Environment

Township Councilman Ted Chase told the Council that the program is run by volunteers. You’ve heard of the Adopt-a-Road program, now meet the Adopt-a-Drain program. The ambitious program seeks to use volunteers to keep clean the 7,473 storm drain grates located throughout the Eight Villages. Originating in the township’s Environmental Advisory Commission, the project was brought to the Township Council …

Township Manager Robert Vornlocker detailed the effect of Tropical Storm Ida on Franklin for the Township Council. Tropical Storm Ida was one for the record books, the Township Manager told the Township Council on September 14. Record flood levels of the Raritan and Millstone rivers, more water rescues than remembered in past storms and more streets flooded out than in …

Tara Kenyon, the township’s open space consultant, said one of the three stormwater runoff projects she recommended would have to be replaced. One of the three projects the township Environmental Commission hopes will help mitigate the effects of development in the township has to be scrapped, the township’s open space consultant said on August 11. A system that would have …

Mayor Phil Kramer said at the July 20 Open Space Advisory Committee meeting that he is seriously considering calling the Township Council together to reverse its decision to return to in-person meetings. A Township Council resolution to return to in-person meetings in August is not even a week old, and Mayor Phil Kramer is already re-thinking it. Kramer told members …

Megan Hauss, a member of Girl Scout Troop 60607, delivered her presentation about the Spotted Lanternfly to the Trails Advisory Committee on July 14. A local Girl Scout hoping to achieve the organization’s highest honor dropped in on the Trails Advisory Committee’s July 14 meeting to talk insects. Well, one in particular, the Spotted Lanternfly, a particularly destructive invasive species …

Open Space Advisory Committee member Chris Williams said some drones look like predators of birds that nest in the grassland preserves. The operation of drones would be banned from two native grassland preserves under a recommendation from the township Open Space Advisory Committee. The Committee’s concern is that the drones will scare nesting birds – some of which are threatened …

The area delineated in yellow would be open to hunting under a proposal endorsed by the Open Space Committee. Hunters may have another 124 acres of land to prowl in the upcoming hunting season. The township Open Space Advisory Committee on June 15 voted to recommend the Township Council including a 124-acre tract known a the “Route 518 Tract” to …

The Negri Nepote Grassland Preserve is one of two for which the township Open Space Committee is applying for prescribed burns. The fight against invasive species in the township’s grassland preserves continues, with the Open Space Advisory Committee voting June 15 to apply for more prescribed burns in two grassland areas. The Committee decided to apply to the New Jersey …

Trails Advisory Committee member Chuck Martin made a series of proposals for new trails at the Committee’s June 9 meeting. A plan to add another series of trails covering township and Somerset County property to the township’s Pathways and Trails Plan was approved by the Trails Advisory Committee at its June 9 meeting. The Committee also agreed to create a …

The Environmental Commission suggests the Township Council use part of a grant to buy reusable bags for free distribution to residents. The township is receiving a more than $130,000 grant, and the Environmental Commission members know how they’d like the Township Council to spend some of it. The state Clean Communities Council awarded Franklin a $131,996.61 Clean Communities Grant, money …