Pinelands Commission awards $3 million to New Jersey Conservation Foundation for Burlington County acquisition

The Pinelands Commission approved an award of all available funding—$3,000,000—to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation for an acquisition in the Medford area of Burlington County, staff said. The Commission recommended a one-year deadline for executing the grant agreement, which would move the deadline to November 2026.

Robin Jenny, speaking in public comment as a representative of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, thanked the Commission and staff for the allocation and said the award will be instrumental in advancing the acquisition. "This allocation, truly is an important catalyst to moving forward and gaining additional funding to have this base of support to start from," Jenny said, and added that the landowner had been publicly motivated to conserve the property.

Why it matters: staff and public commenters said matching funds have been harder to secure in recent years after a longtime private foundation stopped contributing, making Commission grant support more important for catalyzing partnerships and outside funding.

Public reaction and next steps: a representative for the Friends of the Black Run Preserve thanked the Commission for the acquisition funding and asked whether water-allocation review would be part of gap applications; staff replied that the Commission does not regulate water allocation but will evaluate the impacts of diversions greater than 50,000 gallons per day on wetlands. The Commission did not take additional formal actions on the acquisition at this meeting beyond approving the award and recommending the grant-agreement deadline.

The meeting adjourned following a motion and an aye vote; no opposed votes or abstentions were recorded.