Grant to benefit Sourlands

The $100,000 state Smart Future Planning Grant will support a plan to guide land use, which would directly benefit Lambertville and East Amwell, West Amwell and Delaware townships.

By: Linda Seida
   A $100,000 Smart Future Planning Grant from the state Department of Community Affairs last week will benefit all eight municipalities that make up the Sourlands, including Lambertville, according to a local official.
   The grant will support the development of a plan to guide land use in the Sourland Mountains region, which stretches across approximately 90 square miles in central New Jersey and extends into the eastern tip of Lambertville.
   DCA Commissioner Susan Bass Levin announced the grant award Dec. 7 in Trenton.
   About 1.5 square miles of city land east of Route 29 are included in the Sourlands. The area represents a "key part" of the westernmost tip of the Sourlands region, said Steven Sacks-Wilner, vice president of the Sourland Planning Council.
   Any protection afforded the Sourlands will benefit Lambertville and its drinking supply, according to John Miller, a senior water resource engineer who is a member of the city’s Planning Board.
   "In terms of a benefit to Lambertville, one strong benefit is the protection of the headwaters of our streams, especially Swan Creek and Alexauken Creek," Mr. Miller said.
   The Sourlands area also provides a venue for people living in a dense city like Lambertville to hike or seek solitude or bird watch, he said.
   The region also is home to a number of historic, cultural and recreational resources, according to Mr. Sacks-Wilner.
   The Sourlands region is the site of the largest contiguous forest in central New Jersey. Migrating birds on the Atlantic Flyway need the deep forest as a rest stop and as a source of food.
   Also, the mountain is home to numerous endangered and threatened species, including the barred owl, the wood turtle and the scarlet tanager.
   "We must work to save this incredible resource in the hopes that our children and grandchildren will enjoy it as we have," said Jennifer Bryson of Hillsborough, president of the Sourland Planning Council.
   The hard rock and poor soil of the Sourlands have long provided a natural barrier to development. But that could change as technology advances.
   "Recent changes in technology and an unprecedented level of pressure now has left the region more vulnerable than ever," Ms. Bryson said. "Despite their local, regional, statewide and international natural resource importance, hundreds of acres are lost to development each year. One new house in the Sourlands has the impact of many elsewhere. A 1-acre clearing the Sourlands reduces critical deep woods habitat by 20 acres to 30 acres."
   The Office of Smart Growth previously had awarded an $80,000 grant to complete the first phase of the Sourland Resource Management Plan, which examines the region’s conditions and implications of future growth. The grant has been used to conduct a hydrogeology study and a natural resources inventory.
   Other items are in the works, including a build-out analysis, a comparison of state, county and municipal plans and ordinances and preliminary open space and conservation plans.
   The Sourlands region encompasses parts of eight municipalities. In addition to Lambertville, it includes pieces of the townships of East Amwell, West Amwell, Hopewell, Hillsborough and Montgomery plus Hopewell Borough. It also includes a small portion of Delaware Township.
   Of those eight, only Delaware Township did not pass a resolution supporting the designation of the Sourlands as a special resource area. In Lambertville, the City Council and Planning Board each passed a resolution earlier this month.