Environment

Tara Kenyon. The Franklin Township Police Department and the township Trails Advisory Committee will team up this Fall to present what they hope will be the first of many “walk and talks” on trail safety. Tara Kenyon, the township’s Open Space consultant, told the Committee at its June 8 meeting that she met with FTPD Sgt. Rebecca Leah to talk …

Celebrate the summer season and revel in the beauty of roses at the Rose Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 11 at Colonial Park’s Rudolf W. van der Goot Rose Garden, 156 Mettlers Road, Parking Lot A. The festival, hosted by the Somerset County Park Commission and Park Foundation, is free.  More than 325 varieties of roses …

The map shows township storm drains that are available to be “adopted.” Township residents can now volunteer to help keep Franklin’s 7,473 storm drains clear and clean. The Township recently joined the national Adopt-a-Drain program, through which residents sign up to “adopt” drains in their neighborhoods or elsewhere in their town. The program asks for about 15 minutes, twice a …

Submitted by the Franklin Township Environmental Commission. Thanks to recent grant awards by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), a total of $54,000 was awarded to six multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) in Franklin Township. The state wide program approved a total of $1,059,500 in grant funding to purchase 223 electric vehicle (EV) chargers and to assist in the preparation …

Chuck Martin, a member of the Trails Advisory Committee, describes the demonstration plot program to the Environmental Commission on May 16. The Trails Advisory Committee wants to know more about the township’s native grasslands and is looking to the Open Space Advisory Committee for help. The Trails Committee wants to re-establish 10 “demonstration plots” at the Negri Nepote Grasslands Preservation …

Tara Kenyon, the township’s Open Space Consultant, describes the grant program to the Open Space Advisory Committee at its April 19 meeting. The Township is about to embark on a year-long study of data from a variety of sources to identify the main health and health equity issues facing residents. Assisting the Township will be Sustainable Jersey, which has awarded …

Franklin Township Environmental Commission members Stan Jaracz and Robin Suydam at the Mile Run cleanup on April 9. Volunteers from a number of environmental organizations within and without Franklin Township gathered at Mile Run on Hamilton Street April 9 to give the creek a sprucing up. The waterway lies at the border of Franklin and New Brunswick. The effort was …

Steppingstone designed by Chuck Martin, which the Trails Advisory Committee hopes will help hikers cross streams across several trails. The township’s Trails Advisory Committee wants to make it easier for hikers to cross some of the streams that bisect several trails. But to do so, they’ll have to get the OK from Township manager Robert Vornlocker, and make sure there …

Township Girl Scout Grace Glynn won approval from the Committee for her Sensory Trail idea. A township Girl Scout received the Open Space Advisory Committee’s go-ahead for a project at Middlebush Park at its January 18 meeting. The Scout, Grace Glynn, a Scout with Troop 60607, wants to do the project in furtherance of her quest for the Scouts’ Gold …

Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said a letter is going out to residents, explaining the issue. (File Photo). News that low pH levels were found in the township water supply earlier this year should not be a cause of concern for residents, township officials said on December 10. That’s because the potential effects of low pH in water pipes were not …