New Jersey Land Conservancy purchases land to preserve watershed tract

An important 208-acre piece of a land in Mt. Olive Township was purchased this week by The Land Conservancy of New Jersey, an acquisition that will help to permanently protect a tract of watershed land at the headwaters of the South Branch of the Raritan River.

The Land Conservancy of New Jersey made the purchase on November 16, according to its official website.

The piece of land is on a farm formerly known as the West King Estates.

The purchase is part of a large effort in partnership with several organizations that has preserved 370 acres of land in the headwaters of the South Branch of the Raritan River. The Land Conservancy of New Jersey says the River provides clean water to more than one and a half million New Jersey residents.

“The State of New Jersey deeply values the collaboration between all parties to bring this project to a successful close, providing our residents with secure clean and plentiful supplies of drinking water,” Lisa Stern of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program said in a statement.

The Star-Ledger reports the funds for the $3.815 million purchase came from a grant provided by the Morris County Preservation Trust, the Morris County Utilities Authority, the Raritan Headwaters Association and the state of New Jersey.