BORDENTOWN CITY: Making meadows, tracing trails – Earth Day event will help create park

By Vanessa Holt, Managing Editor
BORDENTOWN CITY — A peaceful green meadow dotted with saplings is beginning to emerge in a quiet corner of the city, where just a few weeks ago thick, twisting vines and other invasive species strangled the landscape.
    On April 25, volunteers will begin building a trail at a site at Oliver and Chestnut streets, one of several parcels that has been preserved as open space in the city.
    The 3.6-acre property is one of several purchased by the Princeton-based nonprofit D&R Greenway Land Trust and turned over to the city. The Greenway is now helping the city by providing stewardship for the properties, helping to restore the sites and seeking grants to assist the process.
    “We’re fortunate to have partnered with the Greenway and their staff and funding resources that they can bring,” said Mike Hunninghake, chairman of the city’s Environmental Commission.
    The Oliver Street parcel was previously considered as a site for seven new houses. A developer cleared away a portion of mature forest in anticipation of the project but the plan was ultimately rejected by the Planning Board, said Mr. Hunninghake. The area was subsequently overtaken by invasive species, including mugwort, Japanese honeysuckle, and wisteria, said D&R Greenway conservation biologist Diana Raichel, who is working with the commission on the project. These species make it difficult for native plants and animals to flourish.
    Another area where the Greenway is working with the city is Lime Kiln Alley, accessible from Willow Street, which includes several parcels along Blacks Creek. An open space plan for the city developed in 2004 called for more accessible green space in the 1-square-mile city, and these parcels will eventually include trails and passive recreation areas.
    “The logical areas (for open space preservation) are along these waterways that encircled the city,” said Mr. Hunninghake – forming a green “necklace” around the city.
    For the April 25 event, volunteers are encouraged to come at 9 a.m. and stay until 12:30 p.m., and to bring rakes, shovels, and trowels. Volunteers can RSVP to [email protected]. Heavy rain will cancel the event.
    Ms. Raichel said this event will focus on trail establishment, as invasive species need to be brought under control before the native plantings begin.
    “I hope to generate interest in future volunteer activities that will include meadow establishment and scrub-shrub habitat creation,” she said.
    Meadow establishment may begin in June and with seeding and planting plugs (2-inch peat pots) of warm season grasses and wildflowers including native species like black-eyed Susans, bee balm, false sunflower, and joe-pye weed. The Greenway obtained grants from sources such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    Scrub-shrub habitat plantings are expected to continue in the fall and could include buttonbush, silky dogwood, spicebush, and sweet pepperbush.