Warren County’s open space preservation efforts protected more than 846 acres of land from development in 2023, the Board of County Commissioners and the county Land Preservation Department announced.

Located in northwest New Jersey, Warren County still retains much of its wilderness and rural charm compared with other parts of the nation’s most densely populated state. Bounded along the west by the Delaware River, the County is home to dense forests, babbling streams, active farmlands, and inviting town centers. For decades, Warren County residents and public leaders have been working hard to protect this landscape against unwise development while promoting sustainable economic activity.

Despite mounting development pressures of late, Warren County remains firmly committed to protecting this landscape and continues to aggressively preserve both open space and farmland.

“Warren County’s greatest assets are our forests, meadows, streams and lakes. Preserving these resources has been a top priority for the past decade and will continue to be so into the future,” explained County Commissioner Director James R. Kern III. “By partnering with our municipalities, nonprofits and other local groups, we will continue to protect the rural nature and beauty of this county,” Kern added.

Open Space and Parkland
Last year, Warren County acquired two open space properties totaling about 125 acres. These properties expanded the County’s Oxford Mountain Natural Resource Area, bringing that park to a total of 693 acres. With these newest additions, the County’s park system now includes more than 2,582 acres of permanently preserved lands. The lands not only help improve water quality and minimize flood damage, but they provide critical habitat that helps sustain biodiversity and offers areas where residents and visitors can experience nature and enjoy outdoors recreation.

The Warren County Board of Recreation Commissioners is responsible for recommending the acquisition of open space and coordinating the use and improvement of parkland. Guided by the County Open Space Plan and the Morris Canal 25-Year Action Plan, they have focused on acquiring key tracts of land along the Morris Canal Greenway, as well as expanding existing natural resource areas. Among other things, the county looks for unique features and sites of interest that are near population centers and accessible to residents.

Thanks to these efforts, the County’s park system has grown to comprise three natural resource areas and six parks along the Morris Canal. These include the White Lake, Marble Hill and Oxford Natural Resource Areas, as well as canal sites such as the Port Warren, Bread Lock, Port Murray, and Mount Rascal parks. “Even with all of these great sites, county open space and parkland only accounts for about 1 percent of all land in Warren County,” said Corey Tierney, administrator of the Warren County Department of Land Preservation, “but we are also fortunate to have so many federal, state, and municipal parks here for our residents to explore.” More information about these parks is available at www.warrenparks.com.

In recent years, the County also has overseen substantial improvements to its parkland and related structures, as well as coordinated the increasing maintenance of these areas. For example, in order to accommodate increased visitation to White Lake, the County expanded both the main and secondary parking areas, and installed a new floating dock for use by visitors fishing and paddling.

“Over the past 10 years, not only have we seen record visitation levels at White Lake, but many of our other parks have also seen an increase in visitation as interest in the Morris Canal Greenway has spread across the state,” said Tierney. “Fortunately, we have been able to partner with the New Jersey Youth Corps and Warren County Parks Foundation volunteers to help maintain these areas.” 

According to Tierney, open space preservation is a good investment because it’s important for environmental, health, and economic reasons. “Not only does it help strengthen the resiliency of the ecosystem,” Tierney explained, “but studies show that access to parks can help improve people’s health, spur commerce, and even increase nearby property values. These efforts continue to enjoy the public’s support because they improve our residents’ quality of life.”

According to the most recent New Jersey Statewide Comprehensive Recreation Plan, in 2021 outdoor recreation accounted for 1.5 percent of New Jersey’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equaling $20.3 billion.

Farmland Preservation
In addition to open space preservation, last year Warren County and its partners also permanently preserved 11 farms totaling more than 732 acres. The total cost of preserving these lands was $3,975,392 with the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) contributing about 38.5 percent, the County of Warren about 56.6 percent, and municipalities about 4.9 percent. According to the Warren County Department of Land Preservation, the County has now permanently preserved 337 farms comprising more than 29,216 acres of land.

Out of the State’s 21 counties, Warren County ranks fourth in total farmland acres preserved and third in total farms preserved, behind only Hunterdon County (466 farms preserved) and Salem County (409 farms preserved. While these farms remain in private ownership, a perpetual development easement is placed on the property which restricts it to agricultural use only.

“In Warren County, agriculture isn’t just a way of life – it’s over a $93 million a year industry,” County Commissioner Lori Ciesla said. “Farming also supports many other local businesses and requires very little municipal services. It’s a wise investment for taxpayers,” she added.

Although the county has now preserved in excess of 29,000 acres of farmland, Tierney cautioned, “Some people hear that big number and think we’ve done enough, but that’s only about 40 percent of the county’s 72,000 acres of farmland and about 12.5 percent of the total area of Warren County. With increasing development pressure here, we are continuing to pursue farmland preservation as aggressively as we can.” The County is currently processing 14 farmland preservation applications totaling 1,451 acres. It expects to permanently preserve these farms in 2024.

“By preserving our farms, parks, and historic sites, we are investing in Warren County’s agricultural, recreational, and tourism industries,” explained County Commissioner Jason Sarnoski.

“We can see returns on these investments as more people visit our parks and downtowns, local farms grow their operations, and families move to here from elsewhere. This is a wonderful place to live, work, and explore – and there’s real value in sustaining that,” Sarnoski noted.

To learn more about the farmland preservation program, visit www.warrencountynj.gov/government/land-preservation-department/farmland-preservation or contact the Warren County Department of Land Preservation at 908-475-7750.