7:5A-1.4 Register of Natural Areas
(a) The Register of Natural Areas, hereinafter "Register", is a list of sites which serves as:
1. The official recognition of the site's important natural features which are worthy of preservation by the property owner; and
2. The list of sites from which to draw new areas for designation to the System.
(b) Listing on the Register does not, in itself, alter land use or ownership, nor does it impose any regulatory authority
(c) Any individual or organization may suggest that a site be included on the Register by submitting a Register site summary to the Department or the Council. Potential sites may also be studied and Register site summaries presented to the Council by the Department's Office of Natural Lands Management.
(d) Upon review of the Register site summary by the Council, and subsequent to the recommendation of the Council, the Commissioner may approve the listing of a site on the Register. The site must include rare species habitat or at least one ecological community, as defined at N.J.A.C. 7:5A-1.3.
(e) The Division shall maintain the Register together with copies of the Register site summary.
(f) The Commissioner may remove a site from the Register upon a finding and recommendation by the Council that the site no longer satisfies the criteria enumerated in (d) above.
Amended by R. 1992 d. 77, effective February 18, 1992. See: 23 N.J.R. 1985(b), 24 N.J.R. 581(b). Clarifying language added regarding the procedure for documenting the suitability of a site for inclusion on the Natural Areas Register and for including a site on the Natural Areas Register. Amended by R. 1998 d. 308, effective June 15, 1998. See: 30 N.J.R. 897(a), 30 N.J.R. 2207(a). In (d)2, added a reference to the nation at the end of the first sentence; deleted former (e); and recodified former (f) and (g) as (e) and (f). Public Notice: Listing of Swartswood Sinkhole Ponds. See: 32 N.J.R. 116(b). Public Notice: Listing of West Branch Wading River on the Register of Natural Areas. See: 35 N.J.R. 1308(a). Amended by R. 2004 d. 463, effective Dec. 20, 2004. See: 36 N.J.R. 3008(a), 36 N.J.R. 3463(a), 36 N.J.R. 5670(a). In (c), substituted "Department" for "Commissioner"; rewrote (d); in (f), substituted "The" for "A site may be removed from the Register by the" at the beginning of the paragraph, inserted "may remove a site from the Register" following "Commissioner", deleted the last sentence.