Contact:
Steve Eisenhauer
Asst. Dir. of Protection and Stewardship
856-825-9925


Location: Cumberland County, NJ
Watershed(s): Maurice River and Nantuxent Creek
Landscape Type: Tidal River, Tidal Salt Marsh, Interior Wooded Wetlands

Part of the extensive tidal rivers and tidal salt marshes that ring the Delaware Bay, this landscape is the most biologically diverse in New Jersey, and is home to most of the state’s designated endangered species.

Its roles as a feeding ground for migratory birds makes it a landscape of national and international importance.

Ecological Features:

• One of the most biologically diverse natural areas in southern New Jersey.
• Majority of the state’s endangered plants and animals are found here.
• Largest concentration of wild rice tidal marsh in the state
• A principal feeding grounds in New Jersey for wintering
• Dramatically Increased bald eagle sightings indicate thriving and healthy river.
• The Glades is fed by outflow from Bear Swamp West, an unprotected virgin swamp forest recognized by state and federal authorities, as well as by The Nature Conservancy, as one of the most important unprotected habitats in our region.

Special Designations

• National Wild and Scenic River (National Park Service)

NLT Acquisitions and Other Efforts

• Acquisitions begun in 1960s
• 7,113-acre Glades Wildlife Refuge located in the western portion of the landscape.
• 700 acres on the lower Maurice River
  • Porch Preserve
  • Peek Preserve in the wild rice section of the river.
• Eastern fringes of the Glades Refuge and the western borders of the Porch Preserve targeted for protection.
• Connecting preserves via a vast area of interior wooded wetland (identified in our 1993 Lower Maurice River Study.) is also priority
• The Nature Conservancy’s Delaware Bayshores Office purchased lands to the west of the Glades along the Nantuxent River as well as on the Maurice and Manumuskin Rivers.

Partners

• The Nature Conservancy, Delaware Bayshores Office

Relevant Conservation Planning Documents

• Lower Maurice River Study (Natural Lands Trust, 1993)
• National Wild and Scenic River Study (National Park Service)