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02-17-03, 10:32 AM
DEMARCO TRACT EYED AS 'SUPER-PARK'
Date: 030214
From: http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/
By Lawrence Hajna, Courier-Post Staff, February 14, 2003
The brochure urged, even seduced me to let my "imagination wander
down lonely sand paths" that "wind through pitch pine forests."
OK, I'll bite.
Come, walk deeper into these woods, into "evergreen cathedrals" of
white cedar swamps, home to tree frogs and bald eagles. Hike along
pristine streams, "a deep reddish brown."
Hmmm, now you're talking.
Relax; roam picture-perfect wetlands, home to hooded mergansers, wood
ducks, sharp-shinned hawks, prairie warblers, scarlet tanagers.
Oh, baby! Bring me home!
Take off your hiking shoes, dip your toes in this little brook. Relax
with a refreshing cranberry cocktail, courtesy of your host, Garfield
DeMarco.
Screeeeech!!!!
And just as I was ready to slip my dollar bill to the cause of
protecting this land.
Of course I've taken some liberties with the brochure, handiwork of
the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. The North Jersey nonprofit
desperately wants to buy 9,400 acres of the Pinelands' core from
DeMarco.
A cranberry farmer who ranks as one of the state's largest
landholders, DeMarco is also one of South Jersey's most controversial
political figures, an enigma who has some convinced of his altruism
and others of his greed.
Michele Byers, the foundation's executive director, falls into the
first category. She calls this a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to
protect the heart of the Pine Barrens, which coincidentally consist of
DeMarco's forests, wetlands, cranberry bogs and blueberry fields.
His land encompasses nearly 15 square miles, a third bigger than the
city of Camden. The property is in the eastern Burlington County
municipalities of Woodland, Bass River and Tabernacle.
The effort is part of a grand plan that Byers hopes will link more
than 200,000 acres of state-owned lands: Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne,
Bass River and Penn state forests as well as the Greenwood Wildlife
Management Area.
"This is huge. If we don't do everything we can to make this happen,
we haven't done our job," Byers said, battling arctic winds while we
toured the property Wednesday.
SUPER-PARK
If successful, the effort could create the largest contiguous system
of protected wild lands, by far, in New Jersey. A super-park, if you
will, with hiking trails looping off the famous Batona Trail, streams
for canoeing, quiet places for the huddled masses to seek solitude.
The deal - asking price $12 million - would be the biggest ever by a
nonprofit conservation group in New Jersey.
Will it happen? Should the public fund a big share of it?
Byers says her group is making progress collecting private donations.
Her biggest battle is with the state Department of Environmental
Protection, which she wants to contribute about $4.7 million.
She envisions her group managing the land side by side with the state
parks system. "We want the state's participation now. It's important
to us," she said.
But the administration of Gov. James E. McGreevey, a Democrat, wants
nothing to do with DeMarco, a longtime power broker in Burlington
County and state GOP circles.
It's not politics, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell insists. It's
common sense.
"It's a magnificent property and has unequivocal appeal for
conservation," Campbell said. "It's difficult for me to quarrel with
the New Jersey Conservation Foundation's goal, but I have a separate
obligation to decide what is the best use of scarce open space
dollars."
It's important to note that the state, under former Republican Gov.
Christie Whitman, already gave DeMarco $7 million to deed-restrict
this same land. This means he can't build anything - no homes, no
hotels, no strip malls - on it.
Not that he could really do much anyway, given tight zoning in the
Pinelands National Reserve. But further fouling the waters, so to
speak, is DeMarco's battle against a $594,000 DEP fine for illegally
expanding cranberry bogs into wetlands, an issue brimming with much
political intrigue in its own right.
MIXED FEELINGS
Nevertheless, even one of DeMarco's most vocal critics, Jeff Tittel
of the New Jersey Sierra Club, has mixed feelings about the
foundation's proposal.
On one hand, Tittel likes the idea of making DeMarco's s properties
open to the public. On the other, he believes the asking price is too
high, considering the development restrictions.
He wonders whether the money wouldn't be better spent protecting
farmland outside the Pinelands that "face tremendous development
pressures."
Byers maintains DeMarco is selling the land at a "bargain-basement"
price of about $1,300 an acre, or half the foundation's appraisals for
the land.
Even though DeMarco can't develop the land, nothing currently
prevents him or his successors from logging or or expanding cranberry
bogs and blueberry fields, Byers said.
"Deed restrictions are not sufficient for protection, or for a true
conservation goal being achieved," Byers said.
Indeed, landowners in the Pinelands have been cutting more forests as
the result of an increase in demand for wood pulp, even pulp from the
region's predominant species - the pitch pine, foundation biologist
Emile DeVito said. The gnarled-looking tree was once considered
virtually worthless, he said.
DeVito is convinced that DeMarco truly loves his land, and wants to
see it preserved. "He doesn't think of the land as a grab-bag for
logging and agriculture," he said. Most of it remains pristine, he
said.
`TIMES CHANGE'
DeMarco says he has long loved the land, and the wildlife on it.
"It's a beautiful, beautiful tract of land, and I'm very proud what
we've done with it. But times change."
DeMarco is 64. He co-owns the land with his brother, Mark, of
Hammonton, 71, and his sister, Anna Lynne Papinchak, 61, of Seattle.
He has no children, and his siblings' children have no desire to take
over the operation, A.R. DeMarco Enterprises.
DeMarco is bleak about the future of farming, especially cranberry
growing, which has seen a dramatic downturn as the result of a
sustained market glut. "The glory days (of cranberries) are gone, and
they are never, ever coming back," he said.
He's confident the conservation foundation will make the acquisition
work. He considers his discounted land price a kind of "half-gift" to
the group. But he says an outright gift of the land would "in the
scheme of things not be possible." He would not elaborate.
The foundation's option to buy the land expires March 29, though
Byers says that could be pushed back. The foundation would have three
years to pay off the full $12 million. During that time, DeMarco could
harvest cranberries, if he chose to.
Marilyn Schmidt restored Buzby's General Store, in tiny Chatsworth at
the edge of DeMarco's land, as a gift shop specializing in locally
made wares.
"Some people think he's great; some don't. I've seen only good. He's
one shrewd businessman, but I can see why he's doing what he's doing,"
Schmidt said.
"The community could do nothing but profit from this, if it brings in
more tourists. This store certainly would be better off if it brought
in more people interested in the Pinelands."
Chatsworth resident Heather Gudauskas agrees. DeMarco may be
powerful, and he may be trying to cash in on his land, she said. But
"we are the capital of the Pines. We should preserve what we have
here."
DeMarco's land is truly remarkable. I had climbed the Apple Pie Hill
fire tower many times. But I never realized that the sea of woodlands
that spreads out for miles to the east of the tower belongs to him.
Cranberry growing is a water-intensive operation, and DeMarco's
father, Anthony R., in effect cornered the market on the headwaters of
the Wading River in the 1940s.
The property is interlaced with 14 streams, stained brown from the
tannin in the surrounding trees, that make up the headwaters'
watershed. Some are impounded by little beaver dams.
Deer tracks and what appeared to be river otter prints dot the snow
encrusting the levees that surround the bogs, which have been given
nicknames like Little Italy, Dead Dog Corner, Big Mama and Little
Sister.
As I toured the site, a bald eagle, seemingly unfazed by stiff winds
aloft, tacked back and forth across the blue winter sky, its white
head and tail feathers as gleaming white as the snow-covered bogs.
"Bald eagles have been on this property as long as I can remember,"
DeMarco said. "If anything, there are more of them today."
Of the vast acreage out there, very little of it has ever been used,
at least not in a very long time. A couple hundred acres were once
blueberry fields, but they have gone untended for more than 15 years.
They are inexorably reverting to forests, Byers said.
The same will eventually play out for DeMarco's 800 acres of
cranberry bogs. He did not harvest at all last fall; instead,
countless berries rot on their leathery vines under a crusty blanket
of snow and ice.
DeMarco said preserving the land is something his parents would have
wanted. "I think they definitely would have liked to have seen it kept
in a natural state," he said.
Perhaps I'm in that transient state somewhere between dreams and
reality. But I found myself believing him, every word.
Well, almost.
* * *
Lawrence Hajna's column runs on Fridays. Reach him at (856) 486-2466
or lhajna@courierpostonline.com
Copyright 2003 Courier-Post.
Top
Date: 030214
From: http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/
By Lawrence Hajna, Courier-Post Staff, February 14, 2003
The brochure urged, even seduced me to let my "imagination wander
down lonely sand paths" that "wind through pitch pine forests."
OK, I'll bite.
Come, walk deeper into these woods, into "evergreen cathedrals" of
white cedar swamps, home to tree frogs and bald eagles. Hike along
pristine streams, "a deep reddish brown."
Hmmm, now you're talking.
Relax; roam picture-perfect wetlands, home to hooded mergansers, wood
ducks, sharp-shinned hawks, prairie warblers, scarlet tanagers.
Oh, baby! Bring me home!
Take off your hiking shoes, dip your toes in this little brook. Relax
with a refreshing cranberry cocktail, courtesy of your host, Garfield
DeMarco.
Screeeeech!!!!
And just as I was ready to slip my dollar bill to the cause of
protecting this land.
Of course I've taken some liberties with the brochure, handiwork of
the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. The North Jersey nonprofit
desperately wants to buy 9,400 acres of the Pinelands' core from
DeMarco.
A cranberry farmer who ranks as one of the state's largest
landholders, DeMarco is also one of South Jersey's most controversial
political figures, an enigma who has some convinced of his altruism
and others of his greed.
Michele Byers, the foundation's executive director, falls into the
first category. She calls this a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to
protect the heart of the Pine Barrens, which coincidentally consist of
DeMarco's forests, wetlands, cranberry bogs and blueberry fields.
His land encompasses nearly 15 square miles, a third bigger than the
city of Camden. The property is in the eastern Burlington County
municipalities of Woodland, Bass River and Tabernacle.
The effort is part of a grand plan that Byers hopes will link more
than 200,000 acres of state-owned lands: Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne,
Bass River and Penn state forests as well as the Greenwood Wildlife
Management Area.
"This is huge. If we don't do everything we can to make this happen,
we haven't done our job," Byers said, battling arctic winds while we
toured the property Wednesday.
SUPER-PARK
If successful, the effort could create the largest contiguous system
of protected wild lands, by far, in New Jersey. A super-park, if you
will, with hiking trails looping off the famous Batona Trail, streams
for canoeing, quiet places for the huddled masses to seek solitude.
The deal - asking price $12 million - would be the biggest ever by a
nonprofit conservation group in New Jersey.
Will it happen? Should the public fund a big share of it?
Byers says her group is making progress collecting private donations.
Her biggest battle is with the state Department of Environmental
Protection, which she wants to contribute about $4.7 million.
She envisions her group managing the land side by side with the state
parks system. "We want the state's participation now. It's important
to us," she said.
But the administration of Gov. James E. McGreevey, a Democrat, wants
nothing to do with DeMarco, a longtime power broker in Burlington
County and state GOP circles.
It's not politics, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell insists. It's
common sense.
"It's a magnificent property and has unequivocal appeal for
conservation," Campbell said. "It's difficult for me to quarrel with
the New Jersey Conservation Foundation's goal, but I have a separate
obligation to decide what is the best use of scarce open space
dollars."
It's important to note that the state, under former Republican Gov.
Christie Whitman, already gave DeMarco $7 million to deed-restrict
this same land. This means he can't build anything - no homes, no
hotels, no strip malls - on it.
Not that he could really do much anyway, given tight zoning in the
Pinelands National Reserve. But further fouling the waters, so to
speak, is DeMarco's battle against a $594,000 DEP fine for illegally
expanding cranberry bogs into wetlands, an issue brimming with much
political intrigue in its own right.
MIXED FEELINGS
Nevertheless, even one of DeMarco's most vocal critics, Jeff Tittel
of the New Jersey Sierra Club, has mixed feelings about the
foundation's proposal.
On one hand, Tittel likes the idea of making DeMarco's s properties
open to the public. On the other, he believes the asking price is too
high, considering the development restrictions.
He wonders whether the money wouldn't be better spent protecting
farmland outside the Pinelands that "face tremendous development
pressures."
Byers maintains DeMarco is selling the land at a "bargain-basement"
price of about $1,300 an acre, or half the foundation's appraisals for
the land.
Even though DeMarco can't develop the land, nothing currently
prevents him or his successors from logging or or expanding cranberry
bogs and blueberry fields, Byers said.
"Deed restrictions are not sufficient for protection, or for a true
conservation goal being achieved," Byers said.
Indeed, landowners in the Pinelands have been cutting more forests as
the result of an increase in demand for wood pulp, even pulp from the
region's predominant species - the pitch pine, foundation biologist
Emile DeVito said. The gnarled-looking tree was once considered
virtually worthless, he said.
DeVito is convinced that DeMarco truly loves his land, and wants to
see it preserved. "He doesn't think of the land as a grab-bag for
logging and agriculture," he said. Most of it remains pristine, he
said.
`TIMES CHANGE'
DeMarco says he has long loved the land, and the wildlife on it.
"It's a beautiful, beautiful tract of land, and I'm very proud what
we've done with it. But times change."
DeMarco is 64. He co-owns the land with his brother, Mark, of
Hammonton, 71, and his sister, Anna Lynne Papinchak, 61, of Seattle.
He has no children, and his siblings' children have no desire to take
over the operation, A.R. DeMarco Enterprises.
DeMarco is bleak about the future of farming, especially cranberry
growing, which has seen a dramatic downturn as the result of a
sustained market glut. "The glory days (of cranberries) are gone, and
they are never, ever coming back," he said.
He's confident the conservation foundation will make the acquisition
work. He considers his discounted land price a kind of "half-gift" to
the group. But he says an outright gift of the land would "in the
scheme of things not be possible." He would not elaborate.
The foundation's option to buy the land expires March 29, though
Byers says that could be pushed back. The foundation would have three
years to pay off the full $12 million. During that time, DeMarco could
harvest cranberries, if he chose to.
Marilyn Schmidt restored Buzby's General Store, in tiny Chatsworth at
the edge of DeMarco's land, as a gift shop specializing in locally
made wares.
"Some people think he's great; some don't. I've seen only good. He's
one shrewd businessman, but I can see why he's doing what he's doing,"
Schmidt said.
"The community could do nothing but profit from this, if it brings in
more tourists. This store certainly would be better off if it brought
in more people interested in the Pinelands."
Chatsworth resident Heather Gudauskas agrees. DeMarco may be
powerful, and he may be trying to cash in on his land, she said. But
"we are the capital of the Pines. We should preserve what we have
here."
DeMarco's land is truly remarkable. I had climbed the Apple Pie Hill
fire tower many times. But I never realized that the sea of woodlands
that spreads out for miles to the east of the tower belongs to him.
Cranberry growing is a water-intensive operation, and DeMarco's
father, Anthony R., in effect cornered the market on the headwaters of
the Wading River in the 1940s.
The property is interlaced with 14 streams, stained brown from the
tannin in the surrounding trees, that make up the headwaters'
watershed. Some are impounded by little beaver dams.
Deer tracks and what appeared to be river otter prints dot the snow
encrusting the levees that surround the bogs, which have been given
nicknames like Little Italy, Dead Dog Corner, Big Mama and Little
Sister.
As I toured the site, a bald eagle, seemingly unfazed by stiff winds
aloft, tacked back and forth across the blue winter sky, its white
head and tail feathers as gleaming white as the snow-covered bogs.
"Bald eagles have been on this property as long as I can remember,"
DeMarco said. "If anything, there are more of them today."
Of the vast acreage out there, very little of it has ever been used,
at least not in a very long time. A couple hundred acres were once
blueberry fields, but they have gone untended for more than 15 years.
They are inexorably reverting to forests, Byers said.
The same will eventually play out for DeMarco's 800 acres of
cranberry bogs. He did not harvest at all last fall; instead,
countless berries rot on their leathery vines under a crusty blanket
of snow and ice.
DeMarco said preserving the land is something his parents would have
wanted. "I think they definitely would have liked to have seen it kept
in a natural state," he said.
Perhaps I'm in that transient state somewhere between dreams and
reality. But I found myself believing him, every word.
Well, almost.
* * *
Lawrence Hajna's column runs on Fridays. Reach him at (856) 486-2466
or lhajna@courierpostonline.com
Copyright 2003 Courier-Post.
Top