LAND MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
NWCDC partnered with New Jersey Audubon which applied for and received several hundred thousand dollars in grant money from the United States Forest Service to create additional forest Stewardship Plans for another 16,000 acres of City of Newark watershed land.
NWCDC is partnering with New Jersey Audubon to pursue Forest Stewardship Council certification of its proposed stewardship plans and management in the watershed. FSC certification is a voluntary, market-based tool that supports responsible forest management worldwide.
NWCDC is pursuing property tax reduction strategies to save the City of Newark on the City’s annual property tax bill. These strategies have saved the City millions of dollars over the last 30 years.
NWCDC has partnered with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference to maintain and develop hiking trails throughout the watershed. The partnership has completed one of the longest universally accessible trails of approximately 2,000 linear feet along the west bank of Echo Lake.
NWCDC has partnered with Hardyston Township in applying to the State Department of Environmental Protection for permission to upgrade an existing emergency helipad landing site used by all levels of emergency service providers.
NWCDC has worked with the New Jersey Office of Information Technology to upgrade the public safety communications hardware on the fire tower on the City of Newark’s property on Bearfort Mountain.
NWCDC has worked with volunteers and the state department of Environmental Protection to create a beaver management plan to stem the loss of water and recreation amenities caused by the damming of surface waters by the beavers.
NWCDC has worked with environmental organizations and elected officials to create legislation regulating all terrain vehicles (ATV’s). ATV’s can create erosion hazards and conflicts with other recreation users and wildlife in the watershed.
NWCDC has worked with volunteer groups and the State of New Jersey to plan and implement ecological restoration projects in the Pequannock River floodplain and the upland forest to protect the habitat of threatened wildlife species.