Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Salem County, NJ
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Jersey Agriculture Facts
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Watershed Management
Papers presented at Second Int'l Conf. on Geospatial Info. in Ag. and For.,
Jan.10-12, 2000, FL
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The Salem River Watershed
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The Salem River Watershed (117 square miles) and the Delaware River
Estuary (23 square miles) cover one-third of Salem County, making it the
largest watershed within the county and the largest within management area
#17. Thirteen of the county’s fifteen municipalities are wholly or
partially within this watershed. Nearly 54,000 of the County’s 67,500
residents live within the watershed on 13% of the land. The largest
natural feature is Mannington Meadows (20,020 acres (3.2 square miles)).
There are a total of 414 miles of mapped rivers and streams within the
watershed.
Based on 1995/1997 land use/land cover data (source: NJDEP), 43% (38,590
acres) of the watershed is in agriculture, 9.3% (8,375 acres) is forested,
33.5% (30,100 acres) is water or wetlands and 13.3% (11,900 acres) is urban.
From 1986 to 1997 the amount of acres of agricultural and wetland loss
to the watershed is 1325 and 260 acres respectively. Urban and developed
areas have increased by 990 acres. On a county-wide basis,
Salem County has lost approximately 8,300 acres of farmland, 1750 acres
of wetlands (coastal and inland) and gained over 9,300 acres of developed
land (CRSSA, landscape project) over the same time period. Agriculture
still maintains a strong base in the county; however, these changes in
land cover/land use reflect rends seen throughout the state.
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