The recently established Sterling Forest Park, covering 15,280 acres, includes the largest intact forest in the New York- New Jersey Highlands region, which stretches from the Hudson River in the northeast to the Delaware River in the southwest. Before Sterling Forest was purchased from its corporate owner and given park status, however, plans were under way to build 13,000 housing units and a variety of commercial and industrial projects.

In response to this imminent threat, the Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute, along with a host of partners, began efforts to protect Sterling Forest. To collect ecological data over a broad landscape perspective and to assess the environmental threats of development, these groups enlisted the Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis at Rutgers University.

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Forest Cover Map

Satellte Map

Environmental Limitations Map