Madison votes to apply for county grant funding to acquire, preserve Drew Forest
MADISON - An overflow crowd turned out Monday evening to support a Borough Council vote to apply for Morris County grant funding to acquire the Drew Forest and preserve it into the future.
The council voted unanimously to authorize the grant application to the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund before a cheering, standing-room-only crowd of residents clad in aqua blue and forest green T-shirts: the colors of the "Save the Drew Forest" campaign.
About 80 supporters, many of them members of the Friends of the Drew Forest advocacy group, lined the walls of the meeting chamber of the Hartley Dodge Memorial building, sat on window benches and crowded the doorway looking into the chamber.
There was a celebratory air to the proceedings as Madison took a meaningful step in its efforts to save the 53-acre forest a full two years after it came to light that Drew University is considering selling the land to a housing developer to combat ongoing financial struggles. However, borough officials and residents alike also reminded that saving the forest remains contingent on the university agreeing to a conservation sale.
Loantaka Way resident Sean Nevin said he had been an associate professor at Drew for the past 10 years before the university closed his program. He was joined at the podium by his teenage daughter, Amelia, who noted the family lives next to the forest preserve.
"When I began at Drew, and when we moved here, Drew had such a connection to the forest," Mr. Nevin said. "They were 'The University in the Forest,' and they've gone through this huge financial struggle and are selling everything off around the area that are no longer considering the impact that it would have on us and the people who live around it."
"I'd just like to say that I think that people need to step up now and take care of the forest at this point," he added later.
Borough Councilwoman Rachel Ehrlich used similar language, as she said she felt a "sense of urgency" to save the forest as the world endures widespread species die-off due to habitat loss and pollution.
"I want to urgently call on Drew to step up and meet us at the table to discuss this purchase," she said.
Several residents and members of the Friends of the Drew Forest leadership spoke from the podium during a public hearing on the vote to authorize the grant application.
Friends of the Drew Forest Co-Chair Lydia Chambers noted that an estimated 86 Friends advocates had spoken at 35 council meetings since May 2021 - nearly every meeting since the public became aware of the threat to the forest. She and others cited the widespread support for the campaign from environmental organizations and municipalities across the region, plus countless residents and Drew alumni and several prominent ecologists.
Barbara Heskins Davis, vice president of programs for the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, said her organization has supported Madison through the acquisition of more than $15 million in grants to preserve some 62 acres of land since 2003, and that it stands by Madison today. The Land Conservancy assisted the borough in preparing the grant application the council authorized at the meeting.
Davis also noted that state and federal lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, are doing their part to secure funding to match the Morris County grant. She emphasized the "regional significance" of the 53-acre forest, not just as habitat for native wildlife but as a critical recharge area for the Buried Valley Aquifer, which supplies drinking water for numerous towns.
"Protecting this property will secure the health and the resiliency of the water supply and will support the efforts of the town to preserve the single largest undeveloped forested land within its borders," she said. "Time is of the essence and the urgency is critical to come to an agreement now and have the funding in place to purchase the land quickly."
Mayor Robert Conley said after the meeting the borough is hoping to continue to work with the university on a conservation sale, but there was nothing new to report since borough officials met with members of the Drew University Board of Trustees in April.
A resident, possibly one of the several children in attendance that night, had left Conley a note that had been scrawled in crayon and left on a table outside the meeting chamber.
"Mayor Bob," it read, "Save the Drew Forest."
"I want to reinforce the fact that this is just another step," Conley told the crowd before the council voted 5-0 to authorize the grant application. "It's the effort of the people in this room, in the hallway who couldn't fit in the room, those watching at home and others that have gotten us this far, but it's still a long way to go.
"This body is committed to it and I know everyone out there is committed to it, so together we will make it happen."
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