The Highlands
Critical Treasures in each state:
NY List
NJ List
PA List
CT List
Critical Treasures Maps (revised 8/05):
NY Map-Large (1.3 MB) NY Map-Small (29k)
NJ Map-Large (1.1 MB) NJ Map-Small (32k)
PA Map-Large (1.0 MB) PA Map-Small (247k)
CT Map-Large (1.7 MB) CT Map-Small (132k)
Other Maps:
Coalition Map of the Region-Large (2MB)
Coalition Map of the Region-Small (123k)
US Forest Service Map of the Region
NJ Highlands Map
Highlands Wildlife Map
Resources:
LEGISLATION
Highlands Conservation Act [11/2004]
Full Highlands Conservation Act legislation (pdf file)
Highlands Conservation Act Summary
Key HCA Projects map-Large Key HCA Projects map-Small
NJ Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act [8/2004]
1. A summary of the NJ Highlands Act
2. The complete text of the NJ Highlands Act
3. The DEP website
4. Implications of the Fast-Track Act
USFS PA/CT HIGHLANDS STUDY [4/2005–present]
USDA Forest Service Highlands Homepage
Pennsylvania Community Input (powerpoint–3 MB)
FACT SHEETS
Highlands Coalition FY07 Fact Sheets
Highlands Conservation Act–
Oley Hills (PA)
Wyanokie Highlands (NJ)
Arrow Park (NY)
Great Swamp (NY)
Litchfield Farms (CT)
Forest Legacy–
Birdsboro Waters (PA)
Sparta Mountain South (NJ)
Skiff Mountain (CT)
HIGHLANDS COALITION PUBLICATION
Backyard Paradise 2005 Update
PENNSYLVANIA HIGHLANDS ATLAS [11/2006]
–PA Highlands Conservation Atlas pdf file (3.8 MB)
–Press release
–Executive summary
OTHER
Highlands Environmental Research Institute
Forest Health Symposium Report
The NJ Skylands Visitor
i MapNJ DEP
NYC Regional Geology
The Highlands are part of the great green sweep of the Appalachians that shadows the East Coast from Georgia to Maine. The Highlands region stretches from eastern Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut, forming a vital linkage between the Berkshires and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Here, forested ridges recede wave after green wave into the horizon. Hundreds of lakes, ponds and reservoirs reflect the ever-changing moods of sun and wind, sky and clouds. Rocky crags and towering trees offer wild and untamed habitat to hawks, owls and eagles. This surprising region contains clear cold streams in which native trout breed, and its forests are home to black bear, river otters and bobcat. More than 14 million people visit the Highlands annually, more than Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks combined.
Highlands forests supply and protect clean drinking water for over 15 million people, including over half of New Jersey's population, and protect major water supply watersheds for New York City. Located within an hour of nearly 25 million Americans, the Highlands form a "greenbelt" of forests and farmland adjacent to the sprawling Philadelphia-New York-Hartford urban corridor.
Although the Highlands have been recognized as "a landscape of national significance," by the US Forest Service, and as a "Special Resource Area" by the State of New Jersey, vital open spaces in the Highlands are increasingly being lost to suburban sprawl, including over 5,000 acres annually in the NY-NJ Highlands alone. Unless bold steps are taken soon to protect the critical treasures of the Highlands, the future of this region of water, beauty and life is in jeopardy.
photo credits © George M. Aronson & Wilma Frey (center photo only)