Updated: Open Space Committee: Grassland Preserves Should Be Closed To Hikers For Two Months To Allow For Hunting
Update: The Township Council on July 10 adopted the recommendations made by the Open Space Advisory Committee, the Trail Advisory Committee and the Agricultural Advisory Committee, all of which change the hunting program from what it was this past season. Changes were made to the 2017-18 hunting season to allow for more non-hunting use of […]
Six Of 12 Transco Environmental Permits Deficiencies Tied To Gas Compressor Station
Half of the deficiencies that threatened to scuttle necessary state environmental permits for a natural gas pipeline project, before an 11th-hour withdrawal of the permit applications, were connected to the part of that project which falls in Franklin Township. The township is slated to be home to a 32,000-horsepower gas compressor station, part of […]
Open Space Committee Rejects Plan For ‘Peace And Nonviolent’ Monument Park At Consolata
A proposed “Peace and Non-Violence” monument park should not be located on the former Consolata property, a township advisory board recommended June 19. Instead, some version of the park should be incorporated into the Memorial Forest at Cedar Grove Lane and Amwell Road, the township Open Space Advisory Committee recommended. The committee also admonished the […]
Environmental Commission Wants Study Of Fences, Professional Hunters To Control Deer Herd
The township Environmental Commission wants the administration to study two vastly different methods of controlling the deer population in Franklin. The first was to look into the cost and feasibility of fencing an approximately quarter-mile stretch of township-owned property along DeMott Lane and, alternatively, look into the cost and feasibility of fencing off that entire […]
Rose Day Festival at Colonial Park Set For June 9
On Saturday, June 9, 2018 from 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M Somerset County Park Commission Colonial Park Gardens will be celebrating “Rose Day Festival.” The event will be held at the Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden at 156 Mettlers Road, Colonial Par, Lot A, Somerset. The Rose Garden will be in peak bloom […]
RVCC Biologist: Deer Population Threatens New Jersey’s Forests, Wildlife
New Jersey’s forests are in a “crisis” because of the ever-expanding deer population, a Raritan Valley Community College professor told an audience in the Township Council chamber on May 21. Jay Kelly, an associate professor of biology at RVCC, told the several dozen people assembled for the Environmental Commission’s deer and invasive species seminar that […]
Deer Hunting On County Golf Courses Nixed; Other Options Available
Deer hunting on Somerset County owned golf courses in the township is “not practical” and the idea won’t be pursued, the Open Space Advisory Committee was told at its May 15 meeting. But, the committee was told, the county is open to discussing other options for deer hunting on county owned land in the township. […]
Open Space Committee Approves Negri-Nepote Bird-Identification Project
A graduate student’s proposal to install up to two dozen bird identification stations in the Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve won approval May 15 from the Open Space Advisory Committee. Ahmed Awadallah, who said he is an online graduate student in environmental studies at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., will build the wooden stations, and […]
Residents Rally Against Transco Plan For Gas Compressor Station In Township
A vocal group of opponents to the proposed Williams-Transco gas compressor station targeted for the township rallied May 2 to let a federal agency know of their feelings. The group, which rallied in front of the township Senior/Community Center in the municipal complex, was comprised of Franklin residents, as well as residents from neighboring towns. […]
Shade Tree Commission Observes Arbor Day With ‘Final’ Tree Planting At Middlebush Park
Arbor Day was celebrated on April 28 by the township’s Shade Tree Commission with the planting of the final tree in the Middlebush Park “re-greening” program. The commission, in conjunction with the township Department of Public Works and Parks Department has planted 325 trees over the last two years, said commission chairperson Sara Malone. The […]
