Saddler's Woods is a 25 acres (10.1 ha) forest in Haddon Township

Haddon Township, New Jersey

Haddon Township is a Township in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 14,707....

, Camden County

Camden County, New Jersey

-Demographics:As of the 2010 Census the population of Camden County was 60.28% Non-Hispanic white, 18.45% Non-Hispanic black, 1.12% Hispanic blacks, 0.17% Non-Hispanic Native American, 0.15% Hispanic Native Americans, 5.07% Non-Hispanic Asian, and 0.14% non-Hispanics reporting some other race...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 that includes the headwater spring of Newton Creek. Despite its location just 5 miles (8 km) from Philadelphia, Saddler's Woods includes wetlands, young woodlands, and old-growth forest.

The Arowmen and Erinwonek tribes of the Lenape

Lenape

The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

 people once lived in the area. Beginning in the 17th century, the surrounding forests were cleared for farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

s, timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

, and fuel by European settlers. The woods are named for a nineteenth-century owner, Joshua Saddler, who in 1868 he wrote in his will

Will (law)

A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

 that none of his heirs "shall cut the timber thereon."

When threatened by development, part of the Woods was purchased by the Township in 1999. The remaining area was protected by a conservation easement

Conservation easement

In the United States, a conservation easement is an encumbrance — sometimes including a transfer of usage rights — which creates a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between a landowner and a government agency or a qualified land...

 in 2003. The Saddler's Woods Conservation Association currently works to restore and maintain the Woods.

Tree species in the Woods include Eastern Black Oak, White Oak, Northern Red Oak

Northern Red Oak

Quercus rubra, commonly called northern red oak or champion oak, , is an oak in the red oak group . It is a native of North America, in the northeastern United States and southeast Canada...

, American Beech

American Beech

Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...

, Tulip Poplar, and Red Maple

Red Maple

Acer rubrum , is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas...

. Some trees measure 13 feet (4 m) in diameter and are 300 years old. There are American Chestnut

American Chestnut

The American Chestnut is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range...

 and Spicebush

Lindera benzoin

Lindera benzoin is a flowering plant in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America, ranging from Maine to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas and northern Florida in the south.-Characteristics:Spicebush is a medium-sized deciduous shrub growing to 5 m...

in the understory.