184-Acre Koehler Property Preserved!

The Land Conservancy of New Jersey partnered with Boonton Township, Kinnelon Borough, and Rockaway Township to complete the purchase of the 184 acre Koehler Pond Property. This property is adjacent to more than 8000 acres of public land in the Farny Highlands including Buck Mountain State Park and Jersey City watershed lands. This is the third conservation property that The Land Conservancy has purchased from the Koehler family. The first two properties, totaling 587 acres, were located in Rockaway Township and were added to the Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area in 2005.

“We thank the Koehler family for the fourteen years they dedicated to ensuring that this property was permanently preserved,” said Conservancy President David Epstein. “The Koehlers’ unique generosity and love of the land make them Morris County’s first family of land conservation.”

The Koehler Pond property lies within the Highlands, a region that supplies drinking water to the majority of New Jersey residents. The streams on the property and the 17-acre Koehler Pond flow into the Beaver Brook which eventually feeds into Jersey City’s Boonton Reservoir.

The property will become municipal parkland in all three towns and will include the development of a trail and small parking lot to link with the 50 mile Farny Highlands Trail Network constructed by the Conservancy in 1996. The trail will connect the Split Rock loop trail and Buck Mountain State Park which currently has no public access.

The funds to preserve this property came from the New Jersey Green Acres Program, the Morris County Open Space Trust, Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey, and local open space preservation funds from all three towns.

"It is indeed an honor to see the completion of the process that my father started nearly 15 years ago. We are grateful to have had this option for our property, to be able to see these beautiful woodlands maintained and preserved, despite the often usual path to sell to developers,” said Karen Koehler-Cesa, a Koehler family member and property owner.