By Karen Keene

Jackson Woods Park, a 13-acre natural green space owned by the City of Long Branch, was created in 1991 when a farmhouse and wetlands property that had been slated for redevelopment was protected as open space through a major Green Acres grant. Although preserved, the area was left unattended, became overgrown, and then further damaged by Superstorm Sandy. In the recent past, residents were frankly afraid to enter the park, which was littered with garbage and lacking in amenities. The site was neglected and underused until April 2018 when a group of concerned citizens – the Friends of Jackson Woods – formed to revitalize the park to benefit the community.  With support from the City of Long Branch and Mayor John Pallone, MCF and many local volunteer organizations, along with the leadership, passion, and efforts of the Friends of Jackson Woods, its transformation is now well underway.  

Friends of Jackson Woods is led by volunteers Kathy Buchan and Nan Simon. Kathy, the founder of Friends of Jackson Woods, is a graduate of Rutgers University, a former teacher, and a reading specialist for 34 years.  Nan, who joined Kathy in 2019, is an alumna of Cornell University and NYU, who previously held IT leadership positions for a global pharmaceutical company. Now retired, they are active volunteers and neighbors of Jackson Woods Park who want to make a difference in their community. They serve on the Long Branch Green Team and Long Branch Arts Council.

Passive recreation, environmental education, promotion of the arts, and the preservation of Long Branch’s rich history, as well as protecting this unique ecosystem and the habitat it provides for local wildlife, are their goals for Jackson Woods Park.

Through a County partner, Kathy was introduced to MCF shortly after forming Friends of Jackson Woods. The organization, being entirely volunteer run, is not set up as a 501(c)(3) and lacks the necessary infrastructure to receive charitable grants or donations. MCF and Friends began partnering in 2018, and MCF has been helping them to reach a broader audience, leverage new partnerships and secure funding support, and to channel Friends’ volunteer and grassroots efforts like sneaker-recycling donations and t-shirt sales revenue.

“It’s remarkable what this volunteer group of concerned citizens has done to revamp Jackson Woods Park already, and MCF is honored to support their passion and hard work. Friends of Jackson Woods receives charitable donations through MCF to allow them funding to continue to make park improvements, while we, together, seek additional financial support. MCF and Friends of Jackson Woods are working toward our shared goals of revitalizing the park for ecological and public benefit,” shared Bill Kastning, MCF’s Executive Director.

Anyone interested in supporting further work at Jackson Woods Park may donate to MCF HERE. To learn more or get involved in MCF’s park development projects in Monmouth County, in particular those in underserved areas, please contact us at 732.671.7000 or info@monmouthconservation.org.

DONATE NOW

Under Kathy and Nan’s leadership, tremendous progress has been made to beautify the park, make it safe and accessible, and integrate educational and art elements. With professional and volunteer help, Friends of Jackson Woods has done significant cleanup to remove litter and overgrown vegetation from the park. Renovations have included the addition of a gazebo at the park main entrance; a boardwalk extension to a bridge over a wetlands area; and trail/site clearing – enabled by a Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Grant.

Through the efforts of the Friends of Jackson Woods, the park is being transformed and has very much become a community park open to all. A growing list of more than 200 volunteers help at the park, with weekly community work hours on Tuesdays. Various, diverse groups within the area have taken part in volunteer efforts to renovate the park, rallied by Kathy “the Park Lady.” Small business owners, a Daisy troop, the Portuguese Club of Long Branch, Monmouth University students, and many others have been a part of the improvements. Some have informally adopted portions of the park and installed personalized features like a wheelbarrow garden, meditation area, and a variety of artistic elements such as sculptures, painted rocks, surf boards, boats, and bricks.

Kathy and Nan researched various components of the park’s ecosystem to highlight plants and animals in educational, interpretative signage added throughout Jackson Woods. They installed a message center kiosk and native garden with funding from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC).  Friends worked with the Long Branch Free Public Library to name the park trails for historical events, people, or places in Long Branch, paying homage to the site’s roots.

Powered by a Department of Transportation (DOT) grant, Friends created the foundation for an outdoor teaching space, envisioned someday to become a full-fledged outdoor classroom. The park hosts ongoing engagements with Long Branch Public Schools, including hosting outdoor teaching space, nature walks, and butterfly releases. Nearby K-12 schools including the Lenna W. Conrow Early Childhood Learning Center and Joseph M. Ferraina Early Childhood Learning Center (both public, early elementary schools serving English, Spanish, and Portuguese-speaking families) currently use the space.

Friends has been very resourceful in their efforts – for instance, choosing donated daffodils which deer won’t eat and making use of free, leftover native trees from municipal give-away programs in their plantings. They have made daffodils a signature of the park – having planted 50,000 bulbs to date with volunteer help! The blooms are a wondrous site each spring. Revitalization and beautification have come so far that Jackson Woods Park recently hosted its first wedding!

Since their inception just four years ago, Friends of Jackson Woods has successfully hosted a variety of programs including nature hikes, educational sessions, a rain barrel workshop, and community picnics. This past summer, local teacher Isabelle Ferreira and her all-female team, the Wave Peddlers, completed the Ride for Jackson Woods, cycling 655 miles from Niagara Falls, Canada to Jackson Woods Park in Long Branch as a fundraiser for the park. Most recently, Friends held their inaugural “Halloween at Jack-O-Lantern Woods” event with trick-or-treating, a costume parade, games, and free food and drinks from the Windmill Restaurant.

Given the focus on art as a major theme for Jackson Woods Park, several art-themed collaborations have taken place. National Honor Society students donated and curated benches, and local middle schoolers created book cover art on bricks for the park. Funded by donations, Friends installed an 8-foot-tall steel sculpture of a female figure surrounded by a string of stars entitled Star Reach by local artist Dorsey Lucas this summer. This will be a permanent installation at the park – envisioned to be the first of many professional artworks to adorn the site. Friends has created a park like no other with eclectic, artistic elements inclusive and representative of their community.

“Inspired by outdoor art spaces like Grounds for Sculpture, we aim to be known for our whimsical gardens, unique benches, outdoor education, and the arts,” is Kathy’s sentiment.

MCF, in partnership with Friends of Jackson Woods, is honored to be one of five state-wide recipients of a grant award from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to participate in a Community-Based Art Grant Program in 2022-23. The program intends to bring attention to and start conversation around climate change in our coastal areas through art installations in geographically diverse locations across the state. It’s fitting, Jackson Woods’ tagline being “Where Nature Meets the Arts.”

Through these revitalization and beautification efforts, Jackson Woods is becoming a well-maintained oasis in the urban core of an underserved community. Among the population of approximately 30,200 people in the City of Long Branch, 18.7%, or 5,660 people -- predominantly residents of color - live below the poverty line. This percentage is higher than the national average of 12.3%. The park, situated off Ocean Blvd. N. between Atlantic Avenue to the north and Avenal Blvd. to the south, is within one mile of two adjacent federally defined economically distressed areas known as Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ). Long Branch is a beachside community, but access to its beaches comes with a steep price tag and poses a barrier to those with economic constraints.

The shutdown following the onset of the pandemic in 2020 brought an intense, and perhaps renewed, appreciation for the outdoors. It reminded us that every member of our community, regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic status, needs and deserves access to open space, optimally within easy walking or biking distance from their homes. Open space is of the utmost importance for public health and wellbeing. Jackson Woods Park is free and open to the public with five entrances serving residents and visitors to the area, thanks largely to Kathy, Nan, and Friend of Jackson Woods’ efforts. People of all ages can utilize the park for passive and active recreation including running, walking, bicycling, hiking, exercise, viewing nature, photography, quiet reflection, socializing, picnics, and more.

Given MCF’s successful preservation efforts and the unfortunate development of many of the larger parcels of land in Monmouth County (of sprawling residential subdivisions and warehouses), its acquisition team has focused recent attention on projects that are smaller in size and often located within the County’s more urban areas, but no less important to our residents – such as Jackson Woods Park. Very often these urban centers are more robust in terms of their ethnic and socio-economic diversity. These projects have included the establishment of parks in Asbury Park and Neptune; partnering with Red Bank to develop an eight-acre park in the Borough’s underserved, diverse west side; aiding Allentown Borough in building Sgt. George Ashby Memorial Park; and supporting Friends of Cedar View to preserve, protect, and increase awareness of the historic African American Cedar View Cemetery in Lincroft.

As strategic next steps in the Jackson Woods Park’s transformation, the partners (Friends and MCF) aim to tackle a major obstacle to accessibility and appearance by removing extensive, invasive vegetation and applying eco-friendly treatments to prevent regrowth. Focus will be on the park entrances, trail system, and a signature aspect of the site – its 1.5-acre pond and surrounding area – ideally adding an aerator to improve water quality. We are seeking funding to enable this work, as well as to fully develop the outdoor classroom. Friends welcomes volunteers, adopt-a-garden sponsors, and artistic contributions to the park, and eligible donations are tax-deductible through MCF.

Kathy shared, ”I think Jackson Woods will always be a work in progress and a community-focused endeavor. Our volunteers and supporters are the heart of Jackson Woods. And always a special thanks to Monmouth Conservation Foundation who believed in us from the very beginning.”