Open Space Committee

EXPLAINING THE PLAN – Sohum Gupta, a local Boy Scout, explains his Eagle Scout project to the Open Space Advisory Committee. A township Boy Scout recently received support from the Open Space Advisory Committee for his Eagle Scout project. The committee on September 17 unanimously voted to provide $928 to the Scout, Sohum Gupta,to subsidize the costs of the project, …

MAKING THE CASE – Township Manager Robert Vornlocker told the Open Space Advisory Committee on February 20 that the Meadows Foundation needs help in paying some of its bills. The Open Space Committee on February 20 voted to recommend that some of its money be used to help the cash-strapped Meadows Foundation pay some of its bills. The recommendation will …

(Photo: East Millstone UMC.) An ordinance that would allow the purchase of property in East Millstone for open space preservation was introduced by the Township Council on January 23. The ordinance would allocate $261,500 from the Township’s Open Space Trust Fund to buy the property at 4 Elm Street. The property is owned by the East Millstone United Methodist Church, …

TALKING TREES – Tara Kenyon, the township’s open space consultant, told the Open Space Committee what steps needed to be taken to bring about the Memorial Forest. A plan that’s been talked about for two decades may be getting a little closer to reality. The Open Space Advisory Committee on April 18 endorsed a plan to develop a site plan …

NEW SIGNS COMING – The Open Space Advisory Committee discussed new signs for Naruta Park, pictured here, and was asked to consider renaming the Negri-Nepote Grasslands Preserve to honor two deceased township residents. The renaming of the Negri-Nepote Grassland Preserve and new signs for what will be Mettler and Naruta Park was discussed at a recent meeting of the Open …

Tara Kenyon, the township’s Open Space Consultant, talks to the Open Space Advisory Committee about the Health Assessment project. People who live in the southern end of Franklin Township have the longest life expectancy of any group of residents anywhere else in Somerset County. Using Census data paired with the Township ward maps, township researches found that Ward 1 residents …

Joe Paulin, from the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, talks to the Committee about the township and region’s deer problem. Damage done by deer is costing farmers in New Jersey millions of dollars in lost crops, the township Open Space Advisory Committee was told on September 20. And although non-lethal forms of deer management – such as sterilization – have limited …

Doris Lin, of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, discusses nonlethal methods of deer control at the Open Space Advisory Committee’s June 21 meeting. The township Open Space Advisory Committee could not be called an anti-hunting group, but nonetheless its members listened politely to an animal advocate who tried to convince them of the merits of nonlethal deer control. …