Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation

Our Mission

To conserve forever the Olmsted-designed South Mountain Reservation lands and waters in accordance with its purpose of providing passive recreation and native habitat preservation

To restrict the Turtle Back Zoo from any further expansion, and protect all South Mountain Reservation land against further encroachment and development

Issues

Our Mission

THE CHALLENGE: Essex County proposed a 500 seat amphitheater which would have destroyed 2.5 acres of land inside the South Mountain Reservation.

THE RESULT: The project was put on indefinite hold and the NJDEP issued warnings to the County that no construction can proceed without required permits.

THE CURRENT CHALLENGE: Multiple projects are currently proposed to chip away at the reservation. We are remaining vigilant. But, we need your help to hire experts to assist us in moving towards full protections.

Our legal team sent a notice of intent to sue if development proceeded on areas our environmental consultant determined were wetlands. Our complaint prompted the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to conduct its own off-site evaluation. And their findings backed up ours!

At the August 11, 2021 West Orange Planning Board meeting, the attorney for Essex County stated, “There are no legal boundaries to the zoo. It is part of the reservation.” This is a historic Reservation intended to be preserved for the generations. So our work continues until boundaries are defined and expenditures for preservation replace the county’s multimillion expenditures on wreak-creation alone.

TOGETHER WE:

Mobilized a 26 member coalition of conservation and civic organizations
Educated the public and garnered support for land preservation
Garnered more than 12,000 signatures on a petition sent to County officials
Lobbied town governments and environmental commissions to pass resolutions opposing the amphitheater & support continued protections for the reservation
Organized a student-led rally attended by over 300 students, families & elected leaders
Received extensive media coverage including in The Star Ledger and News12
Marshaled environmental, architectural, engineering and legal experts to stop the wasteful $8 million-dollar taxpayer-paid amphitheater