Meredith’s Garden of Inspiration, where D&R Greenway is set to award Brian Hughes on Sept. 8, 2013.
D&R Greenway is set to present the 2013 Donald B. Jones Conservation Award to Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes at their Sept. 8 Gala.
Hughes is being honored for his leadership in open-space preservation, as well as his dedication to stewardship of urban and rural parks, and farmland. He has overseen the preservation of 2,873 acres of open space and farmland, for a total of 19,567 preserved acres countywide, more than 20 percent of the developable land in Mercer County.
In addition, Hughes and his Planning Division staff have expedited D&R Greenway’s preservation of land throughout Mercer County, including the nearly 2000-acre Princeton Nurseries Land in Allentown, and the 400-acre St. Michaels Farm Preserve.
“We can always count on Brian and his expert staff for a professional and enthusiastic response, resulting in preservation of rural and urban lands that will benefit our region’s citizens for generations to come,” D&R Greenway President and CEO, Linda Mead, said in a statement.
Hughes is also a proponent of protection and enhancement of the Abbott Marshlands, formerly the Hamilton/Trenton/Bordentown Marsh. He has been instrumental in the creation of the new Marsh Nature Center, named the Tulpehaking Nature and Interpretive Center. Now under construction, the facility is set to open above the Marsh in 2014.
The annual Greenway Gala is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. in Meredith’s Garden for Inspiration, along side the Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place, Princeton. Garden party attire is suggested.
The gala is set to feature a dramatic performance by the Dancespora jazz ballet. This work, commissioned by Passage Theatre and D&R Greenway, was previously performed at Hopewell’s St. Michaels Farm Preserve and Trenton’s Cadwalader Park. It is set to jazz music by ReBop, which is comprised of high school students from Trenton and Philadelphia.
Tickets are $75 per person and may be purchased before Sept. 3 by phone (609) 924-4646 or D&R Greenway’s website.
More information is online at drgreenway.org.
