Environment

Submitted by Somerset County Park Commission. When they promised you a rose garden, they should have given you the know-how to keep it healthy and beautiful. The opportunity to gain the knowledge necessary for growing beautiful and sustainable roses is available from the Colonial Park Horticulture staff in collaboration with the Jersey Shore Rose Society. On Saturday March 31, Colonial …

About 160 people attended a “Mayors’ Climate Summit” at Rutgers University Feb. 3, an event that was the brainchild of Mayor Phil Kramer. The summit was held at Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in New Brunswick and was attended mainly by mayors and other elected officials from throughout the state. Sponsored by the New Jersey …

With its last recommendation on the subject barely seven months old, the Open Space Advisory Committee Jan. 16 agreed to take a “full-scale” look at the township’s deer hunting program. The decision came after Mayor Phil Kramer told the committee that some members of the Township Council were interested in exploring expanding the program. Discussion on the program will probably …

The draft report on the environmental effects of a proposed natural gas compressor station targeted for the township should be issued in March, according to a Jan. 3 announcement by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. That draft Environmental Impact Statement’s release by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will open a window for public comment before the final EIS is issued …

Township residents can recycle their Christmas trees from now though Jan. 31, 2018 at Colonial Park Gardens, Parking Lot F, 156 Mettlers Rd. The Somerset County Park Commission is accepting the trees for recycling from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Each family is limited to only one tree that must be free of all ornaments, wires, netting, and tinsel, …

The Somerset County Park Commission will be accepting natural Christmas trees for recycling from Tuesday, December 26, 2017 through Wednesday, January 31, 2018. Somerset County residents may bring their tree to Colonial Park Gardens, Parking Lot F, 156 Mettlers Road in Somerset, Franklin Township or to North Branch Park, at the lighted baseball field, 355 Milltown Road in Bridgewater. Both …

A natural gas compressor station proposed for the southern end of the township would have no affect on water quality should an adjacent quarry be converted into a reservoir. That was the word from a representative of Williams-Transco, the company that wishes to build the 32,000-horsepower compressor station on 13 acres of an approximately 52-acre tract off Route 27, near …

The Open Space Advisory Committee on Dec. 5 said goodbye to its consultant, praising her work in preserving township open space. Fran Varacalli was the township’s open space consultant for the last six years. During that time, she participated in or oversaw a number of preservation initiatives, including the redevelopment of the old Kingston School, the $14 million purchase of …

The late chairman of the township Environmental Commission and a local school’s youth group were honored at the Nov. 28 Township Council meeting for their environmental efforts. The commission used the council meeting as its platform for awarding its annual Stewardship Awards to the late Arnold Vernick – the commission’s former chairman who died earlier this year – and the …

Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has tapped a township resident to serve on his transition team. Ed Potosnak, the current Board of Education president and executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, will sit on Murphy’s Environment and Energy committee. “With the election of Gov. Murphy, New Jersey has a tremendous opportunity to re-claim national leadership on critical environmental …