More than 160 acres in Sussex County will be preserved for bog turtles under a federal Fish and Wildlife Service grant to New Jersey to purchase the land, according to F&WS officials.
The land, two parcels of 20 acres and 143.6 acres, are adjacent to bog turtle habitat already owned by the state, according to state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hanja, who said he could not divulge the exact location since purchase negotiations are ongoing.
The $440,000 federal grant will go toward outright purchase of the two plots, he said.
According to the F&WS news release, the 20 acres connects “two high-quality bog turtle population sites, thus providing landscape-level protection” for the federal and state listed species.
The parcel is described as “a unique spring-fed wetland complex with calcareous fens and is host to a globally rare plant, the spreading globeflower
http://www.njherald.com/story/22810877/2013/07/10/440000-grant-to-preserve-land-for-bog-turtles
The land, two parcels of 20 acres and 143.6 acres, are adjacent to bog turtle habitat already owned by the state, according to state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hanja, who said he could not divulge the exact location since purchase negotiations are ongoing.
The $440,000 federal grant will go toward outright purchase of the two plots, he said.
According to the F&WS news release, the 20 acres connects “two high-quality bog turtle population sites, thus providing landscape-level protection” for the federal and state listed species.
The parcel is described as “a unique spring-fed wetland complex with calcareous fens and is host to a globally rare plant, the spreading globeflower
http://www.njherald.com/story/22810877/2013/07/10/440000-grant-to-preserve-land-for-bog-turtles
