MADISON - Madison is poised to receive a substantial Morris County grant award to help purchase the threatened Drew Forest preserve from Drew University, but advocates say a larger sum
Thanks to a private family donation, the Great Swamp Watershed Association is adding 10 acres of open space in Chatham Township to the national wildlife refuge area.
Established in 1960 as the first federal wilderness area, the 7,800-acre Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge crosses several municipal borders in Morris County.
The GWSA is a separate nonprofit conservation association that with this latest acquisition increases its holdings in the 35,000-acre Great Swamp watershed region to 86.5 preserved acres.
The deal was completed in January and announced on Tuesday. The newly acquired land is in Chatham Township at the end of Evergreen Road, in the Black Brook sub-watershed, one of the five sub-watersheds of the Great Swamp region.