Sterling Forest: An Ecological Analysis

The interior forest habitat of the New York-New Jersy Highlands is being increasingly recoginzed as having significant biodiversity value. Satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) were used at the Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA), Rutgers University, to undertake an inventory of forest habitat and an assessment of forest fragmentation in the New York-New Jersey Highlands region. The NY-NJ Highlands has a forest cover of 62-65%, but due to fragmentation only 20% of the total forest area is considered prime forest habitat. As part of its Highlands forest study, CRSSA also applied its expertise of geo-spatial technologies to perform an ecological analysis of Sterling Forest. The results were incorporated into land preservation efforts by non-profit and government groups concerned with impacts of imminent plans for development of Sterling Forest. The Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute were instrumental in coordinating the 1998 purchase of 15,800 acres of land in Sterling Forest with funds obtained from various government and private sources. The remaining lands have since been purchased to remain as open space. The preservation of Sterling Forest and other large tracts of contiguous forest within the New York - New Jersey Highlands was crucial for many reasons including: 1) maintaining viable populations of a number of forest-dependent species in the NY/NJ Highlands, 2) protecting drinking water for nearly a quarter of New Jersey's residents, 3) helping to maintain a critical missing link in a greenway stretching unbroken from the Hudson to the Delaware Rivers. [Summary provided by Rutgers University.]