Barnegat Bay

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Credit: John Rae

For two decades, The Trust for Public Land has led the charge to conserve the highly vulnerable land within the 425,000-acre Barnegat Bay watershed. Located along New Jersey's Atlantic coast, the watershed drains into the 42-mile Barnegat Bay estuary and is home 100 endangered plant and animal species. To date, TPL has raised more than $57 million in public and private funding to preserve more than 11,200 acres in the watershed.

Intense development and population growth continue to degrade the region's delicate habitat and compromise water quality in the bay, a shallow estuary where pollution filters out very slowly. Contamination threatens the Kirkwood-Cohasey aquifer, which replenishes the bay and supplies most of the region's drinking water. According to research, various plant and bird species have already declined.

Our latest report, Barnegat Bay 2020: A Vision for the Future of Conservation, outlines the future of a rejuvenated watershed by: 1) making a case for land conservation as a water quality protection tool, 2) identifying the highest priority parcels to protect, 3) evaluating land for passive recreational access and use and 4) enhancing the scenic quality of the watershed.