The bill does not require the owners to sell, only makes the land eligible for preservation funding. The two properties are next to each other and make up Saddle Mountain, a craggy piece of forest that soars above the Wanaque Reservoir. It is located just north of Norvin Green State Forest. Conservationists have been trying to save Saddle Mountain for more than a decade because it drains into the reservoir, which provides drinking water to more than 2 million people. The Braen family, which owns a stone quarry next to the tracts, wants to build a golf course on the land, which has sheer cliffs and jagged peaks.
Environmentalists charge the golf course plan is merely a ruse for mining the mountain.
McNamara, a close friend of the late Sam Braen, said he did not ask for the properties to be removed. Senate Republican staff declined to say how the tracts were taken out of the legislation. The amendment passed unanimously, but the bill still appears to be in trouble. The resolution needed six votes to pass, and it just mustered enough support. Voting affirmative were Cape May County freeholder Dan Beyel, Atlantic County freeholder Kirk Conover, Cumberland County freeholder Douglas Fisher, Vineland mayor Anthony Campanella, Sea Isle City mayor Leonard Desiderio, and Pennsville committeeman Robert Jack.