On November 9th, the Morris County Freeholders voted to provide $2,880,000 in funding for the preservation of Primrose Farm Estates in Harding Township. Primrose Farm Estates is a 69.7-acre property where the development of 5 home sites is eminent. It is part of a multi-year project that preserves 115 acres of contiguous land in Harding Township.
This property is less than ½ mile upstream of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. It straddles the Upper Passaic River to the south and Primrose Brook to the north, which are both Category One Trout Production waterways. The property also consists of former agricultural fields, grasslands, upland and wetland forests, and riparian habitat along both Primrose Brook and Upper Passaic River. It supports a seasonal population of Indiana Bats and preserves a rich mosaic of habitats that benefit many species. Preservation of this parcel will provide recreation and educational opportunities for area residents.
“We are grateful to the Morris County Freeholders for their support of this important project”, said Harding Land Trust President, David Shepperly. “This was the largest allocation of funds from the Morris County Preservation Trust this year and we are pleased that the County recognizes the importance of preserving this property.”
Philip Nicolas, the Project Manager for Trust for Public Land, led the negotiations for the project. “The leadership from Harding Township Committee was critical to the success of this project in addition to the landowners who have endured a long negotiation and have given a number of concessions to make preservation possible”.
The Harding Land Trust applied for the County grants to support both Phases of the project. Tina Bologna, Executive Director for the Land Trust explained, “Last year the County awarded $2,450,000 million towards Phase 1, which was $1 million short of what we requested. Harding Township stepped up to meet the challenge of addressing the shortfall. We are appreciative that Morris County met our full request this year and we are confident that we can raise the remaining funds to acquire this project on schedule.”
Harding Township Mayor, Marshall Bartlett agrees. “This project met the criteria of our local Open Space Trust and our residents demonstrated that there was strong support for the preservation of this property”.
Other partners contributing funds for this project include Great Swamp Watershed Association and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program.
The mission of the Harding Land Trust is to acquire, conserve and manage scenic, natural and historic lands in Harding Township in order to maintain the existing rural character of the Town for present and future generations. Working with its neighbors, the township and its conservation partners, Harding Land Trust has preserved over 300 acres of scenic and environmentally sensitive land. Since 1990 it has worked to acquire property and conservation easements within the community. By preserving open space, the trust seeks to protect the character of Harding’s countryside and ensure the integrity of its water resources.
Locally, there is some confusion about the seemingly duplicative role played by the Harding Land Trust and Harding Township’s own open space program (Harding Open Space Trust). As you read on, I hope you will see how complimentary they are and, by working collaboratively, we have been able to make the most of local tax dollars. Over time, this partnership has reduced Township’s costs for land acquisition and stewardship, while enabling it to maintain the Township’s rural character in a way that supports Harding Township’s Municipal Master Plan.
Open space preservation is a central theme in Harding Township’s Master Plan and the Land Trust’s mission was developed to support the Township’s stated open space goals. One often understated advantage of having a local land trust, is the ability to “double the funding” for conservation projects. While Harding Open Space Trust (HOST) has funding from the municipal open space tax, Harding Land Trust can attract matching funds from State and County sources that can be used in addition to the Township’s contribution. Without the financial leveraging this partnership provides it would be much more difficult for public funds to keep up with Harding land values. In addition, Land Trust staff provide much of the day to day administration on open space acquisition projects, which can be very time consuming and costly. For example, on the recent von Zuben project, Harding Land Trust expended $35,000 on legal fees, survey work, environmental assessment and appraisals to get the deal done. This does not include our staff time dedicated to managing the process. This minimized the Township’s soft costs and enabled Harding’s funds to be used solely for the purpose of land acquisition.
As a non-governmental entity, Harding Land Trust provides a confidential environment to discuss conservation with potential land donors. We have an intimate connection with the local landscape and are well-equipped to identify land that offers critical natural habitat, recreational, agricultural and other conservation value. Land preservation is much more personal with a local, community-based land trust. We value the relationships we have with Harding landowners, some of which have developed over many years.
From a stewardship standpoint, we make it our business to know what is happening on and around all of our properties. We not only conduct annual monitoring on our own fee properties, but we also extend this service to properties that are co-owned with Harding Township. We maintain active stewardship files that include annual reports and photographic documentation from each monitoring site visit. Our Trustees take a very active role in the monitoring and this experience helps them understand some of the complexities associated with long-term management. Each month Land Trust staff and Trustees make decisions about where to spend our valuable stewardship dollars. More recently, we have successfully experimented with volunteer-supported maintenance, which has enabled us to do so much more with limited funds.