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Volunteer
Group Helps Buy Open Space Washington
Twp. Saves 290 Acres in Highlands By
Navid Iqbal, Daily Record, 08/17/04 Washington
Twp. - A group of local volunteers dedicated to maintaining open space
in the township helped buy the 290-acre Crystal Springs- Pelio property. The
Washington Township Land Trust gave $120,000 to help buy the $2.27
million property from the Pelio family of Bergen County, said Tim
Morris, chairman of the land trust. The
New Jersey Water Supply Authority contributed $593,425; Hunterdon County
$411,407; Lebanon Township $401,000; and the Hunterdon Land Trust
Alliance $411,409. The balance was from the state Green Acres Program. The
newly preserved property, which is in the Highlands area, is adjacent to
approximately 580 acres of preserved farmland and 300 acres of Hunterdon
County parkland in Lebanon Township near the stream feeding Spruce Run
Reservoir, according to a DEP spokeswoman. Approximately
53 acres of the Pelio property are in Washington Township. The total
property consists of 290 acres of open fields, wetlands, ponds and
woodlands, according to environmental officials. That
tract is just a small portion of "a critical property for
protecting natural resources," Morris said. The property was
previously leased for dairy farms and also used for corn and hay, he
said. Spruce
Run Reservoir, which supplements the Raritan River flow to provide
drinking water to 48 municipalities in Morris, Hunterdon, Sussex,
Somerset, Mercer, Middlesex, and Union counties, gets much of its water
from within the Pelio property, officials said. Fifty-five
percent of the Raritan River's source water area is located in the
Highlands region, officials said. The
land trust will manage the 53 acres in Washington. Township and
Hunterdon County will manage the acquired land as a park to be used for
"passive recreation," Morris said. "A
lot of it will just be stewardship and protecting the land in its
natural state," Morris said, "and just trying to make sure
there aren't activities going on that aren't allowed. For one thing
we're not going to allow development for active recreation, like ball
fields. And no vehicles except on the main drive." However,
the property will be open to the public through bike trails on
established roads and walking trails, which will be configured in the
future, Morris said. The
land trust will also create a warm season grassland habitat that will
attract bobolinks and Savannah sparrows. Other species that are in the
Pelio property, such as bog turtles, bobcats, and songbirds are
currently on endangered lists, officials said. The
land trust was founded in 1992 after Morris County's largest
municipality faced "development pressure." Many farmland areas
were being developed for housing and other reasons and a group of
volunteers, now numbering 25, decided to preserve whatever open space
they could by purchasing it. Copyright
2004 Daily Record Reprinted with permission of the Daily Record of Parsippany, N.J. |
