Vernal Pools in the Highlands

Potential changes in development policies are seen by some to be threatening the vernal pools of the Highlands. CRSSA has been active in explaining vernal pool habitat loss and mapping out the locations of pools. But it isn't as if the Council member don't recognize the potential harm, the debate seems to be centering more on the costs of these policies:

"I'm concerned with the logic of why, as a matter of policy, we would allow the exacerbation of water deficits," said member Tim Dillingham. "We should be very, very prudent in the watersheds we know are in a deficit."

"We have to do the right thing here," said Jack Schrier, the council's vice chair from Mendham Township. "If we are going to prohibit flat out any more depletive uses, we are essentially stopping all development. I don't think that's our purpose."

Even if the policies change it doesn't mean that the debate will end. This is a fundamental tension between property rights, development pressures, societal valuing of wildlife, and concerns over environmental quality.