South Jersey’s newest outdoor recreation spot: a 180-acre, century-old cranberry farm

About 180 acres of a nearly century-old cranberry farm in Southampton, Burlington County, will be preserved as open space for public recreation after being bought this week by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

The nonprofit New Jersey Conservation Foundation, or NJ Conservation, purchased the land on Ongs Hat Road for $269,739, officials from the organization announced Wednesday. They said preserving the farm in the Pine Barrens, which was started more than 90 years ago, will protect water quality within the Rancocas Creek watershed and provide wetland habitat for critical species.

The property was part of a farm owned by the Mehler family for generations under the Rancocas Cranberry Co. Craig Mehler, the cranberry company’s president, will keep 33 acres of active cranberry bogs and continue to sell the fruit to Ocean Spray.

NJ Conservation paid for the land with funds from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program, Pinelands Preservation Alliance, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant. The Open Space Institute contributed money through a fund of the William Penn Foundation. And Ducks Unlimited contributed money toward costs associated with the purchase.

Although NJ Conservation will own the property, the organization plans to partner with the Pinelands Preservation Alliance to manage the land and host outdoor education programs.

“This property is truly a gem of the Pine Barrens, representing a history of conservation that we are proud to uphold,” said Stephanie Kreiser, NJ Conservation’s director for South Jersey.

Jaclyn Rhoads, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance’s executive director, said that group, through its Pinelands Adventures LLC, would offer guided trips to the public, “so they can see the incredible beauty of the Pinelands while having a little fun.”

The tract is across from NJ Conservation’s 170-acre Evert Trail Preserve, and adjacent to Brendan Byrne State Forest. It also adjoins Blueberry Acres, a 205-acre property that was preserved by the Trust for Public Land and transferred to NJ Conservation in 2021.

All of the former cranberry farm land lies within the headwaters of the South Branch Rancocas Creek, which flows through the property and supplies water to a reservoir on-site.

Approximately 98% percent of the property is wetland, while the remainder is upland forest. It provides habitat for the Pine Barrens bluet, redheaded woodpecker, timber rattlesnake, northern parula, great blue heron, bald eagle, and barred owl.

Officials said four generations of the Mehler family used the property starting in 1933.

Craig Mehler said in the preservation announcement that his grandmother and father always wanted to see the property “stay natural.”

“I’m happy to continue the legacy and see that my grandmother’s and my father’s hopes to protect the land in perpetuity are realized,” Mehler said.

Jim Feaga, a biologist with Ducks Unlimited, called the newly acquired terrain valuable for many species and an important waterfowl and migratory bird stopover habitat.

New Jersey’s Green Acres director Martha Sullivan Sapp said the land would extend public recreational access through its connection to Brendan Byrne State Forest.