“The Preserve has limited development potential but extremely high value as a preserved open space.”

- DAVEY RESOURCE GROUP REPORT

Report Summary:

The Drew University Forest Preserve provides many benefits, including but not limited to:

• High recharge areas for the Buried Valley Aquifer, an important regional drinking water source;

• Providing stormwater treatment for water quality, quantity, and groundwater recharge;

• Important habitat for forest fauna, aquatic wildlife, and federally listed threatened and endangered species within a landscape where habitat is otherwise lacking;

• An important buffer from human-induced disturbances such as noise, soil erosion, air pollution, modulation of heat extremes and carbon sequestration.

• Easily accessible public open space for nature recreation and observation in an otherwise highly developed landscape; and
  Use as an essential research forest facility for students and Professors at the University. 

Development of the property would eliminate a significant source of groundwater recharge to the Buried Valley Sole Source Aquifer. It would also disrupt ongoing public and student use of the land and long-term research projects that are being carried out there. It would remove identified habitat for the federally endangered Indiana bat and many irreplaceable large trees. It would undermine 14 years of restoration work with University partners including students, community volunteers, and donors whose goal was to improve the Preserve in perpetuity as a healthy forest ecosystem. As was noted by one of the largest financial donors, the USFWS, “although our 10-year contract with the University had ended, it was the understanding that the funds were only being provided to restore the forest for the long-term” (Appendix D). It would be inappropriate to sell this land for development rights after the significant effort that has been made to restore it as a rare remnant of the forests that once covered most of northern New Jersey.