Undeveloped West Orange Woodlands Need Preservation, Group Says

WEST ORANGE, NJ — It’s the “last piece of undeveloped ridge line in West Orange” and it needs your help, a group of local residents says.

Earlier this week, Our Green West Orange launched a campaign to preserve a stretch of woodlands near Mt. Pleasant Avenue and Ridge Road. Their recommendation? Purchase the land with money from the township’s open space trust fund.

According to the nonprofit, the forest is located on the former estate of L. F. Loree Dean, former president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. An old stone wall on the property still exists more than 100 years later.

But aside from the “character and history” the forest adds to West Orange, there are several other reasons why it should be preserved from development, the group says:

• “The land provides important health and safety benefits to the community”
• “The forest prevents millions of gallons of water from cascading down Mt. Pleasant Ave., or becoming dangerous ice on the road in the winter”
• “This forest has crucial ecological benefits for West Orange, such as climate remediation, habitat for bird and animal species, and serves as a migratory route for birds and butterflies”
• “Our Tree Ordinance requires preservation of land such as this”
• “The forest could be lost to condominiums”

According to Our Green West Orange, as of December 2018, the township had $791,000 in its Trust Fund, with $150,000 to $300,000 being added annually. A state Green Acres funding grant could repay the township 50 percent of the price of purchasing the stretch of forest, the group said.

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