WE CARE NEW JERSEY & CLIMATE REVOLUTION ACTION NETWORK LEAD WATCHUNG RIDGE PRESS CONFERENCE
Coalition of Residents, Environmental Leaders, Indigenous Leaders, Businesses and Regional Organizations Demand Permanent Preservation of the Second Ridge Forest and Rejection of High-Rise Development
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ben Dziobek
Executive Director, CRAN
M: 732-543-3005 E: ben@climaterevolutionnj.org
ASSETS:
West Orange, NJ, September 26, 2025 — Today at 1 pm, WECARE NJ and the Climate Revolution Action Network (CRAN) held a press conference at 61 Howell Drive West Orange 07052 to call for the permanent preservation of the Watchung Ridge Forest and to oppose the proposed 496-unit high-rise development on the Second Ridge.
“Are public safety and irreparable environmental harm relevant to site selection for affordable housing? The answer might be obvious - the reality is not so clear. The site represents the worst possible case example of what not to do in the name of environmental justice. If the court ordered plan proceeds - then irreparable environmental harm to natural resources knows no legal limit. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. That can’t happen. New Jersey is at a crossroads — voters and citizens must make a choice. If protecting natural resources and defending public safety is not the highest priority - what is? Lawmakers need to establish clear guidelines. This extreme conflict is a great place to start. We shouldn’t need to be here” said Joe Pannullo WeCARE NJ President.
“The Watchung Mountains are sacred land, not a site for reckless development. Pushing housing to the top of the mountain without water utilities or public transit is irresponsible and dangerous,” said Ben Dziobek, Executive Director of the Climate Revolution Action Network. “ Using ‘affordable housing’ as a scapegoat for a project that increases wildfire risk, worsens flooding, and destroys critical habitat is dishonest. This isn’t even about meeting community needs — it’s about a billionaire developer forcing construction where it doesn’t belong. We need to protect the Second Watchung Ridge and the people who depend on them.”
“Save our sacred land and living culture,” said Acting Chief Vincent Mann, Ramapough Munsee Lenape Nation.
The Watchung Second Ridge Forest of the Watchung Mountains is a 120-acre mature core forest — the last of its kind in the region. For decades, Essex County and West Orange Township identified it as a top priority for preservation, even applying for Green Acres funding to protect it permanently.
That future is now in jeopardy. A developer has proposed 496 apartments in four towers on steep, forested slopes. The project will destroy wetlands and the headwaters of Canoe Brook, worsen flooding, threaten public drinking water, and erase one of the last major forests in Essex County. Legal and scientific experts have found flaws in DEP permits issued. WeCare and three municipalities are appealing DEP’s permit decision in court.
This fight is emblematic of New Jersey’s tension between a broader housing crisis vs. environmental harm and public safety — where billionaire developers push destructive projects under the banner of affordability, despite abundant opportunities for redevelopment on already-disturbed land. Affordable housing is vital, but it cannot assault public safety by blasting bedrock, bulldozing irreplaceable forests, and threatening natural drinking water supply.
More than 30,000 residents and people from across the region who use the forest signed a letter to West Orange leadership demanding preservation. The forest provides critical benefits — flood prevention, clean water protection, carbon storage, wildlife habitat, and cultural connection to the Ramapough Lenape people. The decision now before the Township will determine whether the last unprotected core forest in Essex County and Canoe Brook headwaters are saved for future generations or permanently destroyed.
Advocacy Supporters
"We must continue our efforts to protect the forests and open spaces that provide flood protection and many other benefits in the face of increased storms and climate impacts," said Alison Mitchell, Executive Director for the NJ Conservation Foundation. "New Jersey needs more affordable housing, but using affordable housing laws in an attempt to build in a place that should not be used for housing of any type is not good planning, and will only result in problems for future residents and downstream neighbors.”
“Building on the last core forest on Watchung Mountain Second Ridge, would devastate forests, wetlands, and drinking water supplies while worsening flooding. This is the wrong project in the worst possible place, and we urge DEP to stop it before it causes irreversible harm,” said Ed Potosnak, Executive Director, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters. “The proposed development would increase flooding and reduce water recharge at a time when climate risks are only getting worse. We stand firmly with WeCare NJ, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, and the neighboring municipalities in opposing this ill-conceived project and urging DEP to reverse course before it irreparably harms this critical forested landscape.”
“The proposed affordable housing development for the Second Watchung Ridge is entirely inappropriate and irresponsible for both the local community and environment. This project will clear cut up to 30 acres of forest in a developed part of the state, and isolate residents on top of a mountain away from transit, grocery stores, and threaten public safety. The Sierra Club urges the West Orange Planning Board to reject this proposal and find an appropriate location to fulfill its affordable housing mandates instead of fulfilling a billionaire’s dream housing project,” said Taylor McFarland, NJ Sierra Club Conservation Program Manager.
“The Watchung Ridge Forest is the last of its kind – an untouched 120 acre undisturbed ecological oasis along the second ridge of the Watchung Mountains that provides a crucial green jewel amidst Essex County. The very thing that makes it so valuable ecologically – its pristine nature – is why it has been targeted for more than two decades for housing development. In a warming and wetter world, the threat of increased flooding, steep slope degradation and deforestation and the impacts on the Canoe Brook can’t be overlooked,” said Doug O’Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey. “The West Orange Planning Board should reject this proposal based on the forest’s environmental attributes and development’s negative impacts. This is not just a local development fight – this is a broader issue of how to protect some of our last remaining forested areas amid our state’s suburbs.”
"The easiest, cheapest, most effective way to protect clean water is to protect intact forests. We can destroy our forests, mortgage our future, and ruin our communities, paying the cost in more flooding and more pollution. Or we can do the right thing: protect the Watchung Ridge forest and protect our future. The time is now to do the right thing" said Bill Kibler, Executive Director, Great Swamp Watershed Association.
Sustainable businesses urge West Orange to preserve Watchung Mountain Second Ridge to prevent the degradation of drinking water and the increased possibility of severe flooding, said Rebecca C. Lubot, Ph.D., M.Sc., Executive Director of the New Jersey Sustainable Business Network. In a recently published op-ed, the New Jersey Sustainable Business Network explained that both the federal government and insurance companies have made it clear that mitigating flood risk now lies solely in the hands of state, county, and local governments. The preservation of this last core forest in densely populated Essex County is more important than ever to bolster businesses’ resilience.
“The Vermeule Forest Map of Northern NJ shows that this was a forest in 1900, which means that this is one of the oldest, most intact forests remaining east of the Highlands. No planted forest today can ever match its ecological integrity, its rich biodiversity, native and rare plants, and the complexity of its soils that are naturally resistant to non-native invasions,” said Elliott Ruga, Policy & Communications Director of the New Jersey Highlands Coalition. “Mt. Laurel I and II instruct us repeatedly that the obligation to provide affordable housing should not require sacrificing forests and environmentally sensitive areas. I implore our NGO colleagues at Fair Share Housing Center and other housing advocates to work with West Orange Township to come up with a better plan that doesn’t put affordable housing on a collision course with a healthy and safe environment. This forest needs to be preserved and there is funding available for that purpose."
Local Electeds
"The negative consequences of this project extend well beyond West Orange. After decades of development by the same developer, areas immediately downhill and downstream from the site already flood regularly. Critical drinking water resources for the region are also under threat. To date, neither of these issues has been adequately considered by the developer, the Planning Board or the NJDEP," said Edward Davis, Mayor, Essex Fells.
“The Watchung Mountain Second Ridge forest must be protected. It is far more than a collection of trees; it is a mature ecosystem that provides critical flood protection, purifies our aquifer, stores carbon, and sustains diverse native species. Developing this land would not only destroy an irreplaceable natural space, but it would also push floodwaters directly into the neighborhoods at the base of the mountain, putting families at risk. Preserving this forest is essential for public safety, environmental resilience, and the well-being of our surrounding communities,” Brendan Gill, Commissioner, Essex County.
Citizen Advocates
“This proposed development ignores all current environmental regulations from tree preservation and replacement, to steep slopes disturbance, to stormwater management and beyond. If approved, it will cause flooding and water quality issues for hundreds of thousands of NJ residents and businesses,” said Jessica Pearson, Chair, Verona Environmental Commission.
“We share a ridge line with the South Mountain Reservation. Similar topography. A forest fire in April destroyed 18 acres before it was brought under control. There were no nearby structures. There were no injuries. However, this property would have 496 families living in the center of woods with major terrain challenges and extremely limited evacuation routes. In the event of a similar fire or worse, I fear for their safety,” said Barbara White, West Orange resident.
“This forest constitutes the lungs of West Orange and must be left intact,” said Sally Malanga, Board Member, Our Green West Orange.
“I have lived in West Orange for more than 20 years and we have raised our children in this wonderful community. What we see time and again is that our local government’s failure to plan for affordable housing and smart development leads us to community division and to the brink of this environmental disaster. This development will annihilate a forest and we know will leave our community worse off as we deal with the consequences of a changing climate” said Jonathan Redwine, West Orange resident.
The new and improved WECARENJ is leading a quarter century old fight to preserve this rare and precious property. WECARE is an acronym for West Essex Committee Against Excessive Rezoning. If anything ever was excessive rezoning, it is the application pending before the West Orange Planning Board. I should know—I have been there from the start of the fight in 1998. And I am still here, in awe of WECARENJ’s new leadership and increasingly optimistic that we will prevail at long last,” said Paul Tractenberg, Founder WeCareNJ, Professor Emeritus Rutgers Law, West Orange resident.
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About We Care NJ
WECARE NJ CORP is the successor to the original West Essex Committee Against Rezoning Excesses (WECARE), an association formed in 2000 that won a landmark 5 to 2 victory against overdevelopment before the West Orange Planning Board in 2006 and worked with groups like the Trust for Public Land for more than a decade to push for permanent preservation of the Watchung Second Ridge. Rooted in neighboring communities of West Orange, Essex Fells, Roseland, and Verona, the group united residents concerned about public safety, extreme flooding, drinking water, and ecological loss. These same concerns, now heightened by the threats of climate change and overdevelopment, led to the creation of WECARE NJ in 2023. Today, WECARE is a more formal, broader based organization committed to mobilizing a large and diverse coalition to ensure that preservation of critical natural resources prevail over irreparable destructive development, carrying forward its guiding principle: many towns, one roof, shared voice.
About Climate Revolution Action Network (CRAN)
Founded in 2024, CRAN is an emerging climate action, education, training, and advocacy nonprofit with 11,000 Gen-Z members statewide. Followed by 50K across social platforms, the grassroots organization consistently generates 1.5 million+ monthly content views.
FOOTNOTES
Environmental Commission Resolutions: Montclair, Livingston, Millburn, Caldwell
Association of NJ Environmental Commissions; Essex County Environmental Commission; West Orange Environmental Commission; Verona Environmental Commission; South Orange Environmental Commission; Our Green West Orange
Coalition Members: WeCareNJ; Climate Revolution Action Network; Ramapough Lenape Nation; New Jersey Conservation Foundation; Landworks Advisory Group; The Watershed Institute; New Jersey League of Conservation Voters; Sierra Club NJ Chapter; Great Swamp Watershed Association; New Jersey Highlands Coalition; Rahway River Watershed Association; Raritan Headwaters; Rahway River Watershed Association; Pinelands Preservation Alliance; NY/NJ Baykeeper; Newark Science and Sustainability Inc.; Grover Cleveland Park Conservancy; Native Plant Society of NJ, Essex Chapter; EarthShare New Jersey; Environment New Jersey; Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions; SOMA Action Climate; Top Hats Indigenous Social Club, Scheyichbi Chapter; Our Green West Orange; Greater Newark Conservancy; New Jersey Sustainable Business Network, Northeast Earth Coalition
