Conservationists Acquire Cape Meadows

S.;CAPE MAY — County planning officials and local authorities received word last Tuesday, that a 180-acre tract in the South Cape May Meadows has been donated by Combustion Engineering Inc. of Stamford, Conn, to The Nature Conservancy — a national non-profit land conservation organization. The South Cape May Meadows. — an' undeveloped stretch of coastal meadows and wetlands extending from Cape May to Cape May Point — is a prime habitat for migratory birds, igcluding the .peregrine falcon, osprey and bald eagle. As h,holding of the Conservancy, the .land will4>e pro-- ' tected as a nature sanctuary. 'TllE TRANSACTION WHICH took pla6e Nov. 6 puts a half to any proposed development of the tract — including a plan for a recreational campground that had been considered by Middle Motor Court Inc. Until recently. Middle Motor held a contract to purchase the land for $360,000. The cor-

‘Exceptional’ Plan in Store For S. Cape

S. CAPE MAY — Unique, challenging,

exciting. •

poration — whose request for a zoning change to allow campgrounds in the area was denied by the Lower Township Planning Boar(riast summef — sold its purchase option to the Conservancy for $28,000 According to the director of the Cortsecvancy’s Penrtsylvania/N. J. field of fice, the $28,000 figure was the estimated cost Middle Motor had already put into its proposed project. The IBO-acre parcel has for many years been the property of Yara Engineering Corp. — now Georgia Kaolin, a subsidiary of Corgbustion Engineering. THE ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE of the area is well documentr-d in studies conducted by the Conservancy. N.J. Audubon Society. th« National Wildlife Federation aqd the U'-S. Field and Wildlife Service. It has been recognized by Roger Tury Peterson, the famous ornithologist and author of the best seller. Field Guide to thp Birds, as "one of the country’s outstanding birdwat(Page 12 Please)

.SOUTHWESTERN PORTION of the South Cape May Meadows abuts the Cape May Point Stal* Parklands. Dark strip behind beach extending from lower left is Mosquito Commission ditch. At top right is smoke from the magnestie plant stacks.

These are some of the phrases used by the director of the Nature Conservhncy's Pennsylvania/N.J Field Office to describe the organization's acquisition of 180 acres in the South Cape May Meadows. "We’re very excited about this project and the others we have in New Jersey," director Ralph "Btfdr Cook said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It’s a unique area, and a real challenge from a management point of

view."

The 180-acre tract of meadows was donated . to The* Nature Conservancy—a non-profit land conservation organization—b-y

Combustion Engineering. Inc., of Stamford, Conn. A prime habitat for migratory birds—including the peregrine falcon, osprey ahd bald eagle—the meadows will now be protected as a nature sanctuary. According to Cook the meadows—an undeveloped stretch between Cape May and ‘~Uape May point in Lower Township—are a real management

j (Page 12 Please)

•Bud Cook*

A Coaching Crunch

ERMA — A statewide problem finding teachers to coach interscholastic sporij^r wending its way into at least one Jersey Cape school district — Lower Cape May Regional. And while the Regional district has already had to draw an assistant girls hockey coach from the Lower Township Elementary School District, the Regional School Board is consideung a new inlerschool coaching policy which at least one board member and the high school principal feel will make finding good coaches within their own district more difficult. LAST WEEK THE BOARD decided to table until the Dec 17 meeting a proposed interschool coaching assignment policy that would prohibit additional teachers from the Teitelman junior high school from being assigned to the high school coaching staffs. At a pre-meeting caucus, both board member Freeman Douglass and high school principal Alan Beattie contended

the proposed policy would make it more -difficult to find coaches. "We re already drawing coaches from outside the district." Douglass noted BEATTIE AGREED. "We re going to have more and motV problems getting coaches." the principal said, adding it would be "ideal" if all coaches could come from the high school According to Ephraim Keller.* superintendent of the Regional/Teitelman district, the new policy wouldn't have any effect on teachers from Teiltelman who have previously been involved with coaching at the high school Problems arise, he said, with away matches because the Teitelman School day ends later than the class day at the high school Coaches from TCitelman sometimes,have to leave their classes as early as an hour before the scheduled dismissal Mr. Beattie, however, contends this has happened only two or three times this fall (Page 12 Please)

After the Farmland Vote—What? Garden Staters Understand Agriculture’s Importance (see Editorial Page)

by Bob Shlles * \ COURT HOUSE — Although a majority* of voters in the county’s 16 municipalities indicated at the polls Nov.3 that they support the concept of farmland preservation, voters in some island communities passed the state's $50 million farm preservation bond issue by larger margins than those on the mainland. And while at first glance this appears unusual — since the county's remaining farm acreage is in mainland

communities — these results are actually an example of a local voting trend that one county freeholder says has predominated Nm this kind of issue since the late 1950s Freeholder William Sturm, who also sits on the county Planning Board, said at last week’s Planning Board meeting that county voters have cast ballets this way on most preservation issues since the state began its Green Acres program more than 20 years ago. Pointing to what he describ-

THE RED BARN at Delsea Dr. and Railroad Ave. in Rio Grande has been a landmark for decades. This pasture and an adjacent horse ranch provide a rural setting for sections of Middle and Lower townships within"one-quarter mile of one of the county's busiest shopping malls.

ed as the state's past mismanagement of similar programs, he noted that voters have become wary of new state programs. "THE (county's! year-round population has been burned so many times by the ' state that it's afraid of a big governmental act," Sturrh said. The Farmland Preservation Bond Issue, approved statewide Nov: J. provides $50 million for public purchase of farm easements and implementation of soil conservation measures. At last week's county Planning Board session John Macleod, sehior agricultural agent with the County Extension Service an* County Planning Board member, noted'that the bond issue passed b’y almost a 3 to ! margin in ( ape May City. 2 (o I in Ocean City and only by about I to I in Dennia Township. It passed countywirie ahouk 2 to I. y Along with these exa'mples of the voting pattern he added that Atlantic County approved the question by about 2 to I while two inland counties. Cumberland and. Salem, approved it by a margin of 11* to I and about I to I respectively. ; ACCORDING TO MACLEOD, there are probably two major reasons for what appears to have teen a statewide .trend. 4 First, he noted that in developed areas where there is liffle open space — such as (Page 12 Please)

FREEHOLDER DIRECTOR Anthony Catanoso and wife Phyllis are all smiles following dedication of the county’s new $4.f| million Special Services School on Suriday at the Crest Haven compley. The 7l.0d0 sq. ft, ftuilding'was named in Mr. CatanosoV. honor, unbeknownst to the freeholder dean until the ceremony, attended by over 250. Storm Repair Due SEA ISLE (TTY — Bids were received late last Week by the state Dept, of Environmental Protection for emergency storm repair work on teaches in Strathmere and Sea Isle City damaged during the rteenf northeaster Earthwork Associates of Marmora wjll fortify the beach between 60th and 66th Sts in Sea Isle for $54,080. Thompson Trenching Inc. of Rib Grande received the $93,240 contract to rebuild a section of the dune in the Whale Beach secljpn of Strathmere Bids fdr both projectsNvere less than had teen estimated by the DEP RECENTLY, ASSURANCES have also teen granted the Sea Isle City Commis sionlhat the DEP Is ready to begin a $3 million effort to provide permanent beach protection The DEP‘s plan—to be funded at least 50 percent by the state-calls for the construction of seven groias Three groins i Page 21 (Tease)