NEW JERSEYANNUAL REPORT JULY 1, 2018 – JUNE 30, 2019 WHERE WE WORK The Nature Conservancy 2019 PROJECTS in New Jersey BOARD OF TRUSTEES Paulins Kill Mark DeAngelis, Chair Valerie Montecalvo Watershed Anne H. Jacobson, Vice Chair Arnold Peinado Glenn Boyd Margaret Post Bobcat Hyper-Humus Alley High Mountain Warren Cooke David A. Robinson County Line Dam Susan Dunn Benjamin Rogers Paulina Dam New Bobcat Alley Acquisition Aaron Feiler Geraldine Smith Vanita Gangwal Dennis Toft Columbia TNC Chester Dam Oce R. Jay Gerken Lisa Welsh Point Amy Greene Jim Wright Mountain Musconetcong Highlands CONSERVANCY COUNCIL DEAR FRIENDS Thomas G. Lambrix Naval Weapons Anne H. Jacobson, Co-Chair Station Earle Dennis Hart, Co-Chair Bill Leavens With your help, our ambitious 2015 – 2020 conservation goals are in sight – and in a few cases achieved early! Barbara Okamoto Bach Ann B. Lesk Navesink River, Michael Bateman Hon. Frank LoBiondo Pennington Red Bank Mary W. Baum Robert Medina This year has seen some big conservation achievements, including the largest dam removal to date in the state of New Jersey. Our efforts to focus Mountain Susan Boyle Elizabeth K. Parker statewide protection of lands and waters on the highest-priority areas are gaining momentum. And, as always, we are planning for the future, Slade Dale Susan M. Coan John Post preparing to raise the bar on our conservation impact. Sanctuary, Carol Collier Kathy Schroeher Point Pleasant 2 Hans Dekker James A. Shissias Alma DeMetropolis Tracy Straka How can we have an even bigger conservation impact? Certainly, it will involve leveraging our strengths – our foundation in science, our Kate Tomlinson Robin Dougherty experience bringing together collaborative partnerships, and our track record of delivering tangible, lasting results. Consider Bobcat Alley: it not Michael Huber NEW JERSEY ANNUAL REPORT 2019 REPORT NEW JERSEY ANNUAL Martin Elling Donald Ullmann Prairie Warbler Jeanne Fox Dan VanAbs, Ph.D. only contains critical habitat for our state’s last remaining wild feline, it is a key link in a larger greenway stretching from Alabama into Canada Preserve Russell Furnari Robert D. Wilson that will be a vital migratory corridor as temperatures continue to warm. And we will be applying what we’ve learned implementing nature-based The Lighthouse Sidney Hargro Joseph Wofchuck solutions for coastal resilience, not only along the Jersey Shore, but also in cities and other communities where nature can help address flooding Center Merwin Kinkade Christian Zugel and other impacts from climate change. Shore Avenue Park, Jennifer Lakefield Ship Bottom But first, let’s take a moment to celebrate the conservation progress that you made possible this year – thank you! Mordecai Island, ON THE COVER The Paulins Kill flows freely through Beach Haven the site of the former Columbia Dam! © Jeff Burian/TNC THIS PAGE LEFT TO RIGHT Wildflower meadow at the Garrett Family Preserve at Cape Island Creek Menantico © Scott Hardage/TNC; New Jersey State Director Preserve Dr. Barbara Brummer © Jeff Burian/TNC; Trees planted along the Paulins Kill © Jeff Burian/TNC Yours in conservation, TNC Southern MAP PHOTOS CLOCKWISE Removing the Columbia NJ Oce Dam © Jeff Burian/TNC; Wildlife camera photo Dr. Barbara Brummer Gandy’s Beach from CHANJ project © TNC; Volunteers installing Christmas tree breakwater © Princeton Hydro; Fortescue Avalon Piping plover decoy at South Cape May Meadows © Damon Noe/TNC; Roots for Rivers planting The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey For more information about The Nature Conservancy Ring © Jill Dodds OPPOSITE PAGE Sunray Beach nature.org/newjersey Island © Damon Noe/TNC Elizabeth D. Kay Environmental Center and ways to support it, please call 908-879-7262 or 200 Pottersville Road • Chester, New Jersey 07930 email [email protected] Tweet us at @nature_NJ South Cape West Follow us at @nature_nj May Meadows Wildwood WHERE WE WORK 2019 PROJECTS FINANCIAL OVERVIEW The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey ended Paulins Kill FY2019 on a high note, having reached 89% of Watershed our goal for the Campaign for the Real Nature COLUMBIA DAM CHANJ of New Jersey, which we will wrap up in 2020. Bobcat Hyper-Humus Removal of the dam Alley High Mountain Working with the Connecting Operating expenses stood at $6.7 million and reconnected 20 miles of County Line Dam Habitats Across New Jersey capital expenses were $5.4 million. The pie chart river and stream habitat, Paulina Dam project to identify opportunities New Bobcat Alley Acquisition below shows primary sources of operating and improving water quality TNC Chester to improve conditions for animals Columbia as they navigate our state’s capital revenue. Private donors accounted for and allowing American Dam Oce Point dense road network 43% of the total. Strong public sector support for shad to return upriver to Mountain spawn for the first time in over the Columbia Dam removal project represented 100 years! This project was Musconetcong Highlands 41.5% of overall revenue, an unusually high a key part of our long-term Naval Weapons percentage for public funding. Other public funds commitment to restoring the Station Earle and contracts represented 3% of total revenue. health of the entire Paulins Navesink River, Kill watershed. Pennington Red Bank Mountain For more information, please contact Slade Dale Betsy Wullert at 908-955-0360. ROOTS FOR RIVERS Sanctuary, CHRISTMAS TREE Point Pleasant Providing financial and technical BREAKWATER 3 assistance to municipalities and organizations as they develop Through our Living Michael Huber Shorelines Incentives their own tree-planting Prairie Warbler projects to reforest Preserve program, TNC supported floodplains throughout The Lighthouse American Littoral SOURCES OF OPERATING AND Center the state Society in constructing CAPITAL REVENUE Shore Avenue Park, a breakwater out of Ship Bottom recycled Christmas trees Private Donors 43% Mordecai Island, at Slade Dale Sanctuary. Beach Haven Menantico SOUTH CAPE Preserve KEY Public Grants – Dam Removal 41.5% MAY MEADOWS TNC Southern • Land conservation projects NJ Oce Freshwater restoration projects Using innovative concepts Gandy’s Beach • to create protected habitat • Coastal resilience projects for beach-nesting birds, Fortescue Avalon • Roots for Rivers tree plantings Dams complete with decoys and • Public Grants and Ring CHANJ monitoring areas nature.org/newjersey bird calls to attract least Island • Contracts – Other 3% terns and piping plovers Tweet us at @nature_NJ Private Contracts, Mitigation Investment South Cape West Follow us at @nature_nj May Meadows Wildwood and Other 2.5% Income 10% Driven by science and focused on identifying the most critical lands to protect for people, wildlife and resilience to climate change, the New Jersey Chapter built on LAND its legacy of collaboration, resulting in 2,624 newly protected acres. Bobcat Alley Land Protection The Nature Conservancy continues to protect land in Bobcat Alley, a 32,000-acre corridor linking the Highlands to the Appalachians that provides vital habitat for species like the endangered bobcat and serves as a key link in a larger east coast greenway. In the summer of 2018, we acquired 109 acres in the heart of Bobcat Alley that exemplify the corridor’s ecological significance. This hilly property in Hardwick Township is quintessential “ridge and valley.” Its rich variety of terrain — open glades, rock outcroppings, forested slopes and wetland valleys — make the parcel a high-ranking site for climate resilience, 4 setting the stage for species to adjust to changing climate conditions. Vernal pools and seasonal headwaters provide clean water for the NEW JERSEY Paulins Kill, the key Delaware River tributary where our freshwater restoration is focused. This property will become part of a new preserve named in memory of our founding Trustee, Elizabeth “Betty” Merck. ANNUAL REPORT 2019 REPORT ANNUAL Tracking Wildlife an effort called Connecting Habitats Across New Jersey (CHANJ). The goal of CHANJ is to improve The New Jersey Chapter has teamed up with conditions for animals as they navigate the dense New Jersey’s Endangered and Nongame Species road network in our state. Program to track wildlife on the move. The The summer of 2018 was our first of three field Conservancy is monitoring wildlife along roads seasons with weekly on-the-ground assessments within a 17-mile stretch of Bobcat Alley, which of wildlife crossing roads in the targeted corridors; connects the Highlands to the Appalachians, and our second season is now underway. We’ve also within a nine-mile corridor between the Highlands installed motion-activated wildlife cameras to and our High Mountain Park Preserve to support Four Decades Saving a New Jersey Treasure To protect New Jersey’s lands and waters at a pace and scale that matters, collaboration with other conservation organizations is an essential strategy for us. This year, the Chapter was excited to collaborate with partners to protect land in important places throughout the state including the Highlands, Pine Barrens and Sourlands. We are especially proud to be among the partners that assisted New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Cumberland County in protecting 600 acres at Menantico Creek. This is the latest, but not last, piece of a 40-year land protection effort that covers tens of thousands of acres, including more than 5,300 acres protected in Nature Conservancy preserves (see map). Located in the Wild and Scenic Maurice River system, long threatened by development of industrial ports