Save from development and preserve in perpetuity a rare, wooded 3.75-acre lakefront tract in the Laurel Springs, New Jersey, locale where Poet Walt Whitman famously sought renewal and inspiration in the embrace of Nature.

Context: All that remains of the storied woodland where Poet Walt Whitman reclaimed his health and wrote prolifically in the late 1800s requires preservation. Since the 1970s, generations of children living in densely populated Camden County, New Jersey, have followed in his legendary footsteps, joyfully exploring  these “last woods standing.” But the irrevocable trust that holds the private land faces imminent dissolution. The esteemd North American Land Trust (NALT) serves as lead project adviser and conservation collaborator. Its mission of helping conserve and restore natural and cultural lands for present and future generations dovetails with saving this rare, culturally significant woodland from development. Together with the trustee, the Chadds Ford, PA-based nonprofit is helping shape an organic opportunity for the private sector to provide the financial means to save 3.75 acres of crucial Open Space distinguished by history, conservation, culture and community. To endow the woodland and convey it to an appropriate Conservation Steward to own and manage in perpetuity is imperative.

Saving the area’s last woods standing from development will be profound.

A funded endowment will facilitate the establishment of this unique passive park as a permanent green sanctuary for wildlife and a place of wonder and renewal for humans. Preservation of the woodland will be grounded in the project’s four pillars — Nature, Art, History & Science:

Nature

• protect the rare wooded tract in perpetuity as a sanctuary for wildlife and humans.
• distinguish “Whitman Woods” from other regional parks and conservation efforts.
• sow the seeds of conservation via open space ambassadors, regional universities, celebrity influencers and social media.

Art

• establish “Whitman Woods” as a creative continuum for the countless student artists, aspiring poets and budding naturalists drawn to this enchanting woodland as a place of inspiration.
• create an open classroom platform in harmony with Nature for urban, area and underserved youth.

History

• reclaim the wooded lakefront as a remnant of the now near-relic native Inner Coastal Plain Forest.
• document periods of human habitation, and preserve vanishing historic reference points.
• illuminate Whitman’s “Artist in Residence” period (1876-1882) in collaboration with “WALT Fest” and Whitman scholars. 

Science

• enhance native habitat for wildlife that shelter/forage here, including threatened/endangered indigenous species.
• preserve the forest canopy, nurture native flora and remove invasive plant species.
• illuminate the rare geologic Vincentown Formation, protect specimen trees, retain the soil substrates.
• create a living laboratory for environmental science and a platform for lake stewardship.
• accomplish preservation and restoration in collaboration with university-level Environmental Studies programs (Penn, Rowan, Rutgers) in an Open Classroom setting.
• implement sound, science-based management of the woodland.

Fawn in understory photographed by WWP adviser/field guide/naturalist Lloyd Shaw