Delaware and Raritan Greenway gets $500,000 matching grant
By: T.J. Furman
Against the backdrop of a local alpaca farm, Gov. Christie Whitman signed legislation Monday that will help the Delaware and Raritan Greenway preserve the 20 acres of open space on which she stood.
The Meadowgate Farm home of Leon and Diane Rosenberg, on Route 206 near Carter Road, provided the setting for the governor’s signing into law the first of five bills providing $61 million for open space preservation throughout the state.
The legislation signed Monday provided almost $6.6 million in matching grants to 15 nonprofit organizations seeking to preserve land in New Jersey. Of the $6.6 million, $500,000 will go to the Delaware and Raritan Greenway for five projects in Mercer, Somerset, Hunterdon and Middlesex counties.
Gov. Whitman touted her administration’s achievements in land preservation and said she hopes a goal to save 1 million acres of open space in the state will be her legacy.
"One hundred years from now people will be able … to enjoy this land in exactly the way we find it now," Gov. Whitman told an assembled crowd of legislators, reporters, farm employees, Greenway executives and local officials that totaled more than 70 people.
Lawrence Township Council members Rick Miller, Pam Mount and Mark Holmes were present as were state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12).
When Gov. Whitman set the 1 million-acre goal, she told the crowd Tuesday, she knew the Department of Environmental Protection would be unable to do it alone.
"We need the help of private landowners," she explained. "We also need the nonprofits. The Delaware and Raritan Greenway has been an extraordinary partner."
Following her remarks, the governor signed the legislation in front of a small pond on the Rosenberg property, which the Greenway is in the process of preserving. The Shipetaukin Creek, which connects the Stony Brook and Assunpink watersheds, runs along the back edge of the property and the Greenway is attempting to create a preservation corridor along its entire length.
Mrs. Rosenberg said the family and the Greenway have been looking to preserve the land for the past six months.
While Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg were closing a deal to preserve property they own in West Amwell, they mentioned their Route 206 property, and the Greenway was immediately interested, Mrs. Rosenberg said.
The Rosenbergs have lived on Meadowgate Farm since they purchased the land four years ago following Mr. Rosenberg’s retirement from Bristol Myers-Squibb.
"We were looking for a farm and found this," Mrs. Rosenberg said. "We thought we ought to farm something. I didn’t want anything that we would have to kill to eat. I kind of snuck the alpacas in behind him."
The alpacas are bred for their fleece. They come, originally, from the Andes plateau of Peru, Chile and Bolivia, where their fleece was reserved for the Inca emperor, Mrs. Rosenberg said. There are about 3.5 million alpacas in South America and they are no longer exported to the United States.
Alpacas come in two varieties, depending on their fleece. The most common variety, the huacaya, have wavy fleece that stands out from their body like that of an unclipped poodle. Suri have lustrous fleece that hangs like dreadlocks.
There are only about 3,000 suri in the U.S. and 22,000 huacaya, Mrs. Rosenberg said. The farm has both varieties.
Linda Mead, executive director of the Delaware and Raritan Greenway, said she expects the Greenway and the Rosenbergs to close on the deal for the conservation easement in January. The Greenway is in the process of having the land appraised, Ms. Mead said.
The group already has preserved two properties immediately adjacent to Meadowgate Farm that also front on the Shipetaukin Creek, Ms. Mead said.
Eventually, the Greenway hopes to open a pathway along the entire length of the creek to the public, said Delaware and Raritan Greenway land acquisition specialist Bill Rawlyk.
Packet Group reporter Jeff Milgram contributed to this report.