An Endangered Piece of Sourland History
The charming one-room AME Church on Hollow Road is an important historical building. Constructed some time before 1850 on Zion Road near the Province Line on Sourland Mountain, the African Methodist Episcopal Church served the black population of the East Mountain area. When the peach blight at the turn of the century took away their livelihoods, members of the church moved to Skillman, at the base of the Mountain. They brought their church with them, disassembling the structure and rebuilding it where it stands today.
Today, the church is no longer active. Lead paint is peeling off the walls, and broken window frames are starting to let the weather in. The building and roof are structurally sound, and the inside is still a lovely sanctuary. But if repairs cannot be done soon, this landmark will spiral toward dilapidation.
The Montgomery Twp. Landmarks Commission has provided a grant of $1,800 for materials only; another $2,000 is needed to cover labor. We need your help to push the work ahead immediately.
If you would like to help save this pretty piece of Sourland history, and assist our efforts to protect other historical places in the Sourlands, please make a special year-end contribution to the Sourland Planning Council. Click here to contribute.
News: Enhanced Easement Incentive Renewed Through 2011
By conserving their land, private landowners can play an important role in preserving clean air and water, wildlife habitat, scenic views and best agricultural land.
After a year-long lapse that left many important conservation donations up in the air, Congress renewed and President Obama signed the enhanced tax incentive for voluntary conservation easement donations, making the incentive effective through December 31, 2011 and retroactive to January 1, 2010.
Conservation-minded landowners now have until December 31, 2011 to take advantage of a significant tax deduction for donating a voluntary conservation agreement to permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their land. When landowners donate a conservation easement, they maintain ownership and management of their land and can sell or pass the land on to their heirs; the land under easement just can’t be developed. These agreements can be win-win by protecting important natural resources while keeping land in productive private ownership.
The incentive, which now applies to donations in 2010 and 2011:
- Raises the income tax deduction a landowner can take for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
- Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
- Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.
The nonprofit Land Trust Alliance (LTA) reports that by helping landowners deduct their contributions, the enhanced tax incentive has increased the pace of private, voluntary land conservation by about 250,000 acres a year nationwide, and is especially important now that the latest reports show that America is losing land to development at the rate of 1.5 million acres per year.
For more information about the enhanced incentive please visit:
The Land Trust Alliance website, or email LTA at policy@lta.org, or call LTA's Sean Robertson at 202-638-4725, ext. 319.
A Quick Introduction to our Mountain
Deep in the heart of our nation’s most densely populated state lies an extraordinary place called Sourland Mountain. This unspoiled landscape of forested ridges and idyllic farms is central New Jersey’s last great wilderness.
The 90-square-mile Sourland region includes parts of three counties and seven municipalities, encompassing a complex ecosystem of forest, wetlands and grasslands. Its mosaic of habitats is home to an incredibly rich diversity of animal and plant species, many rare or endangered. As the surrounding area grows and changes rapidly, the Sourlands are increasingly in jeopardy. But if we take necessary and responsible steps now...
The Sourlands are wonderfully rich in history and folklore. Lenape Indians seeking furs, Dutch settlers staking out homesteads, patriots pursuing freedom, runaway slaves scrambling for shelter — all were drawn to the secluded Sourlands. Today, artists of every stripe find quiet inspiration and a gentle slowing of time in this place where heroes and outlaws alike found refuge in centuries past, and tales of ghosts are still exchanged over a cup of coffee or a pint of ale.
Anyone who has visited the Sourlands knows first-hand that this place is like no other. Bicyclists and hikers come for the thrill of winding roads, the meandering trails, and the deep woods opening to spectacular vistas. Country roads barely a lane and a half wide are punctuated by charming crossroad hamlets from centuries past. The Sourlands provide plentiful opportunities for horseback riding, fishing, picnicking, hunting, cross-country skiing, photography, birdwatching...or just a lovely, restful place to get away.
Given the ecological sensitivity and critical nature of the region’s wildlife habitat, small changes in the Sourlands result in big impacts. Because many Sourland species require large buffers from human activity, a one-acre clearing can effectively eliminate 20 to 30 acres of safe haven.
Further development -- permitted under current regulations -- could lead to a situation in which water is drawn from the Sourlands’ fickle aquifer faster than it is replenished. Although rainfall averages 45 inches annually, the rocky soil allows only a meager three to four inches to enter the groundwater supply. Development not only increases demand for water, it also decreases rainwater recharge to the aquifer and increases the frequency and severity of flooding.
What happens in the next few years will determine the fate of this wilderness forever. Will the forest, the vistas, the varied habitats and the historic ambience be lost to the sprawl that threatens to fill in the remaining green areas on the map between Philadelphia and New York? Or will they remain for future generations to enjoy as an essential ecological bridge between New Jersey’s Highlands and Pinelands?
Photo credits from top:
Hobomok skipper on native Iris, Rachel Mackow
Arrowwood in autumn, Rachel Mackow
Native meadow, Rachel Mackow
