Private Land Outreach Programs

Agricultural Heritage and Habitat Conservation Plan for Harmony Township, Warren County (AHHCP) With NJAS in AHHCP, NJAS has helped residents to enroll in wildlife conservation programs to receive funding to restore over 200 acres of grasslands.  Currently NJAS has approximately 700 additional potential grassland acres in line for program application submittal in fall 2006.  The AHHCP is also expanding its range outside of Warren County via “word-of-mouth” through the farming community.  Inquiries about program participation are coming into NJAS regularly from Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris counties.  With this overwhelmingly positive response to the AHHCP, it is obvious that rural New Jersey residents are committed to conservation by voluntarily applying for conservation programs that will preserve and properly manage grassland communities that ultimately will help sustain and/or increase local grassland bird populations. For more information, please Click Here.

Raritan Piedmont Wildlife Habitat Partnership Underway

With seed money from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, NJAS has co-founded the Raritan Piedmont Wildlife Habitat Partnership.  The project will focus on the protection and management of critical wildlife habitats within three closely associated landscape regions in central New Jersey.  The first phase of this project will concentrate on grassland habitats in these three regions since, historically, they have included some of the largest grassland areas in New Jersey and have supported breeding populations of each of the State’s threatened and endangered grassland birds. Duke Farms lies at the center of the first region.  The second region is 6-Mile Run State Park in Franklin Township.  The third region lies mostly within East Amwell in western Hunterdon County.  NJAS wrote the conservation plan for the project and is currently working with a broad coalition of partners that includes the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Conservation Resources, D & R Greenway, Duke Farms, and the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program to implement the conservation plan.

Franklin Township Outreach Program

In addition to New Jersey Audubon Society’s involvement in setting a passive recreation and restoration plan for Franklin Township, we have started reaching out to landowners, farmers, and the State government in an effort to help preserve the township’s rich natural heritage.  Franklin’s remarkable open spaces and the long history of agricultural land use have served to preserve one of the most significant landscapes for farmland wildlife in the State.  The US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service supported this claim when, in 2004, the Negri-Nepote Leni and Griggstown Tracts were ranked as second and third priority for grassland restoration by the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Clearly, the continued survival of farmland wildlife, specifically grassland birds, is dependent upon the future survival of farming in Franklin.  Our plan of preserving wildlife habitat, while benefiting the landowners and farmers of Franklin is directly parallel to the mission of NJAS.  

Mannington Township Project

Identified as high priority for conservation by the NJAS’ Important Bird Areas Project, the Mannington Township is like no other place in New Jersey.  With a population of 1300 residents, the agricultural heritage of this community is evident.  NJAS is working with municipal officials and private landowners to implement a conservation plan to retain the area’s unique and rural character.  An important part of this plan is to increase or improve the amount of wildlife habitat in the IBA.  By building partnerships, we are helping landowners access sate and federal funding to put habitat projects on the ground.  As part of this grass roots conservation movement, volunteers and landowners will work to restore two miles of riparian area along the meadow.

Read the Conservation Plan (in PDF format):

To download the Mannington Meadows IBA Conservation Plan click here.

To download the Riparian Restoration Plan click here.

To download the Grassland Breeding Bird Objectives click here.

Help restore the Mannington Meadows IBA

NJAS’ Important Bird and Birding Areas Program (IBBA) is hosting volunteer restoration events and we need your help planting trees at a riparian restoration site at the Mannington Meadows Important Bird Area. Forested riparian habitat benefits waterbirds, bald eagles, and a multitude of migratory song birds. To get involved, click here to visit the IBBA Program's volunteer page!

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