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Critical
Habitat Protecting the Barnegat Bay
The
Trust for Public Land first identified the Potter Creek
site as a priority for preservation in their 1995 publication,
The Century Plan – A Study of One Hundred Conservation
Sites in the Barnegat
Bay. This 118-acre parcel is located in the southern portion
of the “Sloop Creek Road Area” and provides habitat
for a wide variety of resident birds, including the threatened
red-shouldered hawk and the endangered northern harrier and
peregrine falcon. The site also provides resting and feeding
area for migratory birds.
Potter Creek’s upland forests, which comprise approximately
60% of the parcel, are dominated by both pine and oak trees.
The balance of the property gradually flows through forested
wetlands to Phragmites and marsh flora including glasswort,
perennial salt marsh aster, and sea pink.
Potter Creek is
adjacent to a significant amount of protected land, including
a 72-acre wetland of marsh grasses continuing across Bayview
Avenue to the bay, which TPL conserved and transferred to
Berkeley Township in 1997. Ocean County owns additional lands
north of the site along Sloop Creek. Furthermore, the Potter
Creek tract is located in the same drainage area as the E.B.
Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge's Sloop Creek expansion
area, which was added to the approved refuge acquisition boundary
in 1994.
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