Camden Diocese sells land for preservation

Nature Conservancy deal, which will keep 500 acres in Vineland as habitat for 30 rare species, will safeguard purity of Manumuskin River.

The Camden Diocese has sold about 500 acres of land in Vineland, New Jersey, to a nonprofit conservation organization. The $2 million deal aims to preserve the water quality of the Manumuskin River.

The diocese had planned on building a seminary on the land. Then there were plans for a golf course and housing development. Now the Nature Conservancy has purchased the sensitive wetlands.

“It’s the headwaters of the Manumuskin River, and the Manumuskin river is one of the cleanest rivers in New Jersey and it has a number of rare species associated with it,” said Bob Allen of the Nature Conservancy.

The area is a habitat for about 30 rare animals and plants, including a plant called “sensitive joint vetch,” which grows no where else in New Jersey.

Allen said the Manumuskin is part of a water system that flows into the Delaware Bay, near harvested oyster beds.