Two More Year-End Purchases in East Amwell

Once again, East Amwell in Hunterdon County makes news for land preservation. I would love to live there, but I doubt I ever could afford it!

This is an official D&R Greenway Land Trust press release:

Two properties add to Preservation of D&R Greenway's Cattail Brook Preserve in East Amwell Township, Hunterdon County This is the Second in a Series of Three Announcements of Newly Preserved Land Stay tuned for the last announcement! Importance of Habitat The properties contain many hardwood trees including tulip, oaks, black gum, hickories and includes great groves of beech trees.  There is an equally rich mixture of understory trees, even including a small stand of the rare Paw-paw tree.    Native understory includes spice bush, viburnums, witch hazel and many other desireable shrubs and native wildflowers.  The properties will be managed for public recreation and the enhancement of habitat for interior forest species like Barred owl, Scarlet tanager, Pileated woodpecker and many other species that require large intact forested habitats. Once again, our incredible partners in East Amwell Township joined up with D&R Greenway Land Trust to continue preserving lands in their community. The two wooded interior parcels add 10 acres to the lands permanently protected at our Cattail Brook Preserve in the Sourland Mountains. D&R Greenway now owns 137 acres of woodland and Somerset County owns almost 200 acres of contiguous woodland, creating a significant interior woodland preserve. The properties are prime examples of some of the finest mature upland forest in the Sourlands. A private donor gave 50% of the acquisition cost to enable this preservation. Thank you to our partner, East Amwell Township.  D&R Greenway Land Trust at the Johnson Education Center One Preservation Place Princeton, NJ 08540 www.drgreenway.org 609-924-4646

Additional Sourland Mountain Land Purchased

Always wonderful to hear of new preservation in the Sourland Mountain region.

This originally appeared in the Hunterdon County Democrat.

EAST AMWELL TWP. — The township is buying open space in two areas for conservation and to expand trail networks. Both sets of properties are wooded.

The Township Committee unanimously approved the acquisitions this month of two lots on South Hill Road, the Polhemus properties, and two at the intersection of Rocktown and Mountain Roads, the Wiedemer properties.

Each set of properties adds about 10 acres to existing public lands for passive recreation.
The Polhemus properties cost $49,200 and the cost is being split with D&R Greenway Land Trust. Professional fees are an additional $2,000, the township reported.

These lots will become part of the Cat Tail Brook Preserve in the Sourland Mountains.
Glorianne Robbi, township Farmland and Open Space Preservation Committee chairwoman, said that D&R Greenway has been preserving land for the Cat Tail Brook Preserve for many years and the Polhemus properties were particularly attractive.

“They are completely wooded,” she said. “And they haven’t been logged in a long time.”

Therefore they provide uninterrupted forest canopy for birds. The Polhemus properties are land-locked, near Lindbergh Road.

The Wiedemer properties are across Rocktown Road from the Omick Preserve, which started with 63 acres and was previously expanded this year with the purchase of the 23-acre Lang property.

The original Omick tract fronted on Route 31, said Robbi, and the township wanted safer access. Visitors now may park on Rocktown Road to enter the preserve, but Robbi said the township has applied for a state grant to build a small parking area, and should receive word in the spring.

She said that acquiring the Wiedemer property will allow expansion of the Omick Preserve’s trails, which have been cut by township and D&R Greenway volunteers. The Wiedemer property is costing $180,000, plus $5,000 in professional costs. Half of that will be covered by state Green Acres grant money, said Robbi.

The township’s share of both properties will be paid from the open space trust fund.
Township property owners pay a dedicated open space tax of 4 cents per $100 of assessed value.

343 Acres Added to Sourland Mountain Preserve

Hooray, more land taken from Bryce Thompson Land and put into permanent preservation! Of course, they get a tidy sum for their generosity, but we cannot look a preserved horse in the mouth, can we?

This was originally posted on NJ.com.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for newest Sourlands acquisition is Oct. 16 in Hillsborough

Somerset County and Hillsborough Township officials, along with representatives from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at noon, to celebrate the addition of another 343 acres to the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Rain date for the event is Oct. 17 at noon.

Due to accessibility issues with the tract itself, the ceremony will be held at the Hillsborough Golf & Country Club, directly across from the property. For GPS and online mapping, the address is 146 Wertsville Road, Hillsborough, NJ 08844. Or for directions go to bit.ly/HillsbOpenSpace. Upon arriving, proceed up the driveway to the parking area next to the clubhouse. The ceremony will be held a few yards past the clubhouse.

The property will be permanently preserved as open space. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation has secured an option agreement to purchase the property from landowner Bryce Thompson and will transfer the agreement to the county.

The 343 acres, which are made up of several tracts in Hillsborough Township near the intersection of Wertsville and Montgomery roads, are contiguous to other open space lands acquired by Somerset County in recent years and will encourage the expansion of the Sourlands Preserve to the Hunterdon County border, where many local, county and nonprofit preservation initiatives are currently underway.

For information or further directions, contact Linda Van Zandt in the Somerset County Public Information Office at 908-231-7020 or publicinfo@co.somerset.nj.us.