FRELINGHUYSEN - Warren County, New Jersey FRELINGHUYSEN TOWNSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION

- ENVIRONMENTAL - RESOURCES - - - - - - - - - - - TOWNSHIP OF FRELINGHUYSEN - Warren County, New Jersey FRELINGHUYSEN TOWNSHIP ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION - ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES - A STUDY AND INVENTORY FOR FRELINGHUYSEN TOWNSHIP - All good planning must begin with a sur vey of actual resources: the landscape, the people, the work-a-day activities in a com munity. Good planning does not begin with an abstract and arbitrary scheme that it seeks to impose on the community: it begins with a knowledge of existing conditions and - opportunities. Lewis Mumford, from The City in History .- - - - Prepared by the Frelinghuysen Township Environmental Commission, begun 1984, completed 1989. - - TOWNSHIP OF FRELINGHUYSEN Charles Rydell, Mayor Committee - Charles Rydell John Lotz Fred Gebhardt Planning Board Samuel H. Starr, Chairman Sieglinde Anderson, Vice Chairman David Boynton Charles Muller Natalie White* Fred Wolff - Jerome Weisberg* Charles Rydell, Mayor Robert Canace Anthony Labate Robert Young Paul Costic, Engineer Eric Snyder, Planner Robert Benbrook, Attorney Diane Labate, Secretary Environmental Commission Sieglinde Anderson, Chairperson Jim Banta, Vice Chairman Debra Natyzak-Osadca, Secretary - Jean Smolha, Treasurer Max Klein Fred Wolff, Planning Board Representative Barbara Kulicke Sue Clothier* Inger Fisher* Jack Mazurowski* *former members ii - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - The environmental Commission wishes to thank the fol lowing persons and organizations for their help in the preparation of this report: - Paul Armstrong, former ranger at Wildlife Preserves, Inc.; Sam Moore, writer; Mildred Read, local birder for the bird inventory; Sr. Miriam MacGillis of Genesis Farm; - Margaret Dillon, Ecologist, for the Soils chapter; Olga Guiler, former resident and historian for valuable informa tion on local history; Glen Wershing for Indian history of the area; Wendy Wolff, artist, for all wildlife drawings; - Debra Natyzak-Osadca for all photographs; Leonard Lee Rue III for reviewing the wildlife chapter; Bros. Luke of St. Paul's Abby, Newton, for weather information; Abigail Fair of the N.J. Wetlands Coalition; and The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions; The New Jersey Conservation Foundation; Dan Jones, Soil Conservation Service and Duane Copley, Soil Conservation District, both from the Hackettstown Office; Russell Miles and his staff at the Warren County Planning Board; the many different offices of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that sup plied documents for our use; The U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service; - and last, but not least, the citizens of Frelinghuysen Township who took the time to answer our questionnaires. Our special thanks to Cathy Bao Bean for proofreading and correcting our many errors in grammar; and to Robert Canace, Geologist for the New Jersey Geological Survey, N.J. D.E.P., for the geology and hydrology chapters and - maps and for his assistance and undaunted support on the whole Inventory. Special thanks also to our Township Committee who made it possible to begin the inventory through their faith and financial assistance over the past eight years. - The members of the Environmental Commission wish to dedicate this report to Sieglinde Anderson, whose extraordinary efforts and skills made it possible for us to - undertake this project. September 1991 The publication of this Inventory was made possible in - part by a grant from the N.J.D.E.P Office of Environmental Services. - - iii - TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. GENERAL PREFACE 1 FOREWORD 3 PART I PHYSICAL RESOURCES 5 INTRODUCTION 6 CLIMATE AND LAND USE 7 PHySiOGRAPHy 10 GEOLOGY, HYDROLOGY AND SOILS 13 Introduction 13 Hydrology 14 Geology and Hydrogeology 16 Introduction " 16 Hydrogeology " 19 Bedrock Geology " 24 Surficial Geology " 27 Soils 28 Soil Formation 28 Soils and Land Use 34 PART II PLANT AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES .41 INTRODUCTION 42 VEGETATION 43 WiLDLIFE 59 PART III CULTURAL AND VISUAL RESOURCES 65 Early History &Boundary Changes 69 Visual Resources " 75 Open Space 78 Appendix A1 • A4 - Soil Limitations 82-84 Appendix AS - Professional Contacts 85 Appendix B - Plant Inventory - Genesis Farms 86 Appendix C - Plants for Wildlife 88 General References " "" 89 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page No. LIST OF FOLD OUT MAPS Page No. Population Projection 6 1 Landcover Map 9A - 2 Contour lines express topography 10 2 Existing Zoning Map 98 3 The effect of wind on topography 11 3 Topography and Slope Map 12A - 4 Alternative road placement.. 12 4 Bevation Map 128 5 The hydrologic cycle 14 5 Surface Water Map 15A 6 Geologic Time Table 17 6 8edrock Geology Map 27A - 7 Map of Wisconsin Ice Sheet... 18 7 Surficial Geology Map 278 8 Geomorphic provinces of N.J 20 8 Aquifer and Recharge Areas Map 27C - 9 Hydrologic Features of Lime Stone Valleys 21 9 Soils Map 39A 10 810ck Diagram of Geologic Factors 22 10 Hydric Soils Map 398 11 Hypothetical cross section through a Carbonate 11 Soil Erosion Hazard Map 39C - Valley 25 12 Depth to 8edrock Map 39D 12 Chemical and Physical Weathering in the soil- 13 Natural Soil Drainage Map 39E - forming Process 28 14 Visual and Cultural Resources Map 77A 13 Soil Horizons Diagram 29 15 Open Space Map 81A 14 Soil Texture 30 LIST OF TABLES 15 Soil Profile 30 I Average Temperature and Precipitation 8 16 The Nutrient Cycle 31 II Temperature Extremes and Freeze Data 8 17 A. Hydrology of Ground-water and Surface Water III Length of Growing Season 9 Wetlands 33 IV 8edrock Geological Units, Physiography and 17 8. Schematic Diagram showing different types of Hydrologic Characteristics of Rocks in - wetlands 33 Frelinghuysen Township 23-24 18 Slope Angles Diagram 35 V Description and Hydrologic Characteristics 19 Wetlands Purity water 38 of Surficial Sediments 26 20 Wetlands Reduce Peak Flows 38 VI Mesic Upland Habitats 51 21 The Food Chain 44 VII Oak-Hickory forests 52-53 22 A. Vegetation Slows Down Run-Off .45 VIII Sugar Maple - Mixed Hardwoods 54-55-56 22 8. Proportion of Run-Off and Infiltration for IX Wetlands Vegetation 57 Various Landuses .46 X Key to VISUAL RESOURCES (fold-out) map 73 23 Vegetation Purifies Air .47 24 Vegetation Reduces Temperature Extremes .48 Appendix - 25 Vegetation Reduces Wind Impact 49 A.1 to A.4 26 Map of Norther New Jersey -Indian Period 68 Soil Limitations for Specific Land Uses 82-84 27 Map of Frelinghuysen Township 1834 ..70 A.5 Professional Contacts 85 - 28 Map of Marksboro, 1834 .71 8 Plant Inventory - Genesis Farm 86 29 Map of Johnsonburg, 1834 .71 C Plants for Wildlife 88 - v - GENERAL PREFACE As citizens of Frelinghuysen Township, we approach the last years of the twentieth century with a sense that we bridge a critical stage of human history. Our region, our State and Nation, indeed, the whole industrialized world, are beginning to assess the benefits and losses of the last 300 years of rapid material development. The escalation of technological growth in the last several decades is of special concern. For while we justifiably boast of extraor - dinary technical achievements, we are only beginning to grasp the price of these achievements in the diminish ment of the basic functioning of our Earth's living systems. - This document occurs in the wake of the last few decades which were marked by a growing sensitivity to our total human dependence on the well-being of the nat - ural world. Our previous plundering of the air, soil, water and forests was given a startling jolt with the momentous work of Rachel Carson in 1962. Her landmark publication, Silent Spring, brought to American awareness the already advanced state of our environmental crisis. During the late 1960's, the State of New Jersey legislat ed the formation of environmental commissions at the - municipal level. Regional and local communities were urged to expand their criteria for planning to include the essential natural systems without which human develop ment could not be sustained. In many areas, this aware - ness came too late. As one of the few remaining regions of New Jersey which still preserves a measure of ecological health and diversity, we are in a privileged position to learn from the tragic consequences of unregulated growth. We have the opportunity to evolve as a region which guides its social, - economic and political patterns by enlightened principles in harmony with our natural resources. Let it be told by future generations that the people of - this region approached the 21st Century with a maturity of vision and an advanced ecological ethic. May this inven tory of our rich and diverse natural world be a context through which we define the quality of life we esteeme. - Once lost, this quality cannot be restored. Once under stood and valued, it ought not be squandered. by Sr. Miriam MacGillis, - Genesis Farms - 1 F,trJE-L //Yt;H'UYStFN rOWNS'I-!IP Location of Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County in New Jersey. 2 - FOREWORD •...Every individual on the planet must be made aware of The inventory makes possible accurate assessment of its vulnerability and of the urgent need to preserve it. No the impact of proposed action on local and regional attempt to protect the environment will be successful in resources. Down-stream flooding, lowering of the water the long run unless ordinary people.... are willing to adjust tables, ground water pollution. traffic hazards, lack of their life styles...We owe this not only to ourselves and our open space are only a few of the costs that must be children but also to the unborn generations who will one weighed against possible benefits such as lowered taxes, day inherit the earth." (quotation from TIME MAGAZINE, higher employment, meeting local budgetary needs and January 2, 1989, by Thomas A. Sancton, Planet of the industrial financial gain. The resource inventory is the - Year, page 26-30,"Endangered Earth - What on EARTH environmental information bank for the municipality. It pro are we doing?") vides information.

Load more