Hunterdon County Officials Preserve Dozens Of Acres Of Land

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: September 16, 2019

Contact: Matt Holt, Freeholder

jmholt@co.hunterdon.nj.us

Hunterdon Supports Land Preservation Groups’

Expansion Of Large Open Space Tracts

Hunterdon County’s Freeholder Board recently approved open space preservation grants to the Hunterdon Land Trust and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation that will help preserve 92 acres adjacent to two large open space tracts in the County.

Freeholder Matt Holt, the Board’s liaison for Planning and Land Use, stated, “I believe we cannot make this point often enough, supporting our non-profit land preservation partners and joining together with other funding resources, like Green Acres, and our localities, serves to extend the reach and depth of the County’s open space trust fund and preservation program.”

The Freeholders approved a $242,500 grant to the non-profit Hunterdon Land Trust to help preserve 50 acres of the Saums property in Readington, which is adjacent a state wildlife management area of nearly 1000 acres. The private trails on the Saums property will be joined with the trail network on the state managed property.

The Board also approved a $147,500 grant to the non-profit New Jersey Conservation Foundation, as a 50% share to preserve the 42-acre Etzel property in Raritan Township. The property adds acreage to the Conservation Foundation’s Wickecheoke Creek Preserve and includes adding 1800 feet to the waterway buffer zone.

The County funding is available through open space funds set aside for nonprofits and municipalities to preserve open space through the Open Space Acquisition Assistance Grant program. The state’s Green Acres program is providing the other 50% share for both preservation projects, which were recommended by the Hunterdon County Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee (POSAC).

Holt added, “I believe I speak for all my colleagues that we greatly appreciate the continuing preservation efforts by both the NJ Conservation Foundation and the Hunterdon Land Trust, non-profit entities with whom we have worked for many, many years.

Additionally, these efforts follow the County’s open space strategic plan of targeting, as a priority, the preservation of land that connects with other preserved properties. That is the case for both the Saums property in Readington and Etzel property in Raritan.”