This is the first official year that the South Mountain Conservancy has organized as a partner group with the Essex County Park System and an affiliate of the Friends of Essex County Park. Many of our concerns this year have been organizational: establishing a Board, selecting a meeting place, deciding on meeting dates, defining membership, and requesting annual dues.

As a Reservation, we have unique concerns. We consider ourselves stewards of the Olmsted legacy and toward that end, we feel a special responsibility to restore the Reservation to its former beauty and elegance and to maintain it as a safe and welcoming resource for the communities that surround it.

Joe DiVincenzo and the Essex County Parks Department have encouraged our efforts to restore the Reservation by providing us with the financial assistance required. The County has offered to fund a Landscape and Infrastructure Assessment Plan which will enable us to develop a detailed, multi-year restoration and management plan. We were particularly fortunate in our first year, also to receive a $500,000 Green Acres grant with matching money from Essex County for a total of 1 million dollars to begin addressing the needs outlined in the Open Space Master Plan for Essex County. We identified reforestation, replacement of culverts, and repair of drainage as our first priorities. With the additional help from the County, we will now be able to use Green Acres funding wisely and advantageously.

The soldiers of our organization are the volunteers who maintain the five major trails of the Reservation: The Turtleback Trail (Orange), Rahway (White), Oakdale (Red), Elmdale (blue), and Lenape (Yellow). These volunteers walk the trails regularly and submit reports 4 times a year reporting on the condition of the blazes and the treadway. They clip branches, clean drains, collect trash, and report any serious blowdowns which are then reported to the Maintenance department.

We have established a website—SoMoCon.org and have a post office box in South Orange, P.O. Box 273, South Orange, NJ 07079. We also publish a newsletter, The Pathfinder, for our members, supporters, and the local libraries.

In this past year, we have been able to enlist the support of many local and regional organizations. Township officials from Maplewood, Millburn, West Orange, and South Orange as well as members of the Sierra Club have written letters of support for our grant applications. In turn, we have helped the Township of West Orange acquire an important parcel of land for recreation purposes. At a public meeting in May, Essex County Freeholder, Muriel Shore spoke of the needs of the Reservation and of her personal support for the Conservancy. The meeting was held to present information to the interested public about the Conservancy, the Green Acres grant, and the additional funding for planning and maintenance provided by Joe DiVincenzo and the Essex County Park System. Besides Freeholder Shore, other officials present at the meeting were Deputy Mayor Sal Bate of Millburn, Mayor Fred Profeta and Vice Mayor David Huemer of Maplewood, and West Orange Councilman, John Skarbnik.

Several major projects are led by volunteers throughout the spring, summer, and fall. The Trash Collectors in cooperation with the County hold regular trash pickup days posted on our website and in newspapers. Cleanups were held on March 14, April 3, April 18, May 9, June 20, October 17, November 21, and November 28 concentrating on the worst areas: Bramhall Terrace, Summit Field, Tulip Springs, and Oakdale. Community volunteers included the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Brownies along with members of their families.

We have a hiking schedule, the dates of which also appear on our website, in flyers, and in local papers. The most recent report of Fall 2004 guided walks and hikes tallies 62 adults and 42 children just since the beginning of October.

During 2004, we held two Erosion Volunteers sessions. These expeditions ask volunteers to bring picks and shovels to clean out the drains and culverts.

To celebrate Arbor Day, we also planted about 30 pine seedlings in two volunteer days.

We participated in National Trails Day on June 6 at Locust Grove in Millburn. Dennis Percher was awarded Trail Keeper of the Year for his continuing efforts on behalf of the Conservancy and for his extraordinary work in preparing the Green Acres Application.

Articles and editorials reflecting our work and our concerns have appeared in local papers as well as in The Star Ledger. An article in the "Viewpoints" column of the Millburn Item about environmental problems in the Reservation was written by Mary McNett of the Millburn Township Commission and Linda Seelbach, the Committee liaison to the Hartshorn Arboretum. Several articles in the Item and the Independent Press reported on the Conservancy’s efforts to seek state funds for the rehabilitation of the Reservation

(January 29, February 19, and March 3). On March 25, the Item reported on the work of the Erosion Volunteers. On May 19 and July 22, articles appeared applauding the County’s pledge to restore the Reservation, giving details of the matching funds to the Green Acres grant.

1. Participate in the surveillance, planning and execution of the RFP for the Assessment and Management Plan for 2004-2005 as well as the Green Acres grant funding.
2. Reapply for Green Acres funding to continue the restoration of the Reservation.
3. Pursue the building of map boxes for each of the trailheads. Original map boxes were vandalized, but a new model has proved more suitable. Map boxes will be built by the County’s carpentry shop based on the one at Locust Grove.
4. Membership consolidation. What constitutes membership? What are the benefits? Responsibilities?
5. We are in the process of preparing a new map. The funding for this project comes from a donation of the Nadler Foundation. A committee of volunteers working with the staff archivist of the Essex County Parks Department will design two kinds of maps: one will be fully detailed, printed on high quality paper, and sold as a fund raiser. The other will be a simpler version of the same map, reproduced and available either through the County office or in the trailhead map boxes.
6. Continue the publication of The Pathfinder, as a semi-annual report to our members and supporters.
7. Community Outreach. Develop stronger connections with community organizations like church, school, and civic groups so that we can have ongoing educational and volunteer connections. We can deliver educational programs and encourage a base of volunteers.
8. Trail Blazes. Instead of repainting the blazes periodically, we would like to install more weather resistant markers for each of the trails. We have already experimented with sections of the Orange trail and find the new markers very satisfactory.
9. Having rerouted a section of the Rahway Trail so that hikers do not have to go on to South Orange Ave., we now find a problem crossing the Rahway tributary which rises quite high after rains and remains a challenge to cross even in dry weather. Since the DEP will not allow us to put more stones in the creek, we would like the County to help us build a suitable, simple crossing similar to the ones found on other hiking trails.
10. In addition to our annual breakfast for Trail Maintenance, provided by Dan Salvante, Essex County Parks Director, we plan to hold a large membership meeting in the spring inviting old and new members.

Board Members, 2004-2005

Vaclav Benes

Bob Franco

Sarah Hanson

Dave Ogens

Dennis Percher

Sydell Rabin

Edward Stuart

The Board meets on the second Wednesday, bi-monthly, at the Baird Community Center in South Orange. In the beginning of 2005, the Board will meet January 12 and February 8. The question of monthly or bi-monthly meetings will be discussed.

OPERATING EXPENSES

Income: $1,035

Income is derived from donations and our recently requested annual membership dues of $20/ per household.

Checks are made out to "Friends of Essex County Parks" with a notation for South Mountain Conservancy.

Expenses: So far, no official expenditures from our treasury have been made by the Conservancy. Individual members have contributed the cost of maintaining the website, postage, stationery, and post office box rental. A budget proposal for 2005 will be submitted at the January meeting.