For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Jackie Greger, Jackie.Greger@sierraclub.org
Pinelands Commission Must Protect Black Run from Harmful Development
Evesham, NJ - On July 15th, the Pinelands Commission held a virtual public hearing on amending the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) to redesignate the Black Run Watershed in Evesham Township from a Pinelands Rural Development Area to a Pinelands Forest Area (Public Notice available here).
This rezoning would protect this ecologically sensitive, heavily-forested land in the Pinelands from a proposed affordable housing development by a Voorhees-based residential developer, Devel LLC. The developer is proposing to clearcut more than 700 acres adjacent to the Black Run Preserve to build 270 single-family homes, which would result in extreme harm to the surrounding environment, habitat for wildlife, and water quality.
Taylor McFarland, Conservation Program Manager for the NJ Sierra Club, issued the following statement;
“The NJ Sierra Club strongly supports the Pinelands Commission’s amendment to the CMP to redesignate land adjacent to the Black Run Preserve to a “Pinelands Forest Area.”
Black Run Preserve and the surrounding lands and public forest are essential to maintaining the clean drinking water of millions of NJ residents. These acres of land includes the Rancocas Creek headwaters, which is critical freshwater coming from the Kirkwood Cohansey aquifer, which supplies clean drinking water for millions of NJ residents, agriculture and businesses in South Jersey, and for the unique ecosystem in the Pine Barrens. New Jerseyans have a right to clean water, and this proposed development would jeopardize the future of that water supply for generations to come.
There are several endangered species that would be further harmed if this development were to bulldoze the forest, including the Pine Barrens tree frog, the northern pine snake, barred owl, woodland box turtle, and the timber rattlesnake. Our public lands are under attack from every angle and NJ is already grossly overdeveloped - we must do everything we can to ensure the way we build affordable housing in our state is smart and sustainable, and does not bulldoze precious forest for the sake of meeting a quota - we can find a better solution than this. This development would do irreversible harm to Black Run Preserve, the pinelands ecosystem, and the overall watershed.
We thank the Pinelands Commission for amending the zoning map, and fully support redesignating the land as protected “Pinelands Forest Area.”’
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About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information about our work in New Jersey, visit www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey