Purchase Links Camden County Park, Trails (NJ)

Lindenwold, NJ, March 17, 2005 – The nonprofit Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Camden County announced today the purchase of?nine acres in Lindenwold Borough for an addition to Lake Worth Park The forested property includes trails linking Lake Worth Park and the county’s Lange property in Berlin Borough. The land protection effort includes a water quality component as the property includes the headwaters area of the Big Timber Creek and protects a portion of a stream network that includes seven lakes.

“This purchase augments a county park created with land purchased by the Trust for Public Land in 2001. We are so pleased to be expanding that effort for the benefit of Camden County residents,” said Cindy Roberts, senior project manager for the Trust for public Land.

The State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program aided the protection effort. The land, purchased with $1 million in county funds, will be jointly owned by the county and the state. “This acquisition is a critical piece in Camden County’s plan for a continuous network of green spaces stretching from Waterford and Winslow Townships to the Delaware River,” said Freeholder Jeffrey L. Nash, who oversees the Camden County Open Space Program.

“This acquisition, in particular, creates a two-mile greenway of publicly owned lands that link Lindenwold, Berlin Borough, and Clementon, and advances our goal of preserving 2,000 acres by 2010.”

The purchase was critical to completing a two-mile stretch of the county’s greenway system. It further protects the previously acquired property at Lake Worth from the effects of development. It is the last significant piece of undeveloped property along the White Horse Pike between the City of Camden and Berlin Borough. The mature forest found on the land is a rare find in a densely populated area. With both commercial and residential zoning on different parts of the property, development of the property could have resulted in the entire forest being cut down.

This is the sixth acquisition in TPL’s River to Bay Greenway initiative, a planned multi-use open space and recreational route that will span 70 miles of southern New Jersey to link the Delaware River to the Barnegat Bay. The Trust for Public Land’s 2001 launch of the initiative coincided with the organization’s protection of the 42-acre Lake Worth property in Lindenwold for the creation of a new Camden County park. To date, TPL has protected 313 acres, and new River to Bay Greenway projects are underway in Cherry Hill and Voorhees townships and Clementon and Somerdale boroughs.

TPL is also expanding its original vision in this area to unite more neighborhoods, waterfront parks, historic sites, municipal and county recreational lands, habitat conservation areas, bicycle-pedestrian corridors, and state forests over a broader region including the City of Camden at the start of the River to Bay Greenway and along stream corridors to the west of the original study area. With a grant from the Ford Foundation, TPL is studying the role of parks and open space in the redevelopment plans for the City of Camden.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. With its state office in Morristown, TPL has protected approximately 23,000 acres throughout New Jersey.