New Jersey Highlands

Only an hour outside of New York City, the  New Jersey Highlands encompass nearly one million rugged acres of forests, lakes, and clear running streams. Stretching diagonally across northwestern New Jersey and forming a greenbelt of farmlands and forests along the burgeoning Pennsylvania- New York – New Jersey – Connecticut corridor, the Highlands are one of the region’s most significant resources.

The region protects pristine aquifers and underground reservoirs that provide clean drinking water to tens of millions. The regions forests shelter threatened and endangered plant and wildlife species, including the American bald eagle.

Over the past decade, the Highlands have been losing thousands of acres annually to development, which makes conservation in the area critical.

In 2014, we helped save a much-loved 280-acre farm in Andover Borough, Sussex County, from becoming a large-scale housing development, with more than 220 acres becoming part of the adjacent Kittatinny Valley State Park in the New Jersey Highlands.

In 2018, we added over 100 acres to the Rockaway River Wildlife Management Area in Jefferson Township, a local favorite spot for hunting and fishing in the New Jersey Highlands. The area provides habitat for federally threatened northern long eared bat and the state endangered golden-winged warbler, bobcat, red-shouldered hawk and timber rattlesnake. The protected land provides a trail and wildlife connection to hundreds more acres of adjacent public lands that welcome hikers and wildlife alike.