Lebanon Township

Natural Resources Inventory 2004

 

Introduction

 

In March 2001, the Lebanon Township Environmental and Open Space Commission (EOC) was reinstituted after several years’ absence.  The nine member commission is responsible for advising the Lebanon Township Committee and Planning Board on issues relating to the environment and open space.   

 

Based on legislation passed in 1968, and expanded in 1972, the goals of the Lebanon Township EOC are to advise governing bodies on a variety of environmental issues, including informing the Planning and Zoning Boards of Adjustment about environmental impacts of proposals for development and advocating planned open space preservation at the municipal level.  Additionally, the EOC investigates environmental problems and proposes solutions, informs residents on environmental matters and ways to help protect the environment, interacts with neighboring commissions to tackle regional and state issues, and maintains a data base on the environmental resources of the municipality, which is known as the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI). 

 

As a planning resource, an NRI is invaluable for township officials in that it is a central resource for environmental information that can impact decisions regarding 

 

 

The NRI directly supports the State Planning Act (NJSA 52:18A-196 et seq), which has as some of its primary goals the conservation of natural resources, the protection of the quality of the environment and the promotion of beneficial development.  Of primary importance to Lebanon Township is that in the State Plan, the Highlands region--where Lebanon Township is located--has been recognized as the first Special Resource Area in New Jersey, containing unique characteristics or resources of statewide importance for regional planning efforts, making the Lebanon Township NRI an essential planning document.

 

 

Lebanon Township

 

Lebanon Township is located in the northwest corner of Hunterdon County.  Founded in 1731 and incorporated in 1798, the township in 2002 had a population of 6,056 according to estimates from the US Census and 5,816 according to the 2000 Census.

 

Land Usage

According to November 2002 data provided by the Hunterdon County Division of GIS, the predominant property class in Lebanon Township is agricultural (47%) representing 9,335 acres of the Township’s 20,250 acre land area.  Residential accounts for 29% of the total, public land 13% and vacant land 8%.  Commercial and industrial usage accounts for 1.3% and 0.2% of the Township, respectively.

 

Agricultural uses account for approximately 19% of the Township’s total acreage, or 3,865 acres.  Masses of farmland occur in four general areas: along Forge Hill Road, around the Borough of Califon, in the Mount Lebanon Road/Sharrer Road/Anthony Road area, and along West Hill Road.  Comparing the land use by property tax to the land use/land cover, almost 60% of the land classified as agricultural by tax class is actually wooded.

 

The Township has seen an increase in total agricultural use, from 8,735 acres in 1987 to 9,423 acres in 1997. 

 

Areas reported as urban, or high-density residential use account for approximately 17% of Township acreage.  The highest concentrations in this category may be found in the hamlets of Bunnvale, Lower Valley, New Hampton and Woodglen.  Other concentrations of developed land occur along Route 31, East and West Hill Roads, and Sliker Road.  See the Lebanon Township 2002 Farmland Preservation Plan Element, Lebanon Township 2001 Master Plan: Land Use Plan Element, and the Lebanon Township 2001 Master Plan: Conservation Plan Element  for more information.

 

Open Space

While Lebanon Township does not own a vast inventory of recreation and open space lands, the Township contains a variety of recreational opportunities within its borders.  The majority are State and County parks geared primarily towards passive recreation activities.  These facilities include Voorhees State Park, the Ken Lockwood Gorge Wildlife Management Area, the Point Mountain section of the Musconetcong River Reservation, the Columbia Trail section of the South Branch Reservation and the Teetertown Nature Preserve/Mountain Farm.  These facilities comprise 2,030 acres or 10.3% of the Township’s total parcel acreage and 90% of the recreation land available to Township residents. 

 

In addition, Lebanon Township has engaged upon an aggressive program of farmland preservation in order to “build core areas of preserved farmland and agricultural districts, preserving an environment that will foster the continuation of agriculture for future generations”.  Farmlands considered for preservation include traditional field crop and grazing land as well as non-traditional agricultural activities including timber harvesting, orchards, and growth and sale of nursery stock. 

 

Historic sites

Founded in 1731, Lebanon Township has a number of sites designated as historic.  The following sites have been designated historic by the Historians of Lebanon Township

 

·        Forks of the Delaware Raritan Indian Trail

·        New Hampton Village

·        Anthony Village

·        Woodglen Village

·        Teetertown Village

·        Changewater Village

·        Hoffman’s Crossing

·        Old American Hotel

·        Vernoy Quarry

·        Sliker Airport

·        Magnetite Mine

·        Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

·        Mount Lebanon Methodist Church

·        Mount Bethel Church Ruin

·        Changewater Methodist Church

·        New Hampton Sunday School

·        Site of Octagonal School

·        Bunnvale School

·        Dusenbery Mansion

·        General Daniel Morgan’s boyhood home

·        Traprock Quarry

·        Weise Home

·        Ken Lockwood Gorge Indian camp and work site

·        Fort Foss

·        Old Stone Farmhouse on the Voorhees High School campus

 

 

For more information, please see:

 

·        Abandoned Iron Mines of Hunterdon County, New Jersey.  New Jersey Department of Labor, Division of Workplace Standards, Office of Safety Compliance, 1988.

 

·        Stone Arch Bridge Inventory, Phase II, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Hunterdon County Planning Board and the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1998.

 

·        Lebanon Township Historical Society (http://www.lebanontownship.net)

 

·        NJ DEP Historic Preservation Office, New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places (http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/lists/hunterdon.pdf)

 

 

Land and Water

 

Topography

Lebanon Township is at the foot of the New Jersey Highlands physiographic province and represents the beginning of some of the most varied terrain in New Jersey.  The Highlands are home to some of the most scenic areas in the State and represent the most significant animal habitats and forest resources found anywhere in New Jersey outside of the Pinelands area.

 

Most of the land in the Township is 400’ above sea level, with the exception of lands located directly adjacent to the Musconetcong River and the South Branch of the Raritan River.  The highest elevation in the Township is located in the vicinity of Pleasant Grove Road and is above 1040’. 

 

There are a number of scenic ridgelines in the Township.  The area of Point Mountain, a County Park, contains some of the most scenic land found in the County.  From the peak of Point Mountain, the terrain runs steeply to the Musconetcong River valley.  Both banks of the South Branch run steeply to the River, making for a gorge that runs the entire length of the River through the Township. 

 

The two river valleys, the southwestern corner of the Township bordering Bethlehem Township, the Teetertown Nature Ravine, Rocky Run, Route 513 areas, and the Turkey Top Road area, possess the majority of the Township’s steep slopes classified as greater than 15%, and comprise nearly 25% of the Township’s land.  Slopes greater than 25% comprise 7% of land area. 

 

Geology

The bedrock of Lebanon Township can be divided into two general groupings primarily based on age and rock type.  Precambrian (older than 570 million years) igneous and metamorphic rocks underlie approximately 90 percent of the Township.  Gneiss and granite underlie much of this area.  The bedrock in this portion of the Township includes members of the Byram and Lake Hopatcong Intrusive Suites, Losee Metamorphic Suite, metasedimentary rocks, diabase intrusions, Chestnut Hill formation, and other rocks of uncertain origin.  The Precambrian rocks have been extensively deformed into a series of southwest to northeast trending folds. 

 

The second type of bedrock is mapped beneath approximately 10 percent of the Township along the northern boundary and in the southeastern portion near the Borough of Califon.  These rocks include the Ordovician-Cambrian (440-570 million years ago) dolomites and limestones of the Leithsville, Allentown, Beekmantown and Jacksonburg Formations.  This group also includes the shales of the Bushkill Member of the Ordovician Martinsburg Formation and the quartzites of the Hardyston Formation. 

For more information, please see:

 

·        The Precambrian Geology of the central and northeastern parts of the New Jersey Highlands. Smith, Bennett L. In Geology of Selected Areas in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Rutgers University Press, 1969.

 

·        The New Jersey Geological Survey (http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/)

 

Soils

Lebanon Township has just over 6,000 acres of prime and statewide important soils, as categorized by the State Agricultural Development Committee (SADC).  This represents 30% of the Township’s total acreage. 

 

Three soil associations are found throughout most of Lebanon Township.  Along the northwestern boundary of Lebanon Township and the Musconetcong River, as well as near the southeastern border of the Township the soils are comprised of the Rowland-Birdsboro-Raritan association.  These soils are found in areas with gentle to nearly level slopes and are well to poorly drained.  They are typically associated with flood plains and may be flooded during parts of the year. 

 

Near the borough of Califon in the Long Valley portion of the Township are found Duffield-Washington association soils.  These soils are found on gentle to moderately steep slopes and are considered well drained.  These types of soils are derived from weathering of the underlying limestone and dolomite bedrock.  Solution channels such as caverns, sinkholes and cavities may be present in areas where the Duffield and/or Washington soils are encountered.

 

Most of Lebanon Township is underlain by the soils of the Parker-Edneyville-Califon association.  Soils of this association are found in areas with gentle to steep slopes and are excessively to poorly drained.  Cobbles and gravel sized weathered residual rock fragments are often found with these types of soils and in some cases, the gravel fragments comprise more than 20 percent of the soils.  The percentage of rock fragments increases with increasing elevation.  These soils are typically found from 200 to 1,000’ above sea level.  The Parker and Edneyville soils form a thin layer (less than 6 feet) over the bedrock surface.  In several areas of the Township, the bedrock surface outcrops.  In the Califon soils, which are poorly drained, the seasonal water table is shallow (less than 3 feet).  The Soil Conservation Service indicates severe limitations for these three soils types and they are considered by this agency inappropriate for septic systems.

 

A fourth soil association is found in the southern corner of the Township near Spruce Run Reservoir.  The Washington-Berks-Athol association comprise 30, 30 and 20 percent, respectively, of this association.  These well-drained soils are found in areas with gentle to moderately steep slopes, and are derived from weathering of carbonate bedrock and may overlie solution features such as sinkholes and/or caverns.  The Berks soils are derived from weathering of shale.  For more information see:

 

·        Soil Survey of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. US Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers, 1974.

 

·        Soil Survey of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Jablonski, C.F. US Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, 1988.

 

·        Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Mulhall, Matthew J. Prepared for Lebanon Township Planning Board, 2001.

 

Hydrology

Lebanon Township is divided into four hydrogeologic zones with each zone underlain by one of two distinct aquifer systems.  The name of each zone is based on the underlying type of bedrock aquifer systems.  Most of the Township is underlain by the aquifer system comprised of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic bedrock, known as the Precambrian Crystalline Rock Zone.  Precambrian rocks are considered to be poor aquifers with low water yields (NJDEP, 1996).  A limited area near the northwestern border of the Township and the area beneath Long Valley in the southeastern portion of the municipality are underlain by limestone and dolomite aquifer systems, referenced as the Limestone/Dolomite Zone.  Limestone/dolomite aquifer systems are some of the most prolific in New Jersey (NJDEP, 1996).  For more information, readers of this document are referred to:

 

·        Water for the 21st Century: The vital resource. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Planning, New Jersey Statewide Supply Plan, 1996.

 

·        Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Mulhall, Matthew J. Prepared for Lebanon Township Planning Board, 2001.

 

 Water and Water Quality

The Musconetcong and Raritan River Watersheds divide Lebanon Township.  Twenty percent of Lebanon Township is in the Upper Delaware Watershed Management area, while the remaining 80% is in the North and South Branch Raritan Watershed Management Area.   North of this divide, surface water, and most likely groundwater, flow towards the Musconetcong River.  South of the divide, water flows towards the South Branch of the Raritan River and tributaries. 

According to the Statewide Water Quality Management Program Plan, all surface waters in Lebanon Township are classified as FW2.  The FW2 classification is divided into three categories: FW2-TP: trout production, FW2-TM: trout maintenance, and FW2-NT: non-trout.  For more information, readers of this document are referred to:

·        Geology and Ground Water Resources of Hunterdon County, NJ. Kasaback, Haig F. Special Report No. 24, Bureau of Geology and Topography, Division of Resource Development, Department of Conservation and Economic Development, 1996.

 

·        Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Mulhall, Matthew J. Prepared for Lebanon Township Planning Board, 2001.

 

 

Habitats

 

Lebanon Township contains environmentally sensitive lands, comprised mainly of forested wetlands and mature deciduous.  Geographically, most of the wetlands are found in the northern half of the Township and are protected by surrounding forested areas.  These wetlands and forested areas form a symbiotic relationship, which becomes part of an overall critical habitat system covering 8% of the total area of the township.  Overall, wetlands make up 8% of the total area of the Township with barren land and water comprising 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.

 

Forests

Nearly 56% of the Township is covered by forest, much of which represents high priority habitat for wildlife.  The spine of the Township is made up of large contiguous tracts of forest, which provide suitable habitat for a number of animal species, including some that are threatened or critical.  A number of these contiguous forested tracts are County and State parkland, preserved in perpetuity. 

The wooded tracts of Lebanon Township represent most of the remaining large contiguous forests in Hunterdon County.  Many of these forested areas are protected as part of State and County park systems.  Voorhees Park, the Musconetcong River Reservation, Teetertown Ravine, Ken Lockwood Gorge and the Columbia trail areas all contain significant contiguous forest resources that are permanently preserved.  Nearly 87% of Lebanon Township’s forested areas are deciduous forest, with the remainder coniferous (2%), deciduous brush and shrub land (5%), former fields (4%), mixed brush and shrub land (0.7%), mixed forest (3%) and plantations (1.3%). 

Wetlands

Wetlands in Lebanon Township are found throughout the township and can be categorized as:

·        Agricultural wetlands (modified)

·        Artificial lakes

·        Coniferous wooded wetlands

·        Deciduous scrub/shrub wetlands

·        Deciduous wooded wetlands

·        Disturbed wetlands (modified)

·        Herbaceous wetlands

·        Managed wetlands (modified)

·        Mixed forested wetlands (deciduous dominant)

·        Natural lakes

·        Streams and canals

·        Wetlands right of way (modified)

The greatest cluster of wetlands in Lebanon Township occurs below the ridge lines in linked systems and in clusters.  The vast majority of the wetlands feed into the stream network and are interspersed with many of the forested areas found throughout the Township.  Their primary composition is deciduous wooded wetlands.  For more information, readers of this document are referred to:

·        Plant Communities of New Jersey. Collins, B.R. and K.H. Anderson. Rutgers University Press, 1994.

·        The Vegetation of Voorhees State Park. McDonough, W.T and M.F. Buell. American Midland Naturalist. 56:473-490, 1956.

·        The New Jersey Highlands: Treasures at risk. Mitchell, A.E. New Jersey Conservation Foundation, 1992.

·        New Jersey Landscape Project for the Protection of Rare Species (http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/landbro.pdf).

·        Rare Species and Natural Communities Presently Recorded in the New Jersey Natural Heritage Database, Hunterdon County (http://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/natural/heritage/textfiles/njhunt.txt)

 

Environmental concerns and controls

Concerns

Several environmental concerns that must be taken into consideration when considering development in Lebanon Township.  The needs of the Township and its current and future citizens must be considered in light of the potential effects of

ü      Pollution:  Pollution (including solid waste disposal, point and non-point pollution of water sources, light and noise) affects residents, wildlife and downstream users of the waters from Lebanon Township.  Pollutants degrade and destroy habitats for indigenous species as well as affect the quality of life for residents.

 

ü      Soil limitations for septic systems: Most of Lebanon Township is underlain by the soils of the Parker-Edneyville-Califon association.  The Soil Conservation Service indicates severe limitations for these soils types for septic systems.  Severe to slight limitations are associated with the Washington-Berks-Athol soil associations, which are also found in Lebanon Township.  The Washington soils may be limited for subsurface sewage disposal in areas of solution channels.  The Athol and Berks soils are moderately to severely limited for subsurface sewage disposal because of shallow bedrock and/or steep slopes.

 

ü      Geology: The geological underpinning of Lebanon Township is critical when considering development due to its role in septic system suitability.

 

ü      Threatened and endangered species:   Several areas in Lebanon Township have been identified as critical for the survival of native flora and fauna (including more than 60 species classified as threatened or endangered), the recharging of aquifers, biodegradation of environmental contaminants, the prevention of flood damage, and the protection of drinking water and air quality, as well as preservation of open space for outdoor recreation.

 

ü      Wetlands: Wetlands provide critical habitats for endangered and threatened species, as well as being vital to the recharge of aquifers, the prevention of flooding and the removal of pollutants from the environment.

 

ü      Steep slopes: Steep slopes provide scenic value but are also sites where environmental degradation can occur quickly if not managed properly.

 

ü      Farm Preservation: With its rich history of farming, a quality of life strongly associated with the presence of agriculture, and the value to serve as corridors for wildlife, the preservation of farmlands in Lebanon Township is a crucial consideration for their value to residents and wildlife alike.

 

ü      Water: Lebanon Township is the location of the headwaters of several of the main water producing streams that serve wide areas of New Jersey.  Water quality is high in Lebanon Township, with many streams rated as trout producing, the highest State rating for water quality.  Degradation of water quality will affect local residents, wildlife and users of the water that flows from the grounds beneath Lebanon Township.  Once degraded, it is difficult to impossible to restore water to its previously pristine state.

 

ü      Each of these factors must be considered as part of the planning of development and redevelopment in order to maintain the quality of life and the environment of Lebanon Township.

Controls

As part of its commitment to maintaining the environmental quality of the area, Lebanon Township has developed and approved a series of ordinances which help to preserve the environment.  The State as well has developed controls on planning and development which support environmental preservation, including controls on septic system development and critical species and habitats, which can be found on the website http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/lndscpe.htm.  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection website http://www.state.nj.us/dep/ also covers topics such as noise pollution, air quality, water quality, hazardous waste management, threatened and endangered species, and historic preservation.

 

Bibliography

 

The data in this NRI is derived from the documents listed below.  These documents can be viewed at the Lebanon Township Municipal Building.

 

Lebanon Township 2001 Master Plan

 

Lebanon Township 2002 Farmland Preservation Plan Element

 

Lebanon Township 2001 Master Plan: Conservation Plan Element

 

Lebanon Township 2002 Open Space and Recreation Plan

 

Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Mulhall, Matthew J. Prepared for Lebanon Township Planning Board, 2001.