Useful Links
D&R Greenway Land Trust is responsible for stewardship and monitoring of 107 properties under ownership and easement. We have developed management plans and
monitor our properties throughout the year. Conservation easements are monitored annually. We care for the plants, animals and habitats on our preserved lands through good stewardship management. D&R Greenway Land Trust holds landowner stewardship forums to showcase stewardship techniques and management practices. D&R Greenway welcomes involvement from local citizens and community groups in caring for our preserved lands. Please call 609.924.4646, ext. 124 or ext. 127 for more information, or complete the volunteer form.
We are stewards of Planet Earth...
The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Oil in the spring and summer of 2010 is a sad chapter in the balance between what some call "progress" and sustainability.
Click here to read article about the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill in the Summer Greenways Newsletter.
Click here to read recent article that appeared in The Princeton Packet, August 2, 2010, by Carolyn Foote Edelmann
Stewardship of Preserved Lands
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St. Michael's Property
340 Acres in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
Preserved January 19, 2010
by D&R Greenway Land Trust and Partners
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Public Funding Partners
New Jersey State Agricultural Development Committee
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program
Mercer County - Hopewell Borough - Hopewell Township
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space
Stony Brook - Millstone Watershed Association
The Willard T.C. Johnson Foundation, The Larson Land Foundation,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, The Bunbury Company
A Note from D&R Greenway Land Trust
D&R Greenway welcomes the community to our St. Michaels Farm Preserve. The majority of the property between Princeton Avenue and Aunt Molly Road is protected with a farmland easement. Wooded areas are preserved for conservation. You may walk on old farm roads and along hedgerows and in the wooded areas.
Please respect the farm fields. The Diocese has retained ownership of the 20 acres closest to town as shown on the map. This area is not open for public access. Please read signs that mark access points and trails. Dogs must be kept on a leash at all times! There are ground-nesting birds and even well-behaved dogs can cause injury or death. Please respect the wildlife and birdlife on the St. Michaels Farm Preserve. Thank you!
St. Michaels Public Input Summary
D&R Greenway Land Trust has solicited and received numerous ideas from Hopewell Township and Hopewell Borough residents about the future use of St. Michaels Farm Preserve since the property was purchased. Two formal public outreach sessions were held to share D&R Greenway’s vision for the future of the property and to invite public input. The first forum was at the Community Celebration held on the property on June 12, 2010, the second was a formal presentation to the public at the Johnson Education Center on June 24, 2010.
Comments included- implementing strategies to transition to organic soils and farming; ways to implement our invasive plant species eradication efforts while not disrupting breeding birds; comments on livestock stocking rates in pastures to protect stream water quality; and creating a ‘Children’s Garden’ to honor the many children that lived in St. Michaels Orphanage.
Other ideas expressed included the need to provide for a variety of trail uses including hiking, horseback riding, and bicycling when appropriate; developing safe pedestrian access from Hopewell Borough; creating an opportunity for ‘incubator’ farming to help develop the next generation of NJ farmers; consideration for developing community gardens to reconnect community with the soils; and enhancement of habitat for pollinators and species of conservation concern that might call the property home.
D&R Greenway will use these public comments as we consider implementing the vision plan. Anyone wishing to see the full range of comments submitted should contact Jay Watson directly at 924.4646, ext. 130.
Native Plant Nursey
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is located next to the Johnson Education Center,
One Preservation Place, Princeton, NJ 08540. The Fall Native Plant Sale is scheduled for September 24 and 25. Click here to go to the Native Plant Nursery.
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Volunteer Site Stewards Wanted!
D&R Greenway Land Trust holds 56 conservation easements on properties and owns 51 preserves outright, and we need help managing and protecting each and every one of them! If you enjoy the outdoors, you are a perfect candidate. A site steward's minimum responsibility is to walk "your" adopted property four times a year and reporting back on what was seen. Site stewards are welcome to do more- remove any debris, cut back Multiflora Rose and other invasive plants, lay-out and construct trails, etc.
If you are interested in helping us out by walking one of our beautiful preserves contact Jim Amon, Director of Stewardship at 609-924-4646 ext. 124.
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D&R Greenway organized an Earth Day event to create a park on Oliver Street in Bordentown. Clearing on invasive species took place in the spring and the participation among volunteers and Bordentown City's environmental commission was tremendous. Future volunteer activities include meadow establishment and scrub-shrub habitat creation. For more information, please call Diana Raichel,
D&R Greenway at 609.924.4646.
D&R Greenway Land Trust sponsors Landowners Forums to assist landowners with restoring native habitat and removing invasive plants.
Visit these websites for more information:
Center for Invasive Species & Ecosystem Health
Ernst Seed Company
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FOHVOS)
Stewardship of Preserved Lands
Lands Along the Lockatong Creek Greenway
(continued from Case Studies- Rawlyk Family Farm)
D&R Greenway is utilizing farm fields at the Rawlyk Farm as a teaching example to demonstrate management of grassland habitat. The Rawlyk family was awarded a grant from the New Jersey Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) to convert 45 acres of sod field to native warm season tall grass prairie, providing habitat for endangered grassland birds. In addition, the LIP program and Natural Resource Conservation Service approved and funded design of a 2-acre constructed wetland along the lower edge of the fields bordering the woods. This will allow an increase in the emergent wetland on the property and provide high quality habitat for vernal pond species, such as wood frogs, spotted salamanders and spotted turtles as well as other wildlife such as shore birds, wood ducks and many others.
New and future owners who work with at D&R Greenway Land Trust will benefit from this type of “stewarding partnership.” In the end, the Rawlyk family chose preservation over development to fund their retirement while protecting the land they love. Mrs. Rawlyk summed up their family values when she noted that the family history will stay alive as long as the land is there – and her grandchildren will be able to experience the history and connection to the land that is so important to all of us. “The entire family is proud that we could contribute our part to help sustain the quality of life for everyone who lives in central New Jersey.”