Ocean County To Buy Forked River Mountains For $15.45 Million

TOMS RIVER, NJ - If all goes as planned, the Forked River Mountains in Lacey Township will belong to Ocean County one of these days.

The Board of Freeholders announced the proposed $15.4 million purchase at a board caucus meeting here on Wednesday.

The 7,860-acre tract, which straddles Lacey and Ocean townships, will be the largest tract the county has purchased since the open space program began in 1997, Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little said.

"By adding this to what we have already preserved, Ocean County will have saved almost 30,000 acres of open space and farmland under its Natural Lands program," Little said

The purchase of the tract will be covered by partially with funds from the county’s dedicated open space tax. The property owner is John J. Brunetti of Old Bridge Township, according to a county release.

However, Ocean County will seek public funding partnerships from the Department of Defense and state Green Acres programs, due to the large aquisition, county Planning Director Anthony M. Agliata told Patch.

"The partnership can be up to fifty percent of the purchase price," he said. "The county will buy the property, then request reimbursement from the partners."

The property is in a very environmentally sensitive and unique area of the county, Ocean County Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., who serves as liaison to the county’s open space program, said in a statement.

Bartlett did not attend the meeting. He is in treatment for colorectal cancer.

“It meets the many requirements of our open space program and insures this property will never be considered for anything but open space,” Bartlett said. “This purchase protects our watershed, it protects our endangered species. Its benefits are numerous.”

A public hearing on the purchase will be held at the Sept. 19 board meeting at the Ocean County Administration Building in Toms River.

The bulk of the property, 6,258 acres, is in Lacey. The remaining 1,602 acres are in neighboring Ocean Township.

North Jersey residents may find the term "mountains" amusing, since one ridge is 184 feet and the other is 176 feet, according to the Trust For Public Lands Century Plan.

But in the Pine Barrens, "such heights truly represent mountains," the TPL said.

The county will develop a management plan for the property once it is purchased.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller