A Vision for the Future of Conservation BARNEGAT BAY 2020 BARNEGAT BAY 2020 A Vision for the Future of Conservation A Report by The Trust for Public Land July 2008 © 2008 The Trust for Public Land. All rights reserved. Contents Preface 2 Introduction 3 Current Conditions 3 Priority Maps 15–22 The Greenprinting Process 25 Barnegat Bay 2020 Goals 25 Next Steps 28 Property Portraits 30 Looking Forward 34 Acknowledgements 35 Appendix 37 Preface Perched on the highest spot at Ocean County lost, and ecosystem functions, many that we take College, I can see Barnegat Bay off to the east. for granted, may be compromised. If we don’t rec- The view from this vantage point provides a respite ognize the point upon which we stand, we may lose from work and reminds me of other favorite coastal the very qualities that attracted us here. Thus, it is perches—coastal cliffs in southern New England, vital that we take immediate steps to protect the the bluffs of the Palisades along the Hudson River, remaining open space throughout the watershed. and the coastal highway that winds along the craggy coast near Big Sur. Perhaps most importantly, the In recognition of these cliffs, The Trust for Public view here reminds me that all of us in the Barnegat Land (TPL) pulled together the regional stake- Bay watershed, like the inhabitants in those other holders—local, state, and federal agencies, educa- coastal areas, are poised on the edge of other less tional institutions, and other non-governmental welcoming cliffs—cliffs of our own making. organizations—to identify the most important remaining open space and to renew our commit- One such cliff comprises this country’s coastal ment to its protection. Land acquisition is vital to counties, as they become home to an increasingly protecting the fish and wildlife we cherish, main- greater percentage of the U. S. population every taining essential yet widely unrecognized ecosys- year. Located between two of the largest metropoli- tem services, and sustaining our quality of life. The tan areas in the United States, the Barnegat Bay Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program and its watershed is home to roughly 600,000 people and many partners have identified the acquisition and hosts nearly half a million additional vacationers protection of open space within the watershed every summer. This population growth and tourism as fundamental to efforts to protect and improve have brought many benefits, including educational water quality throughout the bay watershed. and recreational opportunities and economic pros- perity, and have led to Ocean County being recog- The current TPL effort, the Barnegat Bay 2020, builds nized as one of the best places in the country to live. upon TPL’s 1995 Century Plan, which to date has led to the acquisition of almost 24,000 acres through- Yet this growth has also brought a number of costs, out the watershed. As Terry O’Leary, president many of which are not well recognized. In addition of the Natural Resource Education Foundation to the overall loss of open space (much of it along of New Jersey, noted at one planning meeting of the waterfront, which provides vital ecosystem the many stakeholders that contributed to Barnegat services such as storm surge protection), popula- Bay 2020, “the Century Plan guided land acquisition tion growth has fragmented habitats for fish and and protection in Ocean County for more than a wildlife, altered the runoff of precipitation from decade. It’s vital we continue this effort.” the land, and affected river flows and local erosion patterns. Many of these changes make people and As I gaze out at Barnegat Bay from my cliff at property more vulnerable to coastal hazards. This Ocean County College, I ask you to join me in growth has also lead to substantial decreases in working with The Trust for Public Land and its water quality throughout the watershed. Coastal many partners to make this effort successful by ecosystems are increasingly being recognized as supporting the acquisition and protection of open sensitive to these disturbances and as suffering space remaining in this vibrant watershed. disproportionate impacts from such activities. Another imposing cliff represents the natural lands that are vanishing from the Barnegat Bay water- shed. Roughly 30 percent of the watershed has been developed. As development proceeds beyond this Stan Hales, tipping point, ecosystems begin to change in many Director, Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program ways, often unpredictably. Sensitive species may be July 2008 2 Introduction For more than twenty years, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has worked with local partners in New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay region to preserve this nationally recognized refuge and recreational desti- nation. TPL’s Century Plan (1995) identified 75,930 acres in the Pinelands, along the coastal shoreline, and among bay islands that were considered, in the words of that report, “of long-term impor- tance to the Barnegat Bay as an ecosystem and a treasured public resource.” While almost 24,000 identified acres have been protected, at least 4,5251 of the original Century Plan acres have been lost to development. Much remains to be done—more than 16,000 of the 1995 plan’s identified acres have again been identified as priorities for acquisition in this most recent study. TPL is strengthening its commitment to the region with Barnegat Bay 2020. This report is divided into two sections: (1) a look at the current conditions in the bay watershed based on recent scientific studies and (2) an expla- The Watershed nation of the land conservation goals drawn up by a The 425,117-acre Barnegat Bay watershed is steering committee convened by TPL. located almost entirely within Ocean County in east-central New Jersey. Like the county, the wa- tershed is shaped roughly like a wedge—widest in The Barnegat Bay the north and narrowest in the south—and drains Current Conditions into the Barnegat Bay. The northern boundary extends just north of the Ocean County border A rapidly growing population and the associated into Freehold and Howell townships in southern development of agricultural and vacant lands have Monmouth County with the western boundary brought a host of environmental problems to the well inside Ocean County except for a sliver of Barnegat Bay watershed. However, land conserva- Bass River Township. The eastern boundary begins tion campaigns, combined with a sophisticated in Point Pleasant Beach Borough and borders the regulatory framework, are helping prevent fur- ocean south to the Beach Haven Inlet, less than ther degradation by strategically protecting vital fifteen miles from Atlantic City. The Barnegat Bay habitats and water supplies and in some instances estuary, a 42-mile-long brackish lagoon, has been restoring natural functioning systems. extensively studied for its recreational and ecologi- cal value. In 1995 the U.S. Environmental Protec- 1 This figure is the number of acres within Century Plan sites that are now classified as urban based on 2002 land-use/land-cover data from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The remaining 71,000-plus acres still have natural land cover, which includes altered and barren land. However, this figure is somewhat outdated and underrepresents the amount of land lost to development because it is based on data from 2002. 3 tion Agency declared the Barnegat Bay watershed around the periphery of the region in the Toms to be a threatened “estuary of national significance” River subwatershed. Most of the development in and established the Barnegat Bay National Estuary the Barnegat Bay watershed consists of residential Program. homes built around the estuary.5 Relatively few county residents work in indus- Population Change tries that can be directly tied to the natural re- and Land Development Patterns sources of the watershed. More than three-fourths Ocean County2 is the most populated and fastest- of county workers are in retail trade or service growing county in New Jersey. It has experienced industries (Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc., and Saint exponential growth since at least the 1950s, shortly Barnabus Health Care), or defense-related sec- after completion of the Garden State Parkway. tors (Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station).6 From 1930 to 1960 the population rose from In 2000 only about 1 percent of Ocean County 33,000 to 108,000. The U.S. Census estimated residents employed in the private sector were population for 2007 was 565,000, a 400 percent listed as working in the fishing, hunting, or general increase from 1960.3 During the summer, the agriculture industries. But this figure does not take population spikes to over one million with seasonal into account the overall economic impact of the residents.4 region’s natural resources. A recent state report, Viewed from west to east, the Barnegat Bay which analyzed the total value of the state’s natural watershed can be broken into three main re- goods (e.g., timber and fish) and services (e.g., food gions that roughly correlate with the extent and production and nutrient cycling by water bodies), type of development found in the county: (1) the found that estuarine and freshwater wetlands are Pinelands or headwaters region, (2) the coastal the most valuable ecosystems, producing as much region on the west side of the estuary, and (3) the as $11,802/acre/year and $11,811/acre/year, respec- barrier island complex region on the east side of tively. 7 Furthermore, the state’s wildlife-related the estuary. While the coastal and barrier island tourism is estimated to create about $3 billion complex regions support the most development, annually in economic activity, which shows why it it decreases in intensity from north to south along is vital to the economy to maintain public access to the western coast of the estuary.