2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of the Highlands Conservation Act. Passed on November 30, 2004, the Highlands Conservation Act was based on a study directed by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, otherwise known as the Farm Bill. Section 1244 directed a study that would focus on how to maintain adequate water supply for the region and preserve contiguous forests while also maintaining future growth. The study was expanded to include Pennsylvania and Connecticut, consisting of a region that covers 3.4 million acres of forests, waterways, and other diverse natural communities.

These four states are crucial to providing clean water to the large metropolitan areas within the states this region covers. In the New Jersey Highlands, as much as 373 million gallons of potable water are produced daily. In New Jersey alone over 6.2 million people, most of which live outside of the Highlands, rely on the region for their drinking water.
The Highlands Conservation Act includes the Highlands Conservation Act grant program, allocating $10 million dollars a year in matching grant funds for conservation projects within the region. Since 2004, $48 million in federal funds, matched by $74 million in non-federal funds have been used to permanently protect over 16,000 acres of land. When the Highlands Conservation Act was reauthorized in 2022, the Highlands boundary was expanded, nearly tripling the size of the region, to a potential 10 million acres that are able to be conserved. The reauthorized act also ensured federal funding until fiscal year 2029. It is also no longer just states that can hold titles to lands but also municipalities and governments, thus broadening the opportunities and capacities for who applies for the Highlands Conservation Act grant funds.

The past 20 years have been monumental for land conservation in the region and deserve to be celebrated! On October 23, the Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a hike at Storm King Mountain in New York. This event, in partnership with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and New York State Parks, was a gathering of nonprofits and state agencies that are currently working in the four-state Highlands region. Over the course of the three-mile hike, participants were able to talk about successful projects, learn more about different organizations, and hear the history of the Highlands Conservation Act and the region. At the summit of Storm King Mountain, due to radio tower landmarks, participants were able to see where the previous boundary for the Highlands landscape had been. With the changes to the Highlands boundary, the new boundary was out of sight, highlighting just how much more land is available to be conserved.

This event left all participants feeling excited and hopeful for the Highlands Conservation Act to continue to hit major milestones. The goal for the next 20 years is to conserve more land, build climate resiliency, and increase outdoor access, specifically for Justice 40 communities and the Indigenous groups that have traditionally called the Highlands landscape home. If you and your organization would like to submit a project to help achieve these goals within the Highlands region, the 2025 grant rounds are open and can be accessed here. If you have any questions please reach out to Dan Pierce, Highlands Program Specialist, and your DCNR Bureau of recreation and Conservation Regional Advisor. Here’s to another 20 years!