Spruce Run Initiative Receives Award

The Hunterdon County Planning Board presented NJWSA, for the second consecutive year, with the Hermia Lechner Award in recognition of the Spruce Run Initiative Highway Corridor Study at an Awards Dinner held on April 28, 2005.  The study identified areas along the Route 31, Route 173, and Route 513 roadway corridors and proposed various designs and environmental recommendations.  These include environmentally friendly design practices, improved traffic patterns, and visually appealing and functional architectural designs. Sharing the honors were member municipalities of the Spruce Run Initiative; Bethlehem, Lebanon, and Union Townships and High Bridge Borough. The environmental consulting firm of AKRF, Inc. of New York was engaged in the study. Funding for the study was provided by NJWSA, SRI member municipalities, and the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC).  This was the first Smart Growth Grant that ANJEC has awarded to a group of municipalities working cooperatively on a single project.

NJWSA is very proud to receive the Hermia Lechner Award which is given in recognition of exceptional planning efforts that promote the conservation of natural resources, environmental programs, open space plans, or other projects that protect the natural environment.  Hermia Lechner was an early environmentalist who started a youth environmental education camp (Camp Echo Hill) in the early 1930s and founded and, for many years, presided over the South Branch Watershed Association.

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