NNAATTUURRAALL RREESSOOUURRCCEESS IINNVVEENNTTOORRYY TTOWNSHIP OF MMIDDLE CAPE MAY COUNTY, NEW JERSEY November 2007 Adopted by the Middle Township Planning Board on _____________________________ Maser Consulting PA American Metro Center 100 American Metro Boulevard Suite 152 Hamilton, NJ 08619 Natural Resources Inventory Middle Township Cape May County, New Jersey November 2007 Prepared by: Barbara Edelhauser, Environmental Scientist William Olson, Environmental Scientist Loren Kelly, Environmental Specialist Jacqueline McCort, Environmental Specialist Sharon White, Cultural Resources Specialist Jill Slagle, Cultural Resources Specialist Christopher Walker, Cultural Resources Specialist Marcia Shiffman, AICP, PP, CLA, Project Manager Daniel Bloch, Planner Maser Consulting PA American Metro Center 100 American Metro Boulevard Suite 152 Hamilton, NJ 08619 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................I 1.0 LOCATION.......................................................................................................................................1 1.1 MIDDLE TOWNSHIP LOCATION .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 REGULATORY JURISDICTIONS............................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 EXISTING LAND USE AND LAND COVER................................................................................................................................. 6 2.0 PHYSICAL RESOURCES AND CONDITIONS..............................................................................10 2.1 CLIMATE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCE AND GEOLOGY......................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 TOPOGRAPHY AND SLOPES................................................................................................................................................ 15 2.4 SOILS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 17 2.4.1 Soil Limitations ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 2.4.2 Farmland Soils...................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.5 CONTAMINATED SITES ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.0 WATER RESOURCES AND CONDITIONS...................................................................................27 3.1 GROUND WATER RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................................... 27 3.1.1 Aquifers ................................................................................................................................................................ 27 3.1.2 Aquifer Recharge.................................................................................................................................................. 29 3.1.3 Well Head Protection Area ................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2 WETLANDS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 WATERSHEDS ................................................................................................................................................................... 34 3.4 SURFACE WATER QUALITY ................................................................................................................................................ 42 3.4.1 Shellfish Harvest Areas ........................................................................................................................................ 44 3.5 FLOODWAYS AND FLOODPLAINS ......................................................................................................................................... 44 4.0 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES .........................................................................................................46 4.1 BOTANICAL RESOURCES............................................................................................................................................... 46 4.1.1 Marine Plant Communities ................................................................................................................................... 48 4.1.2 Estuarine Plant Communities ............................................................................................................................... 48 4.1.3 Palustrine Plant Communities .............................................................................................................................. 50 4.1.4 Terrestrial Plant Communities .............................................................................................................................. 54 4.1.5 Rare Vegetation Communities and Species......................................................................................................... 59 4.2 ZOOLOGICAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................................. 61 4.2.1 Aquatic Animals.................................................................................................................................................... 61 4.2.2 Terrestrial Animals................................................................................................................................................ 66 4.3 RARE SPECIES AND SPECIES OF SPECIAL CONCERN ........................................................................................................... 71 4.4 CRITICAL HABITATS AND SPECIAL ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES ............................................................................................. 72 4.4.1 Federal Habitat Complexes.................................................................................................................................. 72 4.4.2 State of New Jersey Critical Habitat Mapping ...................................................................................................... 73 4.4.3 NJ Natural Heritage Program Priority Sites.......................................................................................................... 76 5.0 CULTURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY.........................................................................................80 5.1 PREHISTORIC CONTEXT..................................................................................................................................................... 80 5.2 HISTORIC CONTEXT........................................................................................................................................................... 81 5.3 INVENTORIED CULTURAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................83 5.4 OPEN SPACE / PUBLIC LAND .............................................................................................................................................. 86 5.5 AESTHETIC RESOURCES.................................................................................................................................................... 90 6.0 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................91 Figures 1. Regional Location Map 2. Regulatory Jurisdictions 3. Coastal Barrier Resources System Units 4. Seasonal Offshore Wind Direction 5. Physiographic Provinces of New Jersey 6. Groundwater Detail 7. Impact of Well on Groundwater Movement Tables 1. Land Use/Land Cover, 2002 2. Temperatures Measured at Cape May 1 NW and Belleplain State Forest 3. Precipitation Measured at Cape May 2 NW and Belleplain State Forest 4. Soil Types of Middle Township 5. Development Limitations of Soils 6. Prime & Other Important Farmland Soils 7. Known Contaminated Sites List 8. Surface Water Classifications of Middle Township Waters 9. Plants of the Marine Intertidal Gravel/Sand Beach Community 10. Plants of the Mesohaline/Oligohaline Subtidal Aquatic Bed 11. Plants of the Low Marsh Community 12. Plants of the High Marsh Community 13. Plants of the Brackish Tidal Marsh Community 14. Plants of the Freshwater Tidal Wetland Community 15. Plants of the Coastal Interdunal Marsh Community 16. Plants of the Coastal Plain Intermittent Pond Community 17. Plants of the Coastal Plain Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Community 18. Plants of the Liquidambar/Acer Hardwood Swamp Community 19. Plants of the Pine Barren Hardwood Swamp Community 20. Plants of the Pitch Pine Lowland Forest Community 21. Plants