Q. What’s the public perception of the Highlands?
Lathrop: I think to a certain effect the Highlands do have an identity crisis in that a number of people that I've had contact with don’t really know -- when I talk about the Highlands -- what I really mean. I took an informal poll of my students and told them to draw in where the Highlands are. All the students knew the Highlands is located in north Jersey, or northwestern New Jersey, but less than half actually put it in where the Highlands really are. Most put them in the Kittatinny Ridge, which is northwest of the Highlands. When we talk about the Highlands in a planning context, or a jurisdictional context, there’s less understanding there, and so we need to work harder in terms of identifying the Highlands as a unique region, similar to the Pinelands in south Jersey.

Q. Describe the Highlands.
Lathrop: We define the Highlands by its underlying geology. There’s quite a difference as you go north to south. One of the dividing lines we make is the glaciated vs. unglaciated, because in those areas where the Wisconsin glacier came down and scoured the surfaces of the land, the soil is very poor, so there's really not much farming. As you look in the southwest portion, as you get further south below the glaciated line, then you start to pick up on a richer agricultural value, so you get a different flavor depending on where you are within the Highlands.

Q. Describe the Pequannock Watershed.
Lathrop: The Pequannock Watershed is found in the northern portion of the New Jersey Highlands and forms a large core of relatively unfragmented forests. Some of that has to do with the land use history. For example, much of that land is owned by the city of Newark and they managed the watershed lands. Development was kept out of there for a number of years. And so, as a result of that, we have large areas of unbroken forest, and those forests themselves protect a lot of the existing reservoirs.

Q. Describe your involvement in the Highlands Study Update.
Lathrop: One of the roles Rutgers as an academic institution plays is it has this center for remote sensing, and here the role we tried to play was to bring various disciplines together. As a team effort we had ecologists, we had land use planners, we had a regional economist involved as well as graduate students and undergraduate students, all working together as a team with our partners in the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, and the Regional Planning Association. The major challenge in the study was to incorporate information from federal sources, state sources, down to the municipal level. Working across New York and New Jersey, this bi-state region, made it even more challenging.

Q. Describe some of the work involved in the 2002 Study Update.
Lathrop: One of the major questions behind the Forest Survey study (2002 USDA Forest Service Study Update) was to look at the implications of changing land use to Highlands resources. I had a role in terms of trying to integrate what was happening, determine the trends in land cover and land use across the Highlands, and then think about some of the implications of how that land use might change and how it might affect the resources down the road. One of the things that we found in terms of the Highlands, while it's still predominately forested -- over 50 percent of the area is forests – we did find that the amount of development is increasing, and it's steadily increasing at a rate of 3,000 to 5,000 acres per year of new development. And that in and of itself isn't so surprising; we've seen that steady push outward of development. But we've also seen a lot of leapfrogging of new development happening, in and amongst the Highlands, and leaping all the way across the Highlands. And so that change in forest – especially the breaking up of large forest pieces into smaller chunks, forest fragmentation -- we think that's one of the important trends of change in the Highlands.

Q. What were some of the strategies in the Study Update?
Lathrop: One of the things that the US Forest Service was interested in was how they should prioritize their future efforts in the Highlands region. One of our objectives was to look at a number of the different resources where they occurred on the landscape, and so we looked at the Highlands in terms of important areas for water resources, for biodiversity, for forest resources, farmland and recreation. Then we mapped those various resources, and combined those together so that we could look at them in a composite form to get some idea of locations with some of the highest priorities, in order to best maintain the integrity of this system of natural resources. After that, we took it one step further and looked at the potential areas with a higher likelihood of new development happening. Taking our past data sets, we could develop some understanding of which areas would be most likely to change in the future. Combining those two lines of evidence, the inherent natural resource value versus the likelihood of change, provided us a better idea of where to prioritize efforts in terms of managing and conserving those natural resources.

Q. What were the key factors used when thinking about future growth in the Highlands?
Lathrop: The model that we used to predict the likelihood of change incorporated a number of geographic features, and one of those is definitely “commuting distance” … distance to major arteries, the major interstates, and train lines. We also considered some environmental factors, in terms of steepness of slopes, for example flat areas are more likely to be developed than steep areas. But the way we actually corroborated this model was to compare past change, looking at where past change occurred. We would look at those characteristics and then use that to predict where future change would occur. That particular modeling effort was to look at the near term, the next 5 to 10 years of change. Then the longer term becomes much more difficult to predict or estimate.

Q. How heavy was the development generally in the Highlands?
Lathrop: Development rates within the Highlands vary geographically across the Highlands. We found some areas that have received very little development, as well as some areas that are hot spots of change. In terms of broadly across the entire region, it’s similar to the overall percentages we see elsewhere within the state in terms of the growing areas within the state. There's some portions of the state that are already built out, and we don't see much change, but in terms of outer suburbia or exurbia areas, the Highlands are similar in that respect.

Q. What’s happening with the data beyond the Study?
Lathrop: As part of the 2002 USDA Forest Service Study we amassed a large regional database about the Highlands. As an outgrowth of that particular study, we're trying to translate that regional information down to the municipal scale to provide the information out to local planning boards, watershed groups, and anyone interested in land use decisions at a municipal or county scale. And so we’re taking that particular data and trying to make it more widely available through the web as well as other avenues. A lot of people are interested in open space preservation and trying to identify important parcels of open space. Our hope is that you can begin looking at a regional scale, and perhaps helping a municipality look at their individual tracts that may be of interest, helping them look at those tracts in the larger regional context, and being able to find out how important that particular piece of open space is across the broader region.

Q. Talk about the tools you use.
Lathrop: Usually the remote sensing component gives us a big picture view on the landscape. It also allows us to look back in time, so we can trace the changes across New Jersey and across the mid-Atlantic region. One of the things that we've been studying is change in forests, and how human land uses are affecting forests across the Highlands regions as well as New Jersey in general. And one of the things we’re looking at in general is not just how the forests are changing in a local context, but how that has implications for a broader regional context. So one of the things we've been doing is combining our satellite remote sensing, over broad areas, with detailed field studies, in terms of the types of trees and especially the amount of forest bio mass. This study is focused on what's happening to our forests here in New Jersey, similar to what's happening in the Amazon. For instance, there's a lot of interest in the loss of forest and what does that mean to larger global carbon cycles? And we see forest loss here, and so we’re trying to get a better handle on what that means in terms of some of these broader implications to carbon cycling and hydrological cycling in general.

Q. Describe some Highlands fieldwork.
Lathrop: One of the things that we’ve been doing this summer is taking detailed field measurements in forests across the Highlands. We go out and look at some of the measurements our field crew has been taking out in the field so we can relate what's happening on the ground in the forest to what we see on the satellite systems. It’s part of our longer ongoing studies in looking at trends in forest cover, looking at trends in forest fragmentation, and spatial patterns. And then we want to look at trends in forest bio mass -- bio mass is really the amount of living matter out on the landscape.

Q. What’s leap-frogging development?
Lathrop: A lot of times when we think of development, we think of growing outward rings. Rings growing out from New York City, for instance, or northern New Jersey. And what we see along across a time series of aerial photography and satellite imagery over the Highlands is new centers of development happening all across the Highlands. And the idea of leap frogging isn’t as much adjacent as it is in many cases very dispersed -- what we often think of as suburban sprawl.

Q. How does land use for development affect an area’s water supply?
Lathrop: One of the major impacts that development has is the changing of existing land cover, especially in the case of the Highlands, forest land cover, to impervious surface. And impervious surface tends to change the hydrological cycle in that instead of water infiltrating the soil, it tends to run off very quickly into the surface water system, like streams and reservoirs for example. That has two major impacts: one is it carries a lot of pollutants that humans put on the land surface very quickly to the stream systems; and second, it changes the response of the stream systems. They become more flashy -- the water runs off more quickly, and so you have much higher storm peaks, but more compressed periods of flow. When you start to look at a broader scale – a watershed scale -- when you increase the amount of development, you increase the amount of impervious surface, and there's a clear cut decline in water quality.

Q. Is there any data suggesting this relationship?
Lathrop: One of the things that the US Geological Survey did was compare their existing nutrient sampling data for their gauge watersheds with the land cover data that we produce. Based on that you can see, as the amount of development increases, there’s a change in surface water quality. And there's kind of a break point, so as you gradually increase or develop a watershed, you see a gradual decline in water quality. And when you have ten, fifteen, twenty percent, especially around that fifteen percent impervious surface level, there’s a change in the relationship where the water quality degrades more quickly. The runoff characteristics change more quickly too.

Q. What’s forest fragmentation and what are its impacts?
Lathrop: A number of ecologists and land use planners have really started to appreciate the importance of protecting the integrity of large unbroken tracts of forests. These large unbroken tracts of forest have a number of different values, and one is the conservation of certain types of wildlife species. As development starts to happen, wildlife will adapt, and there are some species that readily adapt to development where you have small pockets of houses, subdivisions in amongst forests. We often think of them as edge species. There are other types of wildlife that tend to avoid humans, and they need those large unbroken tracts of forest – this group includes things like timber rattlesnakes that you really wouldn't want next to your housing development, but they are a natural component to the Highlands and are found in these large tracts of forest. They are very sensitive to human intrusion, and as the number in the region people increase, it tends to impact their populations.

Also, forest fragmentation has a whole cascading series of impacts. As we start to open up the forests, as we put in roads, it changes the microclimate. Those edges of the forest get greater sunlight and they are somewhat drier, so these conditions change the underlying ecology in terms of the dynamics in the plant community, for instance. Humans also tend to introduce species. Some plant species like to tag along with human populations and those species can get in and start to invade and take over, and start to out-compete some of the native plant species. And that's what we're seeing all across our forests in northern New Jersey.

In terms of forest fragmentation, it can start with a single road or a single house. The greater the area that you open up the forest canopy the greater you impact the forest. So an individual house may not have that great of an effect, but really it’s the cumulative effect over time, and as more and more houses come in, more and more roads, it’s that cumulative impact that is of greater concern.

Q. Are there challenges in the more southern, western parts of the New Jersey Highlands?
Lathrop: The southwestern portion of the Highlands is different in that we have relatively large broad agricultural values. We have a lot of farming in the valleys and the ridges are still in forests themselves, and in most cases the water there flows off into the Delaware which serves as a major source of water supply downstream to residents in New Jersey as well as Pennsylvania. There aren't as many reservoirs in that region within that section of the Highlands though there are, for instance, Spruce Run and Round Valley, which rely on water from the South Branch of the Raritan River, which is a Highlands river. So, as development has occurred within those watersheds there has been concern about the water quality impacts, especially to Spruce Run. Some of that is in terms of the nutrient status as well as the suspended sediment that comes down.

Q. What are the key “big picture” changes affecting land use in the Highlands?
Lathrop: Within the last thirty to forty years, a number of the interstate highways have pushed across the region. Route 80 first and then more recently Route 78 have both come on board, and this has changed the commuting patterns of people. In addition, people have moved out in the Highlands in much greater numbers, and we can see as we look at the development patterns, you can see the impact of those new major highways as avenues to corridors of growth. As you start to look at Route 78 and Route 80, and then some of the smaller highways like 23, 15, and 206 – all major roads that cross the Highlands to the north, and the south, these smaller offshoots then provide secondary avenues for growth. Some of that is for people to commute all across the Highlands, and through into Sussex County, but they also take people throughout the Highlands themselves. Highlands areas are very nice places to live, and there are a lot of amenities such as lake communities and scenic views, and so a lot of people are looking for that.

Q. Do people think about where their water comes from?
Lathrop: I don’t think most people really know where their water comes from. They turn on the tap and the water's there and as long as the water’s there they don't think too much about it. But people do value clean water. As you can see in terms of the explosion in bottled water. Most of the bottled water companies will advertise with an image of a nice clean outdoor source or promote that their water is coming from a forested spring. I think people would appreciate that the Highlands is protecting their water and I think one thing we need to do and one of the things the Forest Service Study was trying to do is increase the understanding and bring these connections out.

Q. Describe some key water supply issues in the Highlands.
Lathrop: Within the Highlands, water is a critical resource that is of concern to residents within the Highlands as well as the larger northern New Jersey, central New Jersey residents. A lot of the surface water gets exported from the Highlands. This water serves as the drinking supply for millions of people that live outside of the Highlands. The people that live in the Highlands get most of their water from groundwater, from wells. Either on their property or municipal wells, so they're both using the water, but they’re kind of carving it up in different ways. As the population increases in the Highlands, there is a greater and greater demand for water. As you start to pump more ground water, that means there's going to be less infiltration or groundwater flow out to some of these reservoirs. In some respect it is a limited resource and we're increasing the competition for that limited resource.

Q. Any trends in the kinds of development occurring in the Highlands?
Lathrop: When we looked at some of the land use trends, we went back to the 1970's, 80's and 90s. We saw that a lot of the farmland was being developed early on, especially farmland closer to more populated areas. Then we saw that more recently there is an increase in the amount of forest land developed, and that some of that forest land was located on comparatively steep slopes. As the highly developable pieces get developed , we are then forced to develop some of the more marginal areas. And so you see some of the developments on steep slopes and that have a greater environmental impact which is of concern.

Also, larger lot sizes are more popular. When you compare the overall amount of development vs. the increase in population across New Jersey and in the Highlands, we start to see a greater amount of land consumed per person -- if you want to put that way. As we go to larger homes and larger lot sizes, we are increasing the land consumption, so we're using more land, per person, per capita.

Q. Are we at a turning point for the Highlands?
Lathrop: When you look out across the Highlands’ history, it really is an interesting story. Here was an area that really was developed early on in terms of industrial development, so if you were back here two hundred years ago you would have seen the start of iron mining. Incredible amounts of iron existed in the Highlands, and that was mined. Now to get that iron they had to dig huge holes as well as cut down most of the forest to make charcoal to power the forges. So the Highlands one hundred and fifty years ago was much different than the Highlands we see today. A hundred and fifty years ago, the forests were repeatedly cut over for charcoal, so looking out across this landscape you would've seen bits and pieces of scrubby woods. In some of the more fertile lands there might have been farms, but at least in the northern Highlands it was kind of tough land, rocky land to farm, and so those areas were abandoned as well during the nineteenth century. Then in the later nineteenth century and into the twentieth century we begin to see the forest really starting to come back.

Once they found cheaper iron elsewhere, and cheaper sources of fuel, they weren't cutting down the forests, the forests were allowed to re-grow, and so coming into the early part of the twentieth century we had continuous forests across the Highlands. Then more recently in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, we start to see a turning point in terms of people moving back to the Highlands and starting to redevelop again. So, at this point, we are at kind of a critical juncture in that the Highlands are still predominately forested; forests are still the dominant cover over fifty percent of the region. Development is at about twenty-five percent, but were starting to see the balance shift in terms of greater development and less forest cover.

Q. What makes the Highlands special for you?
Lathrop: You have these large unbroken tracts of forest, so from a recreational point it's outstanding that you can go into this densely populated state and still find large areas of forest. It’s great that you can climb up a hill to a peak and look over unbroken hills and valleys. As a college professor I often take students out there, kids from New Jersey and say “this is your state!” and they're blown away, they can't believe it. They never thought there was wilderness, or wildness in New Jersey, and it's there in the Highlands.

Q. Are the Highlands nationally significant?
Lathrop: One of the things addressed in the 2002 USDA Forest Service Study is the issue of the Highlands’ significance to the northeast region and the nation as well. And one of the things that makes the Highlands nationally significant is its importance to New York City and the New York metropolitan area. It's really the backyard for the largest metropolitan region within the nation.

When you look at the Highlands, especially as a remote sensing scientist, when I look at a satellite image and I look across the entire region, you can see the amount of development that goes right up to the edge of the Highlands and then you have a green wall. Over the past twenty or thirty years, as the larger highways have cut through the Highlands, those highways then have provided a way for development to get in and spread out through the system. Within the last forty years an area that was very rural, unbroken forest is now starting to be developed and that development is throughout, in terms of being scattered throughout the Highlands. There still are significant areas of public open space that provide a core of protection and especially into New York state in the Harriman area, as well as in some areas of New Jersey.