Morris Township joins area towns urging preservation of Drew Forest
Morris Township Virtual Committee meeting, March 16, 2022. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin.
Morris Township’s governing body on Wednesday joined a chorus of area towns urging Drew University in Madison to see the Forest and the trees.
By a unanimous vote, the Township Committee joined its counterparts in Madison, the Chathams, Harding and Parsippany in asking the university to see the big picture, by conserving a 53-acre old-growth tract known to generations of students as the Drew Forest.
“This is a really important natural resource. It presents environmental and ecological issues that are a call for us to work together across towns, which is exactly what we’re doing,” Deputy Mayor Cathy Wilson said at the virtual meeting.
Lydia Chambers, lower right, represents the Friends of the Drew Forest at Morris Township virtual Committee meeting, March 16, 2022. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin
Citing financial losses from the pandemic and a national trend of declining college enrollments, Drew aims to sell property to boost its endowment, which the school says funds scholarships and other academic opportunities for students.
“This is a land-for-scholarships endeavor,” a university spokesman told Morristown Green on Wednesday.
Drew is willing to sell to conservationists at a “fair market price,” the spokesman said. The only way to obtain a fair-market assessment is by Madison rezoning the tract, contends the private liberal arts school.
Without a rezoning, “the University is put in a place where a sale to a conservation group becomes unrealistic. We hope that Madison will join us at the table to get this done,” the spokesman said.
Nicknamed “The University in the Forest,” Drew was founded by a railroad magnate in 1867 as a Methodist seminary. As of 2019, its endowment was reported at $183 million.
Friends of the Drew Forest, a Madison-based volunteer organization, has garnered nearly 11,600 signatures asking Drew to sell the land for conservation.
The Drew Forest is part of an ecosystem that includes Giralda Farms, the Loantaka Brook Reservation and the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Advocates say it’s important for aquifer recharge and air quality, carbon sequestration, bird habitat and passive recreation.
Thirteen municipalities, including Morris Township, get water from the Buried Valley Aquifer that flows beneath the Drew Forest, Wilson said.
Open space also enhances the vitality and appeal of the university, contributing to its long term viability — which, in turn, benefits the regional economy, according to Lydia Chambers of the Friends of the Drew Forest.
“This is a win-win-win,” Chambers said.
She described the Drew Forest as a “living laboratory.” Over the past 13 years, students and staff have restored 22 acres known as the Zuck Arboretum and the Hepburn Woods. This includes installation of deer fencing and removal of invasive species, to shore up native plants and trees.
Drew graduates called to thank the Township for its support.
“Myself, as well as other alumni, are horrified and upset by the potential development of the Forest,” said Bethania Viana, ’17, expressing hope for a solution that “will provide for Drew and provide for the Forest.”
Viana credited her Brooklyn volunteer work during the pandemic to the community- and environmental spirit she experienced at Drew.
Jim Hunt, an alumnus with Drew roots dating to 1964, said the Drew Forest is a legacy he wishes to leave for his grandchildren.
“Every time we chip away with development at the recharge of the aquifer, in effect, we’re beginning to steal from the future,” Hunt said.
Beseeching Morris County and the state to join the preservation effort, Mayor Mark Gyorfy also implored Drew “to give conservation a chance.”
