THE STATE WE’RE IN by Michele S. Byers
The ongoing preservation effort in the Highlands’ Sterling Forest illustrates the importance of developing partnerships and approaching the protection of natural resources from a regional perspective.
Sterling Forest is a spectacular wilderness that straddles the New York/New Jersey border in northern Passaic County and is a major watershed for many New Jersey reservoirs, including the Wanaque. In fact, the Highlands region as a whole provides drinking water for half the residents of New Jersey! It contains important habitat for endangered species – both federal and state – and migration corridors for more than 70 species of songbirds. Located only 40 miles from Manhattan, and less than two hours travel for more than 20 million people, the Highlands receive more visitors each year than a more well known national treasure, Yellowstone National Park.
Combine the fact that development pressure in the Highlands is at an all-time high with the importance of the region as a source of drinking water for more than 4 million people, and suddenly, the need for partnerships in the area becomes increasingly obvious.
A "local" development decision could have a disastrous impact on neighboring municipalities or even an entire state. Again, think drinking water. Before it made its way to your tap in Ridgefield, Newark or Morristown, that water in your glass flowed across the border from New York.
But not that long ago, Sterling Forest was up for grabs. In the ’60s and ’70s, parts of the forest were turned into office parks. Single-family homes and strip malls began appearing in a piecemeal fashion. In the ’90s, a proposal to develop hundreds of acres drew the attention of conservation groups from across New Jersey and New York, including New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which vowed to fight the proposed plan.
These groups formed a regional partnership made up of local citizens and a variety of government entities from both states. In 1998, this partnership resulted in the permanent protection of nearly 19,000 acres along the New York-New Jersey state line. While most of the acreage protected was located in Orange County, N.Y., 2,000 acres were located in New Jersey.
Several thousand acres of Sterling Forest remain unprotected. Fortunately, using funds from an $8 million cooperative plan between New Jersey and New York for the purchase of land in the Sterling Forest area, Gov. Christie Whitman recently earmarked $1 million toward buying hundreds of additional acres. In addition, the cross-border importance of the forest has been recognized by the federal government in the form of a grant for $2 million to New Jersey and New York to assist in the purchase of land in this vital and fragile region.
Sterling Forest demonstrates that political boundaries are no obstacle in the face of an effective regional partnership. The task before all of us is to recognize opportunities for regional partnership building and to pursue those opportunities wherever possible. Working together we can make more significant strides toward our goal of protecting the Highlands region – and of all New Jersey’s natural resources.
For more information on preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, contact me at New Jersey Conservation Foundation, 1-888-LAND-SAVE, www.njconservation.org.
Michele S. Byers is executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation based in Far Hills.