Make It Morris Film Series: Saving The Great Swamp

Tickets:

Complimentary

Location:

Morristown & Morris Township Library

Make It Morris Film Series Agenda For September 25th:

6:30 PM Registration

7:00 PM Film Begins

8:00 PM Event Concludes

Film – Saving The Great Swamp

About The Film

Widely requested by patrons, we are pleased to repeat a viewing of the film “Saving the Great Swamp,”, a 60-minute documentary originally aired on PBS, about the events, people and politics behind the almost 10-year struggle to preserve a rural area in New Jersey. This monumental battle became one of the most defining environmental events of its time and is not as well-known as it should be. The April screening at the library of this award-winning documentary was sold-out and a repeat offering has been widely requested by patrons.

New Jersey’s Great Swamp is nestled with a 55-square-mile natural basin, about 25 miles from New York City. It is a quiet, undisturbed place which provides a home for more than 200 bird species, many mammals, and a variety of reptiles, amphibians and fish. It is also the home to one of New Jersey’s largest breeding populations of Eastern Bluebirds. But it almost was lost. In 1959, the Port Authority of New York announced plans to build an international jetport in the swamp with four 10,000 foot runways. This proposal, which the Port Authority deemed a done deal, would have filled in the swamp, demolished some 700 homes, and changed the landscape forever. But a small group of concerned citizens opposed the threat and finally won.

Their story is told in the fascinating documentary “Saving the Great Swamp” which takes audiences on a journey through the events, people and politics behind the struggle to preserve this beautiful rural area between 1959 and 1968. It has won several awards since it came out in 2017. USA Today called the film “a truly astonishing and entertaining history lesson” and it has been aired on PBS.

This event is made possible thanks to the support of the Morris County Tourism Bureau, a division of the Morris County Economic Development Alliance and the Morris County Economic Development Alliance’s Film Committee and thanks to the partnership with Great Swamp Watershed Association and the Morristown & Morris Township Library.