OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN for Township of Wantage County of Sussex Compiled by Morris Land Conservancy a nonprofit land trust with the Township of Wantage Open Space Committee January 2008—Draft OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN for Township of Wantage County of Sussex Compiled by Township of Wantage Morris Land Conservancy with the a nonprofit land trust Open Space Advisory Committee January 2008—Draft OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN for Township of Wantage County of Sussex Produced by: Morris Land Conservancy’s Partners for Greener Communities Team: “Partnering with Communities to Preserve Natural Treasures” David Epstein, President Barbara Heskins Davis, PP/AICP, Vice President, Programs Holly Szoke, Communications Director Kenneth Fung, GIS Manager Andrew Szwak, Planning Consultant Elizabeth Lee, Planning Consultant Katharine Otto, Planning Intern For further information please contact: Morris Land Conservancy Township of Wantage 19 Boonton Avenue Open Space Advisory Committee Boonton, NJ 07005 888 Route 23 South (973) 541-1010 Wantage, NJ 07461 Fax: (973) 541-1131 (973) 875-7192 www.morrisland.org Fax: (973) 875-0801 www.wantagetwp.com Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved Including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form without prior consent January 2008—Draft . Acknowledgements Morris Land Conservancy would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their help in providing information and guidance for the Wantage Township Open Space and Recreation Plan. Their contributions have been instrumental in the creation of the Plan. Township of Wantage Open Space Advisory Committee Parker Space Mike Garrett Scott Sargent Rudy Solar Thomas P. Davis Diane Snure Ken Nelson Douglas Ricker, Jr Victoria Gill Recreation Commission Duane Armstrong, Chairman Greg Williams Louise Macherone Evelyn Baig Lorraine Card Sue Vanden Huevel Christine Feorenzo Mayor and Township Committee: Parker Space, Mayor Bill DeBoer, Deputy Mayor Clara Nuss Township Staff: Jim Doherty, Town Administrator Township of Wantage Open Space & Recreation Plan – DRAFT – January 2008 Table of Contents Page Executive Summary ………………………………………….………..… E-1 I. Community Resources……….………………..………………...…......… 1-1 II. The Open Space Program in Wantage Township ……………...……...… 2-1 III. Inventory of Outdoor Resources in Wantage Township ……….…...….... 3-1 IV. The Needs for Open Space Preservation in Wantage Township ...…........ 4-1 V. A System of Open Space and Preservation Recommendations for Wantage Township...……………...…...………………………………….5-1 VI. Action Program for Wantage Township ………………………………… 6-1 VII. Preservation Partners, Tools and Funding Sources …...……...…………. 7-1 Literature Cited ………………………………………………………….. L-1 Maps 1) Natural Features Map 2) Land Use Map 3) Open Space Map 4) Greenway Map Appendix 1) Public Hearing #1 and Open Space Tour – October 29, 2007 – Notice, Itinerary, Minutes 2) Public Hearing #2 – February 2008 – to be included in Final Plan 3) Open Space Trust Fund – 2006 Resolution and Ordinance 4) Recreation and Open Space Inventory – N.J. Green Acres 5) Parcel Data Tables Township of Wantage Open Space & Recreation Plan – DRAFT – January 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Wantage Township is a community rich in farmland, steeped in history and home to beautiful natural recreation areas. The Township’s ridgelines, forests, and wetlands provide large, unbroken habitats that support a diverse array of wildlife species. Wantage also contains the most expansive concentration of active and preserved farmlands in Sussex County. Set within the rural setting of Wantage Township are a number of historic sites and scenic parks that visitors and local residents enjoy. The open space program in Wantage Township seeks to maintain and enhance these agricultural and natural resources. The Township’s residents voted to enact an open space trust fund in November of 2006. Monies from the Wantage Township Open Space Trust Fund will be used to purchase natural resource lands, acquire development rights on farmlands, as well as construct and maintain recreational facilities. Expenditures from the Trust Fund will supplement the approximately 11,000 acres of wildlife areas, state forests, municipal parks, and preserved farmlands that exist in Wantage Township. Local residents, through their participation in public meetings and planning documents, have expressed the desire to balance growing development pressures in the Township with the preservation of lands to maintain rural character, protect sensitive water resources, ensure the health of the environment, highlight historic sites, and improve local parks. Residents also seek to concentrate future development within identified “centers” and establish a trail network within the Township. The Wantage Township Open Space and Recreation Plan proposes the implementation of a comprehensive open space program that addresses these needs expressed by Township residents. It identifies greenways where preservation activities are to be focused. These greenways include: • Wallkill Valley Greenway, • Kittatinny Ridge Greenway, • Upper Kittatinny Farmbelt, • Papakating-Beaver Run Blueway, • High Point Historic Greenway, and • Lake Neepaulin Recreational Greenway. The Open Space and Recreation Plan offers ideas for preservation projects within these greenways that are consistent with the Township’s stated objectives. A timeline with one, three, and five year goals that will guide the Township’s preservation efforts in the near future is provided as well. The Plan also lists potential preservation partners and funding mechanisms that will assist the Township to realize its open space goals. Township of Wantage Open Space and Recreation Plan – DRAFT – January 2008 E-1 COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN WANTAGE TOWNSHIP Wantage Township is a picturesque rural community in northern Sussex County that is surrounded by scenic natural areas. The Wallkill River and the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge forms Wantage’s eastern boundary with Vernon and Hardyston Townships. High Point and Stokes State Forests form the Township’s western boundary with Montague Township. The Appalachian Trail runs along Wantage’s northern border with Orange County, New York, and the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust’s Congleton Wildlife Preserve straddles its southern boundary with Frankford and Lafayette Townships. Wantage Township also surrounds the Borough of Sussex, which serves as a community gathering place and commercial center for local residents. A planned system of open space and farmland preservation will protect these special natural resource lands in Wantage Township while maintaining and enhancing the quality life enjoyed by its residents. Natural Resources Geology and Topography New Jersey is divided among four Physiographic Provinces – regions with distinct geological histories that are manifested in their surface topography and bedrock geology. Wantage Township is located within the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province, which is underlain by limestones, sandstones, and shales that were formed between 550 and 350 million years ago under shallow marine waters. Limestone was formed when the ocean was particularly shallow and the calcium-containing shells of aquatic species covered much of the ocean floor. The sandstone and shale layers represent time periods when the ocean floor was covered by deeper waters and fine-grained particles precipitated to the ocean floor. These sediments were buried deep under successive layers of material, which subjected them to intense pressure and compressed them into stratified layers of rock. After the sedimentary bedrock of the Ridge and Valley Province was formed, the region experienced tectonic activity associated with the Taconic orogeny (mountain-building phase). The ocean floor was gradually pushed upwards to form the Appalachian Mountains. Evidence of the intense volcanic activity that occurred during this period was found near Beemerville in Wantage Township where there are remnants of a volcano through which magma rose to Earth’s surface. (Sussex County Open Space & Recreation Township of Wantage Open Space and Recreation Plan – DRAFT – January 2008 1-1 Plan) The Appalachian Mountains once rose to heights nearly 25,000 feet above sea- level, but were subsequently subjected to the powerful erosive forces of wind, water, and ice that gradually weathered the sedimentary bedrock into the rolling, ridge and valley landscape that characterizes Wantage Township today. Different rates of erosion among the region’s various bedrock types have divided the Ridge and Valley Province into three sub-provinces: the Kittatinny Valley, the Kittatinny Ridge, and the Minisink Valley. Wantage Township lies primarily in the Kittatinny Valley sub-province, which lies between the Kittatinny Mountain in the west and the Highlands Physiographic Province in the east. The Martinsburg bedrock formation, which underlies 88% of Wantage Township, is the most common type of bedrock in the Kittatinny Valley. It is made up of a highly-eroded and faulted sequence of shales, slates, sandstones, and calcarous siltstones. To the east, the Kittatinny formation occupies approximately 7.7 percent of Wantage Township, and is composed of less resistant shales, dolomites and limestones. The land above the Kittatinny bedrock formation forms the lowest-lying portions of Wantage Township within the Wallkill River Valley. The Kittatinny Mountain sub-province comprises four percent of Wantage Township. This area along the western border of Wantage is where