municipal outreach meeting on March 26, This section of the Open Space and Recreation Plan textually summarizes Sussex County s existing open space land. The Open Space Inventory has a hierarchical structure: it begins with public land and catalogs the federal, state, county and municipal conservation land. The Inventory then explores private land, including land owned by non-profit conservation organizations, water supply management entities, and deed restricted farmland. The text in this section corresponds to Table 9: Sussex County Open Space Inventory that accompanies this section of the Plan. Please also refer to Map 24: Open Space in Sussex County illustrates the location of open space holdings. Federal Land Public Land National Park Service The National Park Service manages 21,771 acres in the western section of Sussex County in Montague, Sandyston and Walpack. The agency is charged with managing the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a 55,857 acre unit of the National Park System, located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 77

2 United States Fish and Wildlife Service The Fish and Wildlife Service manages 4,635 acres of land in Sussex County. The Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge extends slightly into New York, but the vast majority is located in Vernon and Wantage Townships in Sussex County. State Land Division of Fish and Wildlife The Division of Fish and Wildlife is housed within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The Division manages Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) throughout New Jersey. Twelve WMAs are located in Sussex County, totaling 13,775 acres. Division of Parks and Forestry The Division of Parks and Forestry within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, oversees state parks, state forests and the trail corridors of the Paulinskill Valley Trail, Sussex Branch Trail and Appalachian Trail. There are 6 state parks, one state forest and three long-distance trails in Sussex County, totaling 55,135 acres. The State also holds a 3,896 acre conservation easement on Newark Watershed land located in Vernon. New Jersey Natural Lands Trust New Jersey Natural Lands Trust is an independent agency within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Natural Lands Trust properties are comparatively small relative to other state holdings. Management focuses on fish and wildlife habitat conservation, with less of a focus on public recreation. There are 28 Natural Lands Trust properties in Sussex County totaling 1,064 acres. County Land Sussex County owns 1 acre of parkland, located at the square in Newton. Municipal Land Only permanently preserved municipally owned recreation lands listed on a municipality s Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI) have been included in this inventory. A ROSI is a document filed with the New Jersey Green Acres program that lists all municipal recreation and/or conservation lands in that municipality. A town must complete a ROSI when it accepts Green Acres funding for land acquisition or recreation development. Green Acres monitors land listed on the ROSI to ensure it remains parkland. There is no higher form of land protection in the State of New Jersey than placement on a ROSI. There are 1,521 acres of ROSI property in Sussex County. These properties are listed on Table 10: Recreation and Open Space Inventory Lands. IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 78

3 Water Supply Management Land There are a total of 6,639 acres of water supply management lands in Sussex County. The vast majority of this land (located in Hardyston and Vernon Townships) is owned by Newark. The State owns a conservation easement on an additional 3,896 acres of Newark owned property. As this easement preserves the land as open space regardless of ownership, this acreage amount is counted in the section for State owned open space. Because of the state-imposed moratorium on the sale of watershed lands, water supply management land cannot be sold for development without state review. IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 79

4 Farmland Private Land There is a total of 115,127 acres of farm-assessed land in Sussex County. 1 As of March 2003, 7057 acres are preserved as farmland under farmland preservation programs as follows: 6,164 acres comprised of 39 farms in 11 municipalities, have been preserved by the Sussex County Agriculture Development Board (SCADB). An additional 14 farms have final approval for preservation and are working toward closing; this would add another 1,508 acres to the preserved farmland total. Two farms have been preserved via the New Jersey Agriculture Development Committee (NJSADC) program, where the landowner has worked with non-profit organizations. These two preserved farms total 315 acres. The Lusscroft farm located in Wantage and Montague is owned by the State. An undated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) transferred jurisdiction of 578 acres to the Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for the use of the Division of Parks and Forestry. 2 Areas of the farm (as yet undetermined) will be restricted to agricultural use as determined by the NJSADC. Under the MOU, the NJSADC has the right to count the 578 acres of Lusscroft farm as preserved farmland. 3 Non-profit Conservation Land The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy owns 8 preserves totaling 1,811 acres in Sussex County. 315 acres of this total is preserved under the New Jersey Agriculture Development Committee program and is in farmland preservation as is described in the section above titled Farmland. Please note, this acreage is counted twice, once here and once in the Farmland section. Other holdings include the Mashipacong Bogs Preserve, which is 1000 acres and is contained within High Point State Park in Montague. It is The Nature Conservancy s largest single landholding in Sussex County. Other sizeable preserves include the 272 acre Muckshaw Ponds Preserve in Andover Township and Fredon, and the Sussex Swamp Preserve in Andover Township and Newton. New Jersey Audubon Society The New Jersey Audubon Society owns 519 acres in two areas in Sussex County: Bacon Run located in Vernon (222 acres); Sparta Mountain region in Sparta and Hardyston (297 acres). New Jersey Conservation Foundation The New Jersey Conservation Foundation owns 131 acres in Sussex County. 47 acres of this total is preserved as farmland under the County s farmland preservation program as IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 80

5 described above in the section titled Farmland. Please note, this acreage is counted twice, once here and once in the Farmland section. This preserved farmland is located in Andover Township and Green. Passaic River Coalition The Passaic River Coalition owns one property totaling 165 acres in Sussex County. The Russia Brook Sanctuary is located in Sparta and Hardyston. The Conservation Fund The Conservation Fund owns 51 acres in Sussex County, located in Sandyston and Walpack. They have plans to turn over control and management of this land to the National Park Service in the future. Total Preserved Open Space in Sussex County Preserved open space consists of those lands that will be part of Sussex County s landscape forever. With State Green Acres funds, federal funds for national parks and refuges, and municipal lands acquired with dedicated open space trust funds or encumbered by a Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI) cannot be easily diverted to uses other than recreation and conservation. Total Federal Land: 26,406 acres Total State Land: 73,870 acres Total County Land: 1 acre Total Municipal Land: 1,521 acres Total Farmland: 7,057 acres Total Nonprofit Conservation Land*: 2,315 acres Total Preserved Land: 111,170 acres A total of 111,170 acres in Sussex County are preserved open space, representing 32% of the County. Water supply land is not included in the totals because the moratorium against selling land is not a permanent protection. The acres under the easement are counted as part of the state land total. * Properties described in the text twice are included as farmland and not counted in this nonprofit land total. IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 81

6 1 Sussex County Board of Taxation. Class 3A & 3B tax data, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Final Draft Lusscroft General Management Plan, p21. 3 New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Final Draft Lusscroft General Management Plan, p56. IV. Open Space Resources in Sussex County 82