Q: Do you have a personal connection to the Highlands?
Gracie: I've worked throughout the New Jersey Highlands the last twenty years. I generally support and work with the private woodland owner. We assist in all areas of forest management, so we’re out at the forefront assisting many landowners within that region. In addition, I recreate in Highlands areas, so I know it from a recreational aspect also. I've always enjoyed working in the outdoors -- I made a profession out of it. I want to see New Jersey maintain and preserve our forests, to the best that we can -- given our high population density. So I have a very personal connection to it that way. I get very disturbed when I see excessive development, and I’m always encouraged to get more and more landowners participating in land management and helping them understand how they fit into the big picture.

Q: Describe your professional connection to Highlands forests.
Gracie: As a resource manager you know that’s our responsibility to see the forests within our state prevail. We want to make sure that they're there for future generations, not just the mere fact that they exist, but the health of our forests are in a good state. Generally we meet a landowner, a wood lot owner who has forestland and who has an interest in the land. We determine what things they want to manage their wood lot for and what the forest resources they have -- the types of trees, the types of landscapes within their property. We sort of take the scientific end of forestry, along with the art of matching objectives, and we come up with a plan of how a wood lot owner can manage for forestry improvement, for wildlife habitat improvement, and for a variety of both commodity and non-commodity uses.

Q: Do people think of their forested lands in terms of watershed impact?
Gracie: I think there's an increasing trend of thinking of forest lands in terms of the benefits they provide for watershed. That’s one of the key things that I work on with property owners. I want to demonstrate to them that they have more than just a timber resource or a firewood resource. It’s what goes on with the forest ecosystem, in terms of the watershed, especially if they have areas along a river or stream or even the tributaries of those things. As a professional resource manager, it’s part of what I do in terms of education. We'll talk to a landowner, we'll evaluate soils, we'll look at trees they have on the property ad I try to make them understand how a tree reduces the impact of a heavy rain for example. Or how the root system of the trees anchor soils in, how new growth, forest vegetation understory further lessen the impact of rain or erosion on a land base. And how that property fits into the bigger picture. You may have a property that's well upstream of a major river, but knowing that that tributary filters into a smaller stream and then a river and sort of drawing a diagram or helping landowners make that connection is critical. We also have a great variation in watershed systems throughout the region and there are many organizations promoting the values of those. Whether all people know about the link between forests and water quality, I highly doubt it, but we're moving in the right direction with education and public awareness.

Q: How do you educate people about this water/forest connection?
Gracie: Outdoor classrooms. I tell people that trees anchor soils in, to prevent erosion to lowland areas that are in the watershed. Or that trees help filter pollutants and things like that. We show people that even up in higher positions in the landscape, even positions of the property that aren't even remotely close to a stream or a brook … we would point out how these trees anchor soils in and provide filtration. So that goes a long way in helping people understand how trees provide valuable resource.

Within a watershed area you can almost view forestland as a water farm. I kind of like to use that analogy with forestlands. Not necessarily that we're farming the forestlands, but we're cultivating them in a sense that they are providing viable land for watershed. Using the analogy of a water farm is fitting when it comes to viewing the wood lots more than just for their tree value as a forest product or their benefits to wildlife. The forest lands are providing something that's going on underground, in terms of water filtration, collecting rainwater or runoff, and they are also providing buffers in transitional zones for wetlands, and around tributaries to major streams, rivers and anything else that lies downstream. Forests are critical in watershed areas. Without them I think the quality of our drinking water would not be very good because there's nothing there to help filtrate them. There's nothing to prevent erosion. So trees are essential within the Highlands and the more areas we can protect and maintain within the Highlands region, the better off the overall quality of our drinking water.

Q: Describe working with a landowner.
Gracie: Most of the property owners have management plans for at least ten years in duration. We need to recognize that forestlands have a definitive life span and we also need to be concerned about the next generation of trees, and do they even exist. We look at things like non-native invasives, Japanese barberry and Japanese honeysuckle and things along that line. We look at the impact of deer, because they play a vital role in impacting the forest duration by eating new seedlings that may come up in the spring and harming saplings that already exist. So we have to take a good look at what's going on, not only in the overstory of the forest, but also what's happening in the understory. And that helps us make educated plans for what we need to do to perpetuate that forest in the long run and the short run.

Then we have to monitor these systems. We don’t just do a plan and walk away saying everything's going to be okay. You have to periodically sit back and analyze what we are doing and if it’s working in a particular area. And if it's not, then maybe take a different approach. You always want to maintain a certain level of diversity for wildlife purposes. Plans do vary with each individual landowner depending on what their objectives are. But as a resource scientist, it's easier for me just to look at things in ten or twenty-year increments. You have to look at things in that sense because in the forest we're dealing with trees that take forty, sixty, a hundred years to mature. So you have to analyze the situation when they are young seedlings. We're in a declining state here, so we have to make sure with the next generation of trees coming along. When some of these larger ones die, it's certainly not a static situation, it's very dynamic, and we want to make provision for the future.

Q: What other issues do forest landowners face?
Gracie: We’re not in an industry forestland state, where landowners generate huge income from selling timber or firewood resources. It's a challenge for these landowners to hold onto the land. Taxes are at a premium; there's a push to subdivide and build on land. And keeping the land is expensive. We also have an influx of more and more non-native invasive species, we have pressure from development. These are monetary obstacles … what landowners are facing while trying to keep their land in a healthier state, and to keep it intact without being forced to develop.

Over the last fifteen or twenty years that I've worked in the forest resource throughout the Highlands region, one of the bigger challenges has been an escalating deer population. Our deer are more prevalent than ever and as a result of that we're losing pace with regenerating forest naturally. When we do our resource evaluation we examine the understory for the regeneration of trees and natural shrub vegetation. When we don’t see that we become increasingly alarmed by the impact deer are having on that property. We always encourage people to come up with some kind of a hunting program to maintain the deer herd. It's possible in some situations and not in others. The deer definitely have an impact on maintaining and growing our forests into healthy conditions. We know at some point the inevitable is going to happen, larger trees are going to die from natural succession. With the impact of deer we know we're not going to get natural regeneration so we have to begin planning. It's becoming a huge challenge.

You have to continue to maintain and manage that land. There’s a lot of responsibility that’s associated with it. If you hire resource managers to assist with the management with it, it's a cost they have to take on. Providing tax incentives or maybe some cost sharing programs that are becoming more and more available throughout the state, that's part of the equation. I think one of the critical obstacles is the lack of public awareness about how these larger landowners are actually benefiting other communities. We try to encourage and educate the public on maintaining healthy woodlands and how that benefits the region at large. After all, we are faced with the obstacles, that we are losing a land base. We’ve made great efforts and strides through preserving a lot of the land and it’s important that whether it be public or private land, let's not only preserve it, but also maintain its health and its quality.

Q: What’s involved in forest restoration?
Gracie: We have a long way to go because there's been so much neglect in so many of the forested properties. We look for restoration in the form of tree planting. We have gotten trees growing in an area where they may not be able to regenerate naturally. There are areas that are just entirely understocked forests, which is fine in certain situations, but it's always nice to go in there and plant trees, trees that are adaptable to the soil types, a variety of trees for the varied aesthetic and wildlife components. In certain situations we’ll put some exclusions around those trees, like fencing or tree shelters. Then we’ll monitor the growth and health of those trees. After planting them, we see that some vines are beginning to interfere with the trees, we'll want to cut some of that away from further interference of the trees, like what Japanese honeysuckle or oriental bittersweet may do to a tree. So we want to keep tabs on it, keep the invasives in control and monitor the health of the tree and see what works, and then extend to other areas of the property where those conditions may warrant.

Q: Are wildlife species a consideration?
Gracie: It's important when you manage any woodland resource, you take into account the specific wildlife species that are within the area. You get some kind of database to tell you what type of species may exist in an area, or go out and determine species and types of trees you might want to leave to perpetuate those species. Young growth areas vs. old growth areas and a mix of everything in between. That will enhance the wildlife capacity of that property. When you do have some wetlands areas also you want to make sure you're maintaining those areas because that's where you're going to find most of your wildlife species.

Q: Describe forest fragmentation.
Gracie: Development has definitely contributed to forest fragmentation. We're seeing more and more partialization … tracts of forestland that are divided by these developments. We're breaking down the infrastructure of forest. We’re segmenting things off to a point where it lessens the overall value of what these forest lands provide. When it comes to any kind of planning, whether it be local or regional planning, we have to help make that connection. We're never going to stop development, but we have to make conscientious decisions and educated, scientifically-based decisions on how we're going to maintain some corridor, on how we're going to lessen the impact of that fragmentation and partialization.

Q: Why is the private landowner a key player in the future of the Highlands?
Gracie: The private landowner within the Highlands region has a significant role because of the amount of land that's there. A lot of the Highlands is in the private sector's hands. That's why it's important to reach out to folks like the typical woodlot owner or farmland owner and educate them about their significance in the whole puzzle. We certainly don’t want to put too many constraints on them in terms of what they can and cannot do, but we want to make sure that they understand their importance to the Highlands in the watershed perspective. It’s important to help these landowners recognize the benefit they have to the total picture and that’s one of the key things in preserving and maintaining healthy viable watershed lands for the future.

Q: Are the Highlands at a turning point?
Gracie: Since the turn of the last century, we certainly have more forested areas than we have had before. There’s been a lot of abandoned farmland, abandoned mining areas, areas that were just cleared for wood resources that have grown up or evolved which changed the character of the Highlands over time. The infrastructure of New Jersey’s highways have spread regional development within that area. We can look at maps from years ago and see very little development in areas that now have been spurred on by a greater infrastructure of major roads and shopping malls and things like that, that make these areas more appealing to a suburbanized group of people. So, I think it's more important than ever to take a broader look at these areas to look at what we're doing and find those critical areas that we need to protect and maintain, and to educate people. I’m encouraged by many of the conservation efforts that have occurred within the Highlands region. Whether it be farmland preservation efforts or more conservation easements. There's great incentive to do it. There’s more money available to promote and maintain lands within the Highlands regions for landowners to take benefit of. We’re seeing more public awareness of the benefits of the Highlands, with the state of urban sprawl that we're in. Education about the Highlands and the resources that it provides is very key in all of this, because it is changing.