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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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