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December 29, 2009, 7:04PM

A $700,000 land deal has expanded the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris and Somerset counties by another 27 acres, adding acreage in Chatham Township that now brings the nature preserve’s size to nearly 7,800 acres, officials announced.

The deal, brokered by the Trust for Public Land, adds what had been a small, privately owned hunting preserve and lodge to the Great Swamp, under the ownership of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
great-swamp-wildlife-refuge.JPGMatt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA 2008 file photo of the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge.
The addition extends significant woodland habitat and watershed and public access for hiking and bird watching, while the house on the property will be used as an administrative building and residence for refuge staff, said conservation officials.

"This could have been sold to be developed for at least one home for a private buyer,’’ said Terrance Nolan, state representative for the Trust for Public Lands. "It had been listed for sale by a broker so development possibilities were real.’’

The money needed to finance the deal was secured through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, said Nolan, who credited Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) with leading the effort to obtain the money.

What is now the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was once planned to be the site of a major jetport but was preserved nearly 50 years ago as a refuge. It is home to more than 240 species of resident and migratory birds, and a wide variety of mammals and amphibians.

Refuge superintendent William Koch said there are continuing efforts to purchase key parcels of privately owned land that abut the nature area to add "valuable habitat area’’ and provide a buffer.

Earlier this year, the Trust for Public Land conserved a six-acre former dairy farm in New Vernon, preventing development of habitat along Great Brook and Fox Hollow Brook.