2023 Memorial Day Issue

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Jefferson’s Plan for Its ‘Green Assets’ Takes Shape 12 Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE Photos by Karen Fucito At 43 square miles, Jefferson Township is home to miles of frontage on Lake Hopatcong, deep, winding river valleys and forested lands. It is a landscape that brought early settlers to the township to live and farm. It also offered the opportunity for industry, which left behind a community that took roots in the rocky soil. The early activity also left behind trails, dirt roads and abandoned railroad beds that today draw hikers, cyclists and day trippers to the township to marvel at hilltop vistas, seek picture-perfect views and conquer challenging terrain. But it is a landscape that has left the township with few places to expand its economic base, thanks to state law that put a premium on preserving open space. The response from the township is to use its “green assets” to develop additional economic activity. “It’s ecotourism,” said Mayor Eric Wilsusen. Beginning last year, the township offered support through a resolution for the Lake Hopatcong Regional Trails Plan that would— over time—develop a lake-encircling network of trails for walking, hiking and cycling. For Jefferson, the idea for this trail system began in 2001 after the Highlands Act became law and placed all of Jefferson in the environmentally sensitive protection zone, which severely limited development. LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Memorial Day 2023 An open space master plan developed in 2001 called for preservation as a way to protect the township’s threatened environment. By 2021, those preserved lands had become the “green assets” that could be used to boost the township’s business community as part of the lake-wide trails plan. The plan was kick-started in 2021 by a $1 million donation from lake-area businessman Bela Szigethy. (Lake Hopatcong News is owned by Szigethy.) “Jefferson Township and Morris County have long been interested in building out trails in this area,” said Szigethy. “There’s a lot of land with many existing dirt roads and trails. In the long run, they can be tied in with the existing trail systems in Mahlon Dickerson and beyond, like up to Sparta and even down towards Wharton and Dover. And, of course, into Lake Hopatcong.” A trails plan was put together by consultant Pinto Consulting, which is owned by Frank Pinto, a former Morris County planning director. The plan will be outlined at 8:30 a.m. on June 3 on National Trails Day at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on Espanong Road, Jefferson. Russ Felter, manager of park projects for the Morris County Park Commission, said the public information session will include a brief discussion of the plan, the showing of maps and other information and a walk to the lake along one of the neighborhood trails. Briefly, the plan calls for creating a network of trails, mostly on public land, that would connect local neighborhood trails—that sometimes use roadways and sidewalks—to one another, and then to a regional trail system that already crosses the lake region. According to the plan, the trails would also connect with business areas, points of interest and public facilities. Over time, the plan calls for the development of 24.5 miles of new trails, at an estimated cost of $5 million. According to the report: “This is a major investment of public and/or private funds that would need to be carefully planned.” It is possible that up to 80 percent of the cost is potentially reimbursable from existing competitive trail grant programs, the report stated. The proposal comes at a time when nationwide trail use has increased. The data collection website, Jersey Island Holidays, reported that in 2018, there were 47.86 million hikers in the United States. According to the site, in 2023, there are 57.8 million. Bob Canace, president of Conservation Advising Services, who is consulting on the Lake Hopatcong trail, said trail use that rose during the pandemic remained high after the pandemic passed. Besides using the 12,000 acres of public lands owned by Jefferson, the proposed trails would connect with others in Morris County: Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, with 2,800 acres; the Berkshire Valley and Rockaway River Wildlife Management Areas, which are state-operated and total 5,600 acres; Minnisink Park at 297 acres; and the Mount Paul section of the 5,656-acre Kittatinny Valley State Park. The system would also connect with the regional Highlands Trail that runs from Pennsylvania to Connecticut and the local Lake Hopatcong Trail that runs along the western shore of the lake. Bringing the plan to fruition will require cooperation from Jefferson and Mount Arlington, Morris County and state Division of Parks and Forestry (which runs parks and trails) and the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife (which operates the wildlife management areas with fees from hunting licenses). As such, in the wildlife management areas, the plan noted accommodation for hunters and trail uses would need to be addressed. The plan envisions a hiker being able to trek from the Mount Arlington train station to Kittatinny Valley State Park on a continuous trail, roughly 18 miles (about a five-hour hike). With connections into business areas, the plan offers a potential for economic growth, which numerous national studies list as a key ingredient in the development of extensive trail systems. A 2012 study of the Delaware and Lackawanna trails in eastern Pennsylvania determined an average day hiker spent $33.49 during a visit, while an overnight visitor spent $132 per day and stayed 2.2 days. Supporting the trails would be a unified system of logos and branding materials, including QR codes linking to services and businesses. Businesses could, for example, display decals featuring the trail logo in their front windows. Wilsusen, Pinto, Felter and Canace, along with Jesse Merbler and Peter Dolan, both of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, discussed details of the plan at a planning meeting on April 7. Key issues were trail construction and safety, designing local trails to get hikers off streets, reducing conflicts between hikers and cyclists Top to bottom: Russ Felter uses ribbon to mark a new trail in the woods along Castle Rock Road. Frank Pinto, Bob Canace, Jesse Merbler and Peter Dolan look at maps during a recent trail planning meeting.
and other enforcement issues. Also discussed: how to enlist volunteers to assist in the creation and maintenance of the system. Felter and Canace said the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association had offered assistance in addressing conflicts between hikers and cyclists. Other topics were the larger projects that would aid in the creation of the trail. For example, the planned walkway along Brady Bridge would allow hikers and cyclists to cross the narrow bridge away from vehicles. A handful of the neighborhood-connecting segments have been completed in the Nolan’s Point and Prospect Point sections of the township. Most were trails, paths and dirt roads that already existed and needed minimal attention. The larger, more involved trail projects are in various stages of planning. They include: In Mount Arlington, two proposed sections. First, a segment of less than 1 mile that runs from the Mount Arlington train station along Howard Boulevard to the Berkshire Valley Wildlife Management Area. There, it would connect with a second section of existing trails leading from the wildlife management area parking lot off Howard Boulevard to a new trail hub/visitors center in Jefferson near the township’s animal shelter on Minnisink Road. According to the plan, this would allow access to the entire trail network from the Mount Arlington train station. And, in Jefferson: A 1.2-mile segment in the Lake Shawnee neighborhood near Beaver Brook. Also in Jefferson: A 4.7-mile segment along an unimproved roadway called Compton-Gobel Road. That section would connect Jefferson’s Longwood Lake neighborhood with a trail head near Route 15, which would create a safe highway crossing at Bowling Green Parkway. A 2-mile extension in the area of the Snow Bowl Recreation Area on Weldon Road in Jefferson would connect with trails in Mahlon Dickerson Reservation and the Mount Paul section of Kittatinny Valley State Park. The segment would mostly follow existing woods roads. Also in Jefferson: Two sections totaling 1.5 A Cleaning Company For All Your Needs miles to connect existing trails near Liffy Island and the Prospect Point Preserve to recreation areas along Florida Avenue and Mason Street. These additions would allow access from neighborhood trails to the nearby Highlands Trail and the Lake Hopatcong Trail. Other planned additions would link neighborhood trails in the Espanong Road section; use unused woods roads to reach the Milton Fire Tower on Bowling Green Mountain; and make known neighborhood parcels accessible in Nolan’s Point in Jefferson. “It’s great for walkers and joggers to have a network of safe, off-road paths to get around town. Streets are fine, sidewalks are great, but trails are the best,” Szigethy said. Royalty Cleaning Services offer a professional all phases of cleaning OUR CLEANING SERVICES: service throughout Northern New Jersey. 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Page 1: INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING
Page 4 and 5: 4 LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Memorial Day
Page 6 and 7: New Initiative Focuses on Water Saf
Page 8 and 9: Knit One, Purl Two, Laugh Out Loud
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2023 Memorial Day Issue

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