By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY After months of delay, the Montgomery Friends of Open Space, a separate nonprofit organization, can finally add the 10-acre Potter property on Grandview Road as another notch on its environmental belt.
The Township Committee adopted a resolution that acknowledged the Montgomery Friends of Open Space has satisfied all the updated requirements from Green Acres to buy the land giving Montgomery Friends the green light to close on the $520,000 piece of property.
The purchase is funded by the Open Space Trust Fund in addition to a $190,000 grant from the Somerset County Open Space Grant Program. The Friends and the Township have agreed to share the management, operation, monitoring and maintenance of the property.
Mary Penney, the president of Montgomery Friends of Open Space, said she was “thrilled” about the 10-acre acquisition.
”We need more preserved areas with passive recreation opportunities in the western section of our township,” she said. “The residents are going to get a glimpse of nature and history that they likely did not know about.”
But residents will know about it soon enough because Montgomery Friends and the township are teaming up to makeover the Potter land into a new park with several walking trails, trail markers, a kiosk with educational information, maps and a small parking area.
The property sits along the trout-filled Rock Brook. With parking and public access, residents will not only be able take a stroll and catch some dinner, but also do a little bird watching and explore the area’s historic remnants.
For example, hikers can get a glimpse of an old mill from Rock Mill, a historic village that was big on home-based industries that processed local products often fueled by Rock Brook, which used to be lined with a variety mills.
But the brook isn’t the only aspect that caught the eyes of Montgomery Friends.
The property has a 36-foot stone-faced bridge that arches over the brook and is adjacent to the 50-acre Wengel Preserve which provides access to other preserved lands to the north and west.
”This is the first of several acquisitions that are envisioned in this corridor a gateway to the Sourlands,” said Ms. Penney.
Montgomery Friends and the town’s Open Space Committee are currently working on a management plan to restore the forest and remove invasive species keeping in mind the habitat and conditions that are unique to the Sourlands.
And that’s not the only thing Montgomery Friends is working on they are busy preserving more farm land a long Mountain View Road.
The organization is also in the process of creating a walking trail that will open in the summer. The pathway will link open lands west of Bloomberg to the 360-acre Cherry Brook Preserve.
”There is currently limited parking available on Cherry Hill Road and Linton Drive into the preserve,” said Ms. Penney. “So this is going to be wonderful when it is completed.”

