By: William Westhoven, Daily Record

MADISON — Standing at the top ledge of a geological "kettle" carved by massive glaciers centuries ago, a bipartisan group of elected officials led by U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill vowed to keep developers from chopping down the trees there.

The deep, crater-like depression, covering several acres, is just one of a series of kettles - also known as dells - within Drew Forest, a 53-acre environmentally diverse wooded tract owned by Drew University.

"What you see there are remnants of the Ice Age," said Judy Kroll, co-chair of the nonprofit Friends of the Drew Forest community group that banded together three years ago amid word that the college was looking to sell some or all of the woods to developers. Drew had said it was doing so reluctantly, in order to balance a budget threatened by revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, Kroll was one of several speakers at an Earth Day news conference seeking to highlight efforts to preserve Drew Forest and other natural spots in the region. Sherrill, a Democrat, was joined by a bipartisan coalition of elected officials who in the past year have raised $9.1 million in federal funds and a Morris County Open Space Grant to preserve the Drew parcel. Another $2 million could come from the pending state budget.

"What better way to celebrate Earth Day than preserving such an incredibly beautiful forest?" Sherrill told the gathering of about 100 people along Glenwild Road, which borders the woods on the south end of the Drew campus. The group included Glenwild Road residents, representatives of environmental groups and officials from neighboring towns.

"Take a look. It's pretty cool," Kroll said of the property. "The glacier was so big that at one point it was half a mile in depth, which is enough to cover the Empire State Building almost twice."

Kroll said the glacier-cut kettles expose an array of rock surfaces that are a treasure trove of study for geologists, just one of the forest's unique properties.

Environmentalists, including members of the Raritan Headwaters Association, also value the forest as a recharge area for the Buried Valley Aquifer, from which 26 towns draw well water.

"For all of the ways it impacts the ecosystem here, it's so critically important," Sherrill said.

Conflict to cooperation

Homeowners who live near the forest, which buffers the neighborhood from the campus, were among those who three years ago organized a "Save the Drew Forest" campaign. Despite a lawsuit and court hearings over the fate of the property, both Drew and Madison officials said last month that they are now working together to preserve the tract.

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The school has incorporated the forest into its curriculum, with science faculty and students using its biological diversity as a living laboratory for botanical studies.

Funds earmarked for the purchase come from sources including the 2024 federal budget ($4.1 million) and the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund Committee ($5 million). A Madison-Drew delegation also successfully lobbied New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to add $2 million to the state budget to help bring the sides closer to a deal.

"You think about the partnerships that are being made here between Madison, the university, the state, federal and local governments, the county government − this is how people are supposed to work together," said local state Sen. Anthony Bucco, the Republican Senate Minority Leader. "Now have to fight now to make sure that money remains in the state budget."

Officials have yet to put a price tag on the total value of the land, although Madison Administrator Ray Codey said last year it would be "in excess of $10 million."

Madison Mayor Robert Conley said he hopes that continued progress could result in a purchase agreement that would make the ongoing legal dispute moot. It could strengthen the borough's application to the county Open Space Committee for an additional grant this year that the mayor hopes "will put us over the top."

Calling it "a one-of-kind resource" that "I would never sacrifice," Drew President HIllary Link agreed progress was being made.

"This celebration marks another important step forward and I certainly believe the group now working together on this will be able to secure the full amount we need to both preserve the forest and to ensure the university's future sustainability," she said at the event.

Earth Day tour for Sherrill

Drew Forest was the first of five stops for Sherrill in the 11th Congressional District on Tuesday to highlight a total of $15 million in Community Grant funding she was able to bring home to her district from the 2024 federal budget

Other stops included:

• The County College of Morris in Randolph, which will receive $1 million for its new Workforce Development Center

• Jefferson, which will receive $750,000 for a sewer project aimed at reducing harmful bacteria in Lake Hopatcong

• Maplewood, which will get $960,000 for stormwater infrastructure upgrades to curb flooding.