West Milford. Lake in Apshawa Preserve renamed for Kathleen M. Caren
| 02 Jun 2021 | 10:14
The Apshawa Preserve is a 576-acre nature preserve in the highlands of northern New Jersey, located off Northwood Drive in West Milford. Photo source: Wikipedia.
Kathleen M. Caren has been called the shepherd of open space in Passaic County. File photo.
The late Kathleen M. Caren served as the Passaic County Open Space Coordinator for 16 years, dedicating herself and career to preserving open space and improving recreational facilities.
The Passaic County Board of County Commissioners recently renamed the former Butler Reservoir located in the Apshawa Preserve of the Passaic County Park System in her honor.
Apshawa Preserve is near the Mountain Springs Lake community in the Township of West Milford where Caren’s log cabin home was located. The preserve is a 594 acre nature area which includes the Butler Reservoir.
“On July 19, 2020 at age 64 Kathleen M. Caren tragically passed away, after leaving a lasting impact of civic and personal contributions to the betterment of the Township of West Milford and County of Passaic,” a resolution adopted by the commissioners reads. “Specifically her contributions to Passaic County Open Space, Farmland, her advocacy in establishing the Passaic County Open Space, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund and her involvement in preserving thousands of acres of open space in Passaic County are noted.”
“She was the shepherd. She walked the towns and nonprofits through the whole process. Kathleen believed that everyone should be able to enjoy parkland. Everyone should have open space.”
Passaic County Freeholder Bruce James as quoted in a story appearing on NorthJersey.com following Kathleen M. Caren’s death in July 2020.