MANCHESTER – Members of the Manchester Environmental Commission have made it one of their goals to help clean up the township, and are considering two local areas that are part of history but hidden from view.
Commission member Gabrielle Fox made a presentation to the Commission about potential clean-up sites during a recent virtual meeting. “I reached out to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and the Barnegat Bay Partnership. The Pinelands Preservation Alliance has given me a couple of options to work with them. The Barnegat Bay Partnership suggested I reach out to the Watershed Ambassador (Emily McGuckin). She is obviously a really good resource for Ocean County.”
“Either of those work. They gave us two sites for potential locations in Manchester. One is the Brooks Brey Brick Factory and the other one is the Crossley Preserve. I have been to the brick factory and I know it is a bit of a disaster. Both of those would be really good potential cleanup sites,” Fox added.
A section of the township that Fox said was frequented by people on ATVs owned by Heritage Minerals was privately owned and would not be suitable. Fox presented a six slide PowerPoint presentation during the meeting.
The brick factory is within the Brenden Byrne State Forest which has an entrance off Route 70 heading west.
Commissioner Peggy Middaugh said the Crossley site was a good choice. “We all drive by it all the time, I’m sure, but I have never figured out how to get in there. You go past all the retirement communities as you go towards Dover Road. It is this giant space.”
Fox researched partnerships with the Commission which could also involve volunteers from the community willing to help with the cleanup projects. Fox said the brick factory was in the Whiting section of Manchester. “It definitely attracts a respectable crowd of people and it has a lot of graffiti and is very dilapidated. It is definitely an area of the Pinelands in need of a cleanup.”
“There is a lot of trash and spray paint cans. I don’t know how deep in the woods the trash extends. We may need four-wheel drives to access some of the area and I was thinking of consideration of the Whiting Dump. I don’t know what would need to be done. I don’t know if they would allow those without a sticker to come in and drop off the trash that we collect,” Fox added.
Fox said she felt there were opportunities for expansion if a Boy or Girl Scouts group wanted to put up some historical signs though it could also be another surface for spray painting “so I’m not sure if that idea would be positive or negative. It is a disrespected area but we could turn it into an informative piece of Pinelands history.”
She also noted a few negatives in areas of it that she said was crumbling and had some inappropriate graffiti. “I used to go out there as a kid and check it out and was excited about finding something old and falling apart but now it is (falling apart more) than it was in the past.”
She spoke about the Crossley Preserve “which is an already preserved piece of Pineland. It was an old factory and it definitely has signage. I have never been there. I didn’t even know it existed. I looked at the old trails ratings and some of the people said the trails were flooded and overgrown.”
Fox said there looked to be a potential to restore some of the hiking trails. “There are people who are in charge of the preserve so maybe they can give us a little but more insight as to what needs to be done with help from other people. Some of the cons is that it is potentially flooded and I don’t know how limited the access is.”
“Is there a reason why there is so much flooding? Is there beavers there? Is it just a naturally flooded area and it does share jurisdiction with Berkeley Township so I don’t know if they would be interested in getting involved,” asked Fox.
Commission Chair Rory Wells recommended site visits by Commission members to both locations.
Middaugh said the Crossley site is probably a couple thousand acres. “It is huge. There are definitely roads going into it. I don’t know of any formal trails. It is used a lot by hunters. I think there is multiple trails.”
Wells noted that the township police department has a drone. “We can try and get into the areas we think need more attention. It may be a year long process. We may have six or seven dates throughout the year. If we have people willing to help us I think that’s great.”
Commission Vice Chair Bill Cook said he felt the Crossley Preserve was a bit overwhelming and favored the first location which he said “is at least more contained.”
“Five or six people isn’t going to do it right but if we have two organizations, if we can get volunteers, scouts, maybe the environmental club from town. If we had 60 people that is a different story for a weekend or two or three days,” Wells added.
The first site would require interaction and permission with the state, Wells said, due to it being in a state forest. “We would have to work with them which I’m sure they would be happy to work with us but we wouldn’t be able to go in without letting them know what we wanted to do first.”
Resident Mary Demarest said she had been to the Brooks Brey site on Pasadena Road many times. “You are not allowed to bring a vehicle back there. The roads are closed because of flooding and they will probably be closed through the summer because we’ve had an extraordinary amount of rain.”
Demarest offered her husband’s trailer for the clean-up effort. “It is a cult location. People come from all over the east coast to go to this thing and they hang out for hours at a time there. When you go back there in the woods you think you are the only one and when you get there, there is about 50 people at the site. It is quite busy back there.”
She acknowledged how large the second site was and recommended that focus be given to where the trails are located and to work on it one section at a time.
Wells said that the Commission would arrange for site visit date and that he would reach out to Manchester Township High School Environmental Club and Ocean County College “to let them we are going to be doing clean ups and we are looking for volunteers.”
Fox said she would reach out to the high school she works at to see if National Honor Society members would be interested in the effort.
