"hunters. Who paid for the land that bikers are allowed to use "
@68nova200
I don't want to loose your support, but I have seen this repeated many times and and it is not accurate from my knowledge with respect to Wildcat WMA.
That is not to say that the WMA rules should be ignored, but rather we are all equally vested and should respect one another.
I moved into the area just as the majority of what is now Wildcat Ridge WMA was being explored for development of homes and a golf course. The contemporary house with a long driveway behind where
@graveyardman67 lives was the model home for perspective buyers. Further remnants of this is still evident by test holes with PVC pipes used for perc tests. The real-estate bubble of 1990, slowed progress of the development. At the same time, there was a local grass roots movement to save open space and the first petition to start an "open space trust fund" was presented in Rockaway Township. Raising taxes, to gather funds for land acquisition was a tough sell, and let me tell you going house to house to pitch the idea was quite an experience. But the numbers made sense when compared to building new schools. The petition was excepted, the creation of the trust fund passed, and so it was evident there was general popular support for land preservation. But could wildcat be saved? There was no money in the fund, so how can it be purchased from the developer? This is were the key folks that made it happen stepped in and obtained funding through the "Forest Legacy Program" which is federally backed though the USDA. Wow, just in time, all is great ..yes........no. There is always two sides and this is when the opposition attacked. Word was spread that the loss of revenue would be at the expense of Township jobs. There were town meetings, with packed rooms, where those in support of open space preservation stood before worried and angry town employees. As the pot boiled, those key folks went back to the table and negotiated compensation to the town for the loss of revenue. This compensation declined over time, but no jobs were lost. More parcels have been added to the WMA, like the "Brown Tract", which then used both Green Acres and the township open space trust funds to purchase.