In a state boasting large swaths of parkland, a 21-acre tract tucked behind a residential street in Montclair might be overlooked. That would be a shame.
What the Alonzo F. Bonsal Wildlife Preserve lacks in size, it makes up for with its rich array of native plants, animal life and walking paths—all made possible 50 years ago by a consortium of nature lovers and government officials.
“It’s a tale of two municipalities and some people who saw the gem this could be,” says Jonathan Grupper, president of the Bonsal Wildlife Conservancy, a nonprofit created in 2022 to oversee and raise money for the sanctuary.
The tract borders Clifton and is named for a member of the Bonsal family of Montclair, which donated seed money for the project in 1974 after the land had been set aside under New Jersey’s Green Acres program.
The Bonsal received further protection a few years ago with Clifton’s novel resolution to bury an above-ground sewer line that had threatened the woodlands; the preserve abuts a 9-acre parcel owned by the North Jersey District Water Commission. Today, Grupper leads a dedicated group of volunteers who perform trash cleanups, clear the preserve of invasive species like Japanese knotweed, and even conduct fish counts on the Third River, a Passaic River tributary that runs through the preserve.
One of those volunteers, Cesar Presa, hopes to get the word out to a population beyond local residents and birding enthusiasts tracking warblers and dozens of other avian species.
“It would be great if more people visited and gained an understanding of the natural world,” says Presa, who leads the Bonsal’s invasive species strike force. “They’d get such enjoyment, but also see how much work is needed to care for this land.”
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