Preserving New Jersey

Preservation in New Jersey means many things. It can mean preserving natural area for wildlife or recreation or establishing a local historic district, nominating a building to the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, or even restoring your house.

Although on this site the focus is usually on fish and wildlife, we also look at historical preservation and preservation in general across the state.

Preservation sign at  John W. Berry House (Rutherford, New Jersey)

The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office is located within the Department of Environmental Protection and provides expertise and resources for preserving historic resources. They respond to more than 40,000 calls yearly from people working to preserve, protect and promote New Jersey's historic resources. This work requires historians, researchers, planners, architectural historians, architects, engineers, and archaeologists.

National Heritage Areas are places where we find historic, cultural, and natural resources but, unlike national parks, these areas are large lived-in landscapes. One New Jersey example is Crossroads of the American Revolution, a National Park Services program in our state that spans from the Palisades at Fort Lee to the shores of the Delaware River at Red Bank Battlefield. At revolutionarynj.org, you will find 14 places from the Long Pond Ironworks State Park in the northern part of NJ to Somers Mansion in the south.

Here are some links that can lead you to more information from both public and private organizations.

New Jersey Land Preservation and Environmental Organizations
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions
D&R Greenway Land Trust
Garden State Preservation Trust
Morris County Planning, Development and Technology Department
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
New Jersey Pinelands Reserve
The Nature Conservancy New Jersey
The Highlands Council
The Pinelands Commission
Crosswicks/Doctors Creek Regional Greenway Planning Group

Markers at Hemlock Ridge Preserve trailhead on Frog Pond Road, Warren County.

New Jersey History, Cultural and Arts Statewide Organizations
New Jersey Historic Trust
New Jersey Historical Commission
New Jersey Historical Society
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
NJDEP Division of Parks and Forestry
Preservation New Jersey who nominates the 10 most endangered historic places in our state each year.